291 No, You Wouldn't
Galen knew this moment was coming.
From the second he decided to lift the dagger, this moment had become a fixed point in his future, an inevitable and unavoidable event.
He couldn’t blame Caleb. If it had been Bell, Galen wasn’t sure he would have been able to hold back as much as Caleb already had.
“Well…” Caleb growled.
Galen swallowed.
“I wasn’t thinking,” he said.
Caleb pressed his arm into Galen’s throat, forcing a gurgled grunt as he felt the pressure against his windpipe.
“I asked,” Caleb growled, his eyes glowing softly. “What you planned to do to my wife, Galen.”
Galen breathed deeply through his nose as he thought back to what Fiona had told him as they walked away from Caleb and Ashleigh.
[A Few Hours Earlier]
“Why did you do that!” Fiona shouted in a whisper as she pushed Galen into a small alcove where she hoped no one would hear them talking.
“What?” Galen asked.
“You were going to kill Ashleigh!” Fiona growled.
Galen clenched his jaw and looked away.
Fiona hit his chest roughly.
“Ow!” he said.
“Look at me,” she demanded.
Galen looked at her.
“Caleb will not let this go,” she said in a severe tone. “Right now, he is focused on Ashleigh, but the moment he thinks she is safe, he will come for you.”
Galen swallowed.
“He won’t hurt me,” Galen said quietly.
“He won’t kill you,” Fiona said. “He would never go that far… but hurt you?”
Galen looked away.
“What if it was Bell?” Fiona asked.
Galen’s eyes widened, and he looked back at her.
“What?”
“What if you saw Caleb threatening Bell’s life,” she said. “Would you hurt him?”
“He would never do that,” Galen said.
“And he would have said the same of you just an hour ago.”
Galen looked away again, taking slow deep breaths.
“You went too far, sweety.”
“She was hurting you,” he said quietly. “It looked like… like she was killing you.”
Fiona sighed and put her hand on Galen’s shoulder.
“I understand,” she said.
“Will he?” Galen asked quietly without looking at her.
“Yes,” she said. “But it won’t matter.”
Galen furrowed his brows and looked at her.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
Fiona shook her head.
“Ashleigh is everything to him. He has changed since she has come into his life. Become more raw. He cherishes her and loves her with his entire being. Just like you do Bell,” she said. “But the difference between the two of you is the bond.”
Fiona pursed her lips as she tried to think of the best way to explain.
“Caleb and Ashleigh love each other, but the bond between them is possessive. It’s primal. The bond is not rational. A perceived threat to your mate… it triggers something inside of you, something dark.”
Galen swallowed. His heart thumped wildly as he listened. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
Fiona looked down. She took a breath before continuing.
“When I was young, Cain and I went to our first Blood Moon together. We had only been mated for a few months at the time, and it was still all very new and intense. Anyway, there was a wolf there that had drank too much. He had no idea what he was doing, but he broke a glass.
“Cain bent down to help him clean up the mess. This wolf was so drunk that he thought Cain was coming after him. He reacted without thinking. Just swinging wildly without paying attention. He cut Cain’s hand.”
Fiona paused. She pursed her lips and looked away.
“I saw that moment,” she said. “I saw a man cut my mate.”
Galen felt his heart in his throat as he waited for her to finish.
“I made sure that Cain was alright, and then I turned to the wolf that hurt my mate. He still held the shard of glass,” she said. “I didn’t ask what happened. I didn’t give him a chance to apologize. Instead, I squeezed his hand with the glass in his palm, and I didn’t stop when he screamed, or the others tried to pull me away. I refused to let go until I felt his bones cracking.”
Galen felt sick.
[Present]
Galen closed his eyes and took as deep a breath as possible with Caleb’s arm against his throat.
“I was going to stop her from killing Fiona,” he said.
Caleb growled.
“How!”
Galen swallowed.
“By killing her first.”
Caleb clenched his jaw and stared angrily at Galen. He roared loudly and then snarled before dropping him to the ground.
Galen fell like a ragdoll, crumpling on the floor as Caleb gripped the ends of Galen’s desk and flipped the entire thing into the wall. Papers and office supplies flying everywhere.
Caleb growled and snarled as he smashed the desk to pieces and then did the same to Galen’s chair.
Galen didn’t move. He just sat on the ground, waiting for Caleb to return to him and exact whatever punishment he saw fit.
After tearing apart every piece of furniture in the office, Caleb hunched over and let out another angry roar.
Several long silent moments passed between them.
Finally, Caleb stood up.
He took a deep breath and then looked at Galen with dark eyes.
Galen looked away.
“The training grounds are fully operational again,” Caleb said, clenching his jaw as he paused. “Tomorrow, you will repeat the non-lethal disarmament and takedown training sessions. Every single one of them.”
Caleb took a step towards the door.
“That’s it?” Galen asked.
Caleb stopped.
“What were you expecting?” he asked.
Galen swallowed.
“If it were Bell… if you had threatened Bell like that… I would have killed you.”
“No, you wouldn’t have,” Caleb said.
“I would have hurt you.”
“No, you wouldn’t have,” Caleb sighed.
“Yes…” Galen insisted with a slight growl in his voice. “I would.”
“No,” Caleb said, turning to Galen, his eyes still angry. “You would have wanted to. You would have thought about it. You would have at least hit me once. But then you’d stop for the same reason I did.”
“Why?”
“Because we’re fucking brothers, Galen!” Caleb growled. “And as fucked up as it is for my brother to threaten to kill my wife—!”
Caleb paused to take a deep breath as his rage flared up once more.
“—He’s still my brother.”
Caleb headed once more toward the door.
“Caleb, I’m so–”
“I won’t soothe your guilt, Galen,” Caleb said without looking back. “I understand why you did it. I understand you were scared for mom. But it was the wrong choice, you know it. So you deal with it.”