Seduced by My Childhood Sweetheart’s Brother
Chapter 52

52- Fight and flight I’m crying again. I don’t know what else to do. I think I need to talk to Megan. Megan! Is she okay? Iwas so busy out here I forgot that she’s literally calling off her own wedding. I wipe away my tears,open the door and slip inside. What’s waiting for me is so much worse than I could have imagined. Atthe end of the aisle, Megan and Tristan are staring each other down. They are equal in dominance andneither of them is budging. Tristan’s face is ugly and twisted with anger and hatred, his hands areshifted into claws he is gripping Megan’s arm in a way that has to hurt. Darrien is standing next toMegan. He also seems to be frozen, stuck. in the battle for dominance. Tristan must actually be asdominant as Megan and Darrien if they are all stopped like this. Apparently, these battles aren’t just atwo person thing. Well that’s useful information I suppose. “You BI TCH!” Tristan screams. Everyone else in the room seems frozen, not able to move under thewaves of power coming from the three Shifters at the front of the room. Tristant keeps yelling. “One more day! All you had to do was say yes this one last time and I would have had everything! Yourperfect brother would encounter an ‘unfortunate’ accident, courtesy of my friends, and once we tookover I would arrange something similar for you. Then I would be free to be with the woman I actuallylove. Do you know what torture it has been for me, pretending to care about you? Pretending to be your Prince Charming and listen to all your petty littlecomplaints and constant chattering. It’s been hell! And now, you’ve gone and ruined EVERYTHING!”His grip on her arm tightens and a drop of blood rolls down her elbow. Darrien roars in anger and myvision flashes red. How. Dare. He. Without hesitating I make my way down the aisle, only stopping afew steps from them. When I speak, my words are a command and I don’t think my voice has eversounded so cold as it does right now. “Let her go Tristan. Now.” His eyes flick over to mine and his eyes widen. He holds my stare for onesecond, two, three. He begins shaking before his eyes finally drop to the floor. His grip on Megan’s armslackens and she yanks it away. His act of submission, looking down, is enough to release Darrien andMegan from the battle they found themselves in. Darrien doesn’t hesitate. He shifts into a huge cat. A

jaguar I think? I did a bit of research on big cats when I first met Megan and Bellamy. He leaps betweenMegan and Tristan, the growl coming from him is enough to make me shiver, even though I know hewon’t hurt me. Tristan responds slower, but he shifts too, he turns into a lion, although he looks smallerthan Darrien. Tristan lunges, but at the last moment changes direction, towards Megan. Darrien

1/4 52- Fight and flight roars and in a flash, he is holding Tristan in his teeth. Tristan pulls away and they begin fighting inearnest. Megan looks horrified, I’m sure my reaction is similar. It’s not until Tristan flings Darrien intothe crowd that I pull myself together. People are terrified, I can see it on their faces. Still, no one seemsto be moving. Why? For the first time, I become properly aware of the waves of power coming from thefighting cats. Everyone here is being smothered by it, except me apparently. Not knowing what else todo I scream at them all. “Get out of here! Go, run, replace Bellamy!” It’s like I hit play in the middle of a slasher movie. Suddenlythey are all up and running, screaming and panicking. I can hear a child crying and watch as his motherdrags him from the room. I turn back to the fight and am surprised to replace it’s almost over. Darrien whowas fighting defensively before is now giving it his all. I suppose, even in this state, he worries abouteveryone. Now all his focus is on Tristan and Megan who at some point while I wasn’t looking, shifted.She’s a black panther just like her: brother of course. There is a pitiful whine as Darrien pins Tristan tothe ground. He has clearly won. Tristan is submitting. Darrien releases him before he kills him andturns to check on Megan. I scream as Tristan leaps up and goes for Darrien’s back, not as injured as he pretended tobe. I shouldn’t have worried. In a moment Megan dashes forward and intercepts him. The two of themtumble forward in a blur that I can barely keep track of. Then everything goes quiet and they stop. Megan is standing on top of Tristan, her claws are covered inblood and Tristan isn’t moving. Upon closer inspection I can see that his throat is cut. He is definitelydead. I think I might be sick. I stare in shock. Megan shifts back to herself and grabs a white tablecloth

from nearby and wraps it around herself. Her hands and face are splattered with blood. Darrien alsoshifts back and without pausing grabs Megan and pulls her into a tight hug. She seems shocked.Darrien looks relieved, like he had the biggest scare of his life, which he probably did when Meganthrew herself between them. Megan eventually pulls away and I can see that he is reluctant to releaseher. Her face is flushed red and she grabs another of the tablecloths which are, luckily, on just aboutevery surface and hands it to him. Darrien wraps it around his hips to cover himself which is a relief to me because I am really not comfortable with all the nudity. I still haven’t moved. Megan notices and steps towards me.She suddenly seems aware of all the blood covering her and pauses her approach. “Ryann? Are you okay?” She asks hesitantly. I shake my head, still frozen to the spot. “What can I do?” She asks gently. I shrug. I can’t stop staring at where Tristan is lying there. He is still aLion, I guess he isn’t going to turn back now that he’s dead. I can’t seem to drag. my eyes away.Megan steps between us blocking my vision and suddenly I can move again. It throw myself into herarms. I’m shaking and she strokes my hair, trying to calm me. I can 2/4 32 right and light hear Darrien moving and when I finally pull away from her, I can see that he has used yet another ofthese seemingly endless strips of white decorative fabric to cover Tristan. Still, I can see the bloodseeping through. Megan seems to be in shock, just like me. Darrien touches. her arm to get herattention. He’s hovering close to her and the concern on his face is so clear. In fact, all his feelings arewritten on his face right now. If Megan hadn’t noticed how he felt earlier there is no way she could missit now. I can see doubt in her eyes. She glances at me nervously. I give her an encouraging smile. “You can always trust him to keep you safe.” I whisper to her as I pull her in for another quick hug.Darrien grins at me as Megan raises an eyebrow. He grabs her hand and she lets him hold it. She mustbe able to tell, as I can, that Darrien needs to be holding her hand right now, if only to reassure himselfthat she’s okay. I think she needs the contact as well, even if she isn’t sure how to feel about his

affections. We all flinch as Bellamy bursts into the room, a little late I suppose. He clearly ran here, butit must have taken the other Shifters a minute or two to replace him, or maybe it took him a minute or twoto calm them enough to figure out what was going on. That seems more likely. His shoulders rise andfall as his breaths come heavy from his running. His eyes scan the room. First his eyes replace mine. Thenmove to Megan. His expression darkens as he sees the blood covering his sister. His eyes flash towhere Tristan lies. I can hear Megan whisper behind me. “I trust your power, so you should too.” In that moment I know, without a doubt that she is right. I take astep towards Bellamy. Then another. He watches me warily as I approach. Finally, I am within armsreach of him and… I don’t know what to say. I don’t know how to say it, how to make him understand. Iremember the day he tested my magic, how I helped him understand my magic and suddenly I knowwhat I need to do. I grab his hand and pull him towards the door. He doesn’t resist as I lead himoutside. I’m pretty sure his brain is still trying to catch up on what is going on. He follows as I lead himaway from the hall, away from everything, until we reach that little cemetery.