CHAPTER TEN

~Jordan

I stared at Eric through narrowed eyes, focused on his guilty expression.

"And you swear you didn't say anything to her?" Mark asked for the third time.

Eric tapped his fingers on the arm of his wheelchair, keeping his gaze fixed on the floor. "I didn't say anything."

"So she just called you an asshole for no reason," Josh added dubiously. "That doesn't seem like Rosie."

Eric clenched his jaw. "I don't...ok. Okay. You know what, I did say something."

We were quiet. "What'd you say, Eric?" I finally sighed.

He sighed, too. "I told her to shut the hell up. Loudly."

Josh eyes flashed. "What the hell? You'd talk to your sister like that?"

He flinched. "Jesus, she's not my sister."

We were all shocked into silence. Mark finally snapped. "What the fuck do you mean she's not your sister?"

"We aren't related," Eric snapped.

"That doesn't mean she can't be your sister!" Josh yelled.

"Or give you the right to raise your voice at her!" Mark yelled.

"Don't tell me what I can and can't do, alright?" Eric responded, raising his voice. We all stared at him.

Mark's spine stiffened. I saw his eyes darken, a sign that his Alpha power had been ignited at the challenge in his pack member's voice. "If you weren't a cripple, your ass would be handed to you on a plate right now," he stated quietly, expression hard. "As it is, I can't lay a hand on you. But that doesn't mean I can't kick you out, because I can," he added coldly. "Do not test me. This is my house. My pack. I can tell you what to do. Just because I don't most of the time doesn't mean you can go around doing whatever the fuck you want. Do you understand?"

Eric winced and bowed his head apologetically. "Yes, Alpha. My apologies."

Mark shook his head, still looking like he wanted to kill someone. "Don't apologize to me. Go say it to Rose." With that, he turned and left, probably going outside to shift and run in order to blow off some steam.

Eric sighed, running a hand tiredly over his face. He started to leave, too, his hand resting on the wheel of his chair.

Josh's hand fell on top of Eric's, stopping him from leaving. Josh and I had been communicating through the mind link while Mark was too angry to notice, so he knew I wanted to ask Eric something privately.

Eric looked at me. "What are you doing?"

I nodded silently at Josh. He removed his hand from Eric's wheel, but it moved to grab the handle of his chair. He wasn't going anywhere.

"Eric, you're going to be straight with me," I said quietly. "Understand?"

His expression darkened. "That depends on what you want to know."

I pursed my lips. "You like Tamara Rose. Don't you." It wasn't a question.

Eric's face went ghost white. He looked like a sheet. Meanwhile, Josh's jaw had dropped.

Seconds inched by, slowly turning into minutes. No one said anything.

Finally, Josh spoke up. His voice was horrified, stunned. "You...you...her? But...but..."

"You like her, don't you?" I pressed, ignoring the hemorrhaging Josh standing beside me and gawking at Eric. "That's why you were acting so weird when we were talking about how she's your sister. Isn't it?"

Eric, meanwhile, still looked like he might pass out. "I-I--"

"Yes or no, Eric," I said firmly. "No more games. We used to be best friends. You never hid anything from me. You owe me this. Answer me. Do you like Tamara Rose?"

He nodded slowly, lips pale, and whispered sullenly, "I...do."

"Fucking bastard!" Josh was a blur as he threw himself at Eric. I lunged forward, grabbing him just before his hands reached his throat.

Josh struggled against my grip violently, nearly punching me in the face several times. "Let me the fuck go!" he screamed, his voice so loud it ripped out of his throat like an animal's. "He's been hitting on the girl he share a fucking house with! Like-like...like some fucking perv! She's as good as your sister!" That last comment was directed at Eric, who was glowering down at his lap, his face flushed.

"I didn't want it to happen," he muttered quietly. "It just did."

I tried to calm down the thrashing Josh. He finally stopped trying to get loose, and I gave him a stern glance before letting go. He stepped beside me, glare fixated on Eric.

"I can't believe you hid this from me, man," I sighed. "We're fucking pack members. Best friends. We're brothers." My expression was twisted with pain.

Eric looked pained himself. "Jord, man, I never meant to hurt you. I just knew nothing was going to come out of it, so I thought maybe if I ignored it--"

"Going into the woods with her was ignoring it?" Josh shouted, smacking his hand onto the coffee table. A vase jumped off with the impact and fell to the ground, shattering instantly.

I stared at it. "No. No...Eric wouldn't do anything to her." I looked at him. "You didn't, right?" He didn't respond, sending adrenaline shooting through my chest and causing panic to form a lump in my throat. "Eric. You didn't try anything on her in that fucking walk you two took, did you?" No response. "Did you?"

"I would never touch her," he muttered. "You should know that.

"I can't say I know anything about you anymore," I murmured, feeling the lump in my throat move as I swallowed. Eric glanced up at me, tears in his eyes.

"Jordan...bro..."

"Don't call me that," I sniffed, turning my head to the side and clenching my teeth in order to get the words out. "Don't call me anything. Get the hell out of this house."

Eric stared at me. "You...you don't mean that."

I looked at him with flashing eyes, anger creeping into my voice. "Like hell I don't. If Mark finds out about this, he won't just kick you out, he'll slit your throat. We can't have you living in the same house as our sister knowing you could try something."

"Are you insane?" Eric yelled, his expression enraged. Angry tears streamed down his cheeks. "I would never try anything!"

"Don't make me take you out myself!" I yelled, feeling a vein in my neck jump. "Leave!"

He stared at me.

And then the front door opened.

~*~

~Lizzie

I don't know what the hell I walked into, but it was one heck of a face-off. Eric sat there, red-faced and crying, while Jordan stood there stiffly, about to cry, and Josh looked like he was about to rip out someone's throat any second.

"Um..." I trailed off, dropping the shopping bags I'd been holding and venturing cautiously forward. "Is everything...okay?"

Silence met my question. Jordan finally sighed, running a hand frustratedly through his hair.

"Everything's fine," he responded curtly.

"Uh huh," I said skeptically. "Then why do you guys look like you want to kill each other?"

"I said it was all fine," Jordan snapped. I raised an eyebrow, surprised at his tone.

He didn't seem to notice. Instead, he was glaring at Eric again. "Josh, take Eric up to his room."

Josh looked at Jordan with shock. "His room?"

Jordan gave him a look. "Yeah, his room." His expression had a pretty clear statement coming from it: Not in front of Lizzie.

I growled. "If you two don't tell me what the hell is going on, I'll just have to call my husband and ask him." Jordan stared at me and I smirked. "Hell yeah, I just played the my-mate-is-an-alpha card. Bite me."

Jordan narrowed his eyes. "Lizzie, I'm sorry. I can't tell you this. I just can't risk you telling Mark."

My expression darkened. "Fine. Be that way."

I stormed out of the room, much more worried about my pack members than I was letting on.

***

UNEDITED.

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