As soon as the hospital cleared Rhys, I took him back to LA with me. After all, I still had an unoccupied room there as long as Kade wasn't using it. I'd already given notice, but I still had a few more weeks before I had to worry about my landlord actually kicking me out. For now, it was a safe space—far away from Connecticut, and from Oceanport.

My fight with Zander lay three days back now, and we hadn't talked much at all during that time. As promised, he'd called me the morning after, but I hadn't been ready to have an actual conversation, and he'd clued in to that fact pretty quickly. I told him that I was going back to LA for a little while, and he'd quietly agreed.

There hadn't been much more to say. I loved him, but I was also pissed.

Rhys didn't talk much either, except to thank me for taking care of him—not that I needed any thanks. He didn't ask about Zander until we reached my apartment in LA. “Isn't your husband coming?” he asked just as soon as I'd given him a tour of the tiny apartment.

I'd forgotten that he thought Zander was my husband. Looked like I had some explaining to do. “Zander and I had a fight,” I said. “And we aren't married.”

Rhys looked at me critically, the same way he used to study his textbooks. The bruising around his eyes had faded a bit, but it was still much too visible for my taste. “What do you mean you're not married?”

I shrugged and sank on the couch, patting the space beside me so he would sit too. He really shouldn't be up on his feet for too long. I needed to try to get some food into him soon as well. “We kind of made that up,” I told Rhys once he joined me on the couch. “You said I could only come see you if I was married, so I asked Zander to pretend with me.”

Rhys' eyebrows climbed high on his forehead. “I can't believe you fooled me like that! You two looked so good together! But now you aren't...” He paused and glanced at my belly, the question he wanted to ask obvious on his face.

“The child is Zander's. I didn't lie about that.”

“Oh, okay. So you are a couple. You're just not married?”

“I guess you could say that. I didn't really plan any of this. Things just kind of got out of hand.”

“Please tell me that the two of you were a couple before you visited me.”

“Um...” I scratched the back of my head.

Rhys shot me a look I knew only too well from our childhood days. It was a look which said that a) he couldn't believe I was being serious right now, and b) that the two of us were related.

“Hey,” I said. “I'm hardly the only one here making bad decisions.”

My brother cringed. “Touché.”

Silence fell over the small living room as both of us contemplated our most recent life's choices.

“What made you leave in the end?” I asked when I couldn't hold the question back any longer.

“Honestly?” Rhys bit his lower lip. “I love my husband.” He held up a hand when he saw me start to protest. “Spare me the comments, brother. I love him and I wanted to have children with him, but I realized that I didn't want to raise them in that place—or any Vinist community, really.” Leaning back, he sighed. “Is that weird? That I ran away to protect children that don't even exist?”

“It's not weird,” I said, putting an arm around my brother's shoulders. “I think it's the smartest thing you could have done.”

“Even though I got beat up?”

“That's not your fault.”

An unamused sound escaped his lips. “It was my decision to get involved with that community in the first place. You always told me I was being stupid. Maybe I should have listened to you.”

I shrugged, thinking about my own situation. “I can be pretty stupid too. Really, I think love makes us stupid. I get that now.”

“You might be right about that,” Rhys agreed. “But what stupid thing did you do?”

Unconsciously, I laid a hand on my belly. What stupid thing had I done? Hah. “Isn't it obvious?”

Rhys looked at my hand. “You don't want the child?”

“It's not that.” Truth was, I was bonding with the unborn life inside of me. Just last week, I'd felt the little one kick for the first time. I'd been kind of excited to share that with Zander.

Zander...

“I just kind of...” I paused, searching for the words. “This wasn't my plan, you know? Not that I had much of a plan, but this wasn't it. I never wanted to have children or get married or any of it. And then I met Zander again and I thought he was... different. But in the end, he's just like all the other alphas.” Even if part of me still didn't want to believe that. Was I being too hard on him?

“What did you fight about?”

“Just... nothing.” Rhys didn't need to know that he was at the root of it. He'd had enough to worry about these last few days. “Why don't you go to your room and try to catch some sleep? You look tired.”

Rhys snorted. “Don't think you can distract me so easily. You didn't fight over nothing, and if you did, maybe you should consider that you fought because you're scared.”

“What would I be scared of?”

My brother only shook his head. “How about becoming a parent?” he suggested getting up from the couch. “Being in love? Moving back to Oceanport? Changing your life's plans? They're all scary things. Take your pick.”

Okay, maybe he had a point. Maybe I was scared. But what if I had a right to be?

“I can't do this, Rhys! I can't raise a baby.” I dragged my hand over my face. “I don't have any nurturing instincts or whatever.” I should never be a parent, I'd known that! So why had my body thought it was a good idea to have sex without a condom?

Stupid, stupid, stupid!

“What are you talking about?” My brother shook his head at me. “No nurturing instincts? You've been fussing over me for the past forty-eight hours straight.”

“That's different! You're my—”

“Your brother?” Rhys shot me a look that made me see how silly I was being. “If you can take care of me, you can take care of your child. I know you love them. I see the way you pat your belly when you think no one's looking.” Rhys touched my shoulder in a comforting gesture. “You're going to be fine, little brother.”

A derisive noise escaped my throat. Rhys hadn't teased me with the fact that he was born first in years. “Who's little? You might be older, but I'm taller.” If only by half an inch.

“And yet you're always going to be the younger brother.” Rhys poked my forehead. “It should be me fussing over you, really, but I know you're going to be fine.” Rhys smiled, and I had to smile as well. If he could joke with me like this, maybe he was going to be okay, and maybe he was right and I was going to be okay as well. Eventually.