“But you and me? We’re going to get through this, Zo. I want—” My voice betrayed me and cracked, and I had to take a deep breath and start over. “I want you and Sid to be happy, okay? I really do. It’s just to get there, I think we all need a little break from each other. You guys need to build on what you’ve started, and I need to sort my shit out away from that.”

“But we’re pack.” She looked up into my eyes and I almost caved. I’d never been able to say no to Zoey. The only thing that kept me from agreeing was the knowledge that this was better for all of us. It had been just us for so long. After we’d escaped our father’s pack, after our little brother and sister were taken away, we’d become a tiny pack of two.

I butted my forehead against hers. “You’re starting your own pack now, you and Sid. I need to get out of the way of that. But I’ll always be here for you, you know that, right?”

“Promise?”

I kissed her forehead. “Promise.” My heart felt both full and breaking at the same damn time.

She sighed, leaning away and giving her cheek a half-hearted swipe with the cuff of her sleeve. “You can hate me, you know. Not forever or anything, but for a while. I know I would in your spot.”

And I had been angry—for about two days. I’d gone into the woods, shifted into my wolf form, and run until my feet were sore. The anger had burned itself out, hot and quick, mostly because the wolf sees things very clearly. Wolves are sensible creatures, and mine explained that I wasn’t hurting because I wanted to keep Sidney. I was hurting because it hurts to lose someone. She wasn’t my mate, and I needed to let her go.

Knowing that didn’t lighten the sting of it, but it helped me determine how I wanted to handle things. I had a choice—choose my pain and wound my sister or choose the path that would help us all get over it. That made it very simple. “You guys didn’t do it on purpose. No one decides to fall in love. It just happens.”

Zoey rubbed a hand over her sternum. “Intentional or not, it was still a dick move.”

I laughed. “Well, you two dicks take care of each other, okay?” I picked up the framed photo of me and Zoey, tucking it into my bag. Just because it hurt right now didn’t mean I wouldn’t want to look at it later.

“Yeah, well, you better make sure your dick takes care of you, too.” She frowned. “I was implying that Trick should take care of you, but wow did that joke sound better in my head.”

“Fuck, I hope so.” I picked up my duffel.

“It makes me feel a little better, knowing that you’re staying with him.” Zoey picked up one of my boxes. “Trick will take care of you. He’s a good egg.”