Reign of Brayshaw (Brayshaw High 3)

He pulls back, eyes sloped at the edges. “Let me go, give me peace of mind. Cap will love you, he will protect you.”

“And you?”

He looks to the ground. “I’ll never replace you, but if you don’t accept him, I’ll hate you.”

“I’m okay with that.”

“I’ll wreck your world.”

“It’s already wrecked!”

He glares, jerking away from me, tearing my heart a little more in the process. “I will leave them.”

I freeze, my eyes bouncing between his.

Abandon his family?

“I’ll leave this place, right fucking now and everyone in it, never looking back.”

“Maddoc—”

“Don’t test me, Raven.” His eyes turn to stone, freezing me out in a moment’s notice.

My eyes start to water without permission, so I look to the sky, denying their escape.

Damned if I do, damned if I don’t.

“You’re backing me into a corner, Big Man.”

“Where I can protect you.”

I look back to him, giving a slow shake of my head. “I won’t be yours to protect.”

I swear his eyes haze over, but he blinks the pain away. “You will always be mine where it matters.”

“Don’t make me do this.”

“Don’t make him wait.”

With that, he turns and walks back inside, and I’m left standing there, a dozen men waiting only feet away for me to seal my fate.

I squeeze my eyes shut, wipe my face with my sleeves, and take a deep breath.

I know I look busted and weak, everything a girl in their world is likely known to be, but I go back in with my head held high.

I step forward, into the room full of men I don’t know, men I do, and the only people in the world I trust.

The ones I trust, who are asking me to deny one, give up the other, and take another.

Everyone knew I’d give myself for them, it’s why the boys were fearful, and how the Gravens were so sure. Dangle Zoey and I’d save her, for them. It’s what Perkins meant when he said I would make the decision once I learned the alternative. It’s why Collins helped hide Zoey from his dear leader as long as he could – holding out for me.

He wanted my trust, but they earned it first, a fact Rolland didn’t fully think through.

He wanted me to grow to tolerate, if not care for, his boys. He knew if I did, I’d do right by them as time went on and I was in my new role as a Graven trophy, but he underestimated the bond he hoped to create. He wasn’t aware the boys were missing something they desperately craved – free, untainted love, something they stole from me without my permission, that I’d willingly give them now.

We all had broken tethers before each other, lost pieces we couldn’t place and refused to acknowledge.

Nobody could predict or prepare for the strength behind four fused souls.

Captain let the world in on a secret nobody ever had to learn tonight, all in hopes it would give him the power to claim me over Collins, the girl no one cared to defend before this place.

Cap’s hand isn’t being forced. He’s the reasonable one of the three, the deep thinker and over processor, the calm. He’s the packman, protecting his own as he can, and here I am turning him down for someone he hates when he just stood in front of his dad and brothers, looked in the eyes of a man he hates and gave up his future for mine.

For ours?

I slide my clammy hand into Captain’s.

I wait for Rolland to look me dead in the eye, drop my guard and show him all he’s done.

One night, one choice.

Four broken Brayshaws.

“You win.”

The slope of his eyes conveys what it should, a self-directed question that I hope crushes him from the inside out.

Did he?Two words changed everything in in the blink of an eye.

The boys were asked to leave as were the other families while Cap and I had to sit at a round table with Rolland and Donley, where they laid it all out.

Our wedding is planned, honeymoon scheduled and paid for before we’re even allowed to leave. Donley adjusted the contract to reflect my “situation.” Since I wouldn’t produce bloody sheets the morning after, a video will be required. A fucking porno, for lack of better words, of me and my husband consummating our marriage. Only after that, will Donley let go of the idea of Zoey – he wants me, not her, but he won’t dare say the words aloud. He needs the threat to hang over our heads.

I’ll be eighteen in two months.

My wedding is scheduled for the first Saturday that follows, and on neutral ground – the cabins. I assume Donley has no idea I’m technically already a legal adult.

I bet this was all part of Rolland’s plan, having me ready to go at a moment’s notice.