Fated To Three, And I Broke Them All

Theodore:

I had run out of Gigi’s home as if I’d just watched myself burn alive.

None of it made any sense.

Once I was outside and far enough away from her mansion, I rubbed the back of my neck with one hand.

’What the fuck did we do?’ I asked my wolf.

His response hit me harder than ever.

’I don’t even know what happened. For a while, I was completely blocked out, almost as if you’d shut me out yourself,’ my wolf complained.

A wide road stretched ahead of me, with woods on both sides.

I left my car behind and started walking down it.

My slow steps quickened until I was walking briskly, and eventually, I broke into a run.

Then I veered into the woods and ran faster.

Only one thought kept circling through my mind.

What I’d done to Ragnar was wrong.

Flashback

”You should eat something too, Brother. You’ve been working all day.”

My young voice barely made it past the mouthful of food I was chewing.

But my brother’s hands were empty.

There wasn’t a single bite of food in his mouth, and his eyes had gone completely hollow.

”Who told you I haven’t eaten all day? I’ve already eaten my fill.”

Ragnar replied with a painfully broken smile.

He tore off a piece of bread, dipped it into the milk, and held it out to me.

”You give me your share too, don’t you?” I asked him.

His eyelashes were still wet, as if he’d been crying just before coming home.

”No. I only give you my share because I eat well when I’m outside.”

He was lying to my face while feeding me pieces of bread with his own hand.

For us, having a glass of milk felt like a luxury. Having warm bread meant it might as well have been heaven.

Every bite he fed me brought tears to my eyes.

”That’s it. I’m full,” I lied, patting my stomach.

”Theodore, how many times have I told you to finish all your food?” Ragnar asked, giving me a stern look.

He used his big-brother voice, the one that made him seem even older and more responsible than he already was.

”No, really. I’m full.”

I started shaking my head, but no matter how much I denied it, Ragnar knew me inside and out.

He knew there was no way I could actually be full.

We only ate once a day.

Every night, Ragnar fed me, and he always gave me his share too.

So I kept telling myself that one day, when I grew up, I’d make him proud.

I’d take care of Ragnar.

I’d prove that I could be the best brother.

End of flashback

I had been running for so long that I didn’t even realize when I’d reached the top of the mountain.

I dropped to my knees, scraping them against the ground, then buried my face in my hands and started to cry.

”Looks like after eating his share all those years, I became such an ungrateful bastard that I even started lusting after his girlfriend too,” I said in a broken voice.

I couldn’t understand how I could have done something so disgusting.

Then another wave of tension hit me.

Not only had I lost my friend in Gigi because of what I’d done, but how was I supposed to look Ragnar in the eye now?

And even if I never told Ragnar, how could I stand in front of him with pride and say that I was still the same Theodore who had promised to make his brother proud?

’I think we should leave this place,’ my wolf told me.

’But why would I?’ I asked, letting out a deep, heavy breath.

My wolf had no answer.

He knew I’d never loved a girl before. Verity was the first person I’d ever given my heart to.

I couldn’t leave her.

I couldn’t leave Ragnar, Jaguar, or Gigi.

Oh, Gigi.

The moment her name crossed my mind, my heart began pounding.

What the hell had I done to her?

’I think we should talk to Jaguar,’ my wolf suggested.

I immediately started shaking my head.

’No. He’ll hate me.’

My brothers already thought I made one mistake after another. If they found out about this too, they would see me as a failure of a brother.

”Wait, how are we going to tell Verity?” my wolf questioned, making my heart skip a beat.

”If I tell her, she’ll leave me. She has already been betrayed by one boyfriend, the only relationship she ever had. I don’t think she’ll spare me,” I said, my heart skipping beat after beat as I grasped my hair in my fist.

”Well then, are we going to keep it hidden from her?” he snapped.

”Well, if we tell Ragnar and he takes a step against us, Verity will eventually find out.”

My wolf was already making things worse for me.

All these thoughts were making my head spin.

I clutched my chest with one hand, unable to understand why I’d done what I did.

Usually, whenever Gigi came too close to me, those kinds of feelings automatically stirred inside me.

But I had a lot of self-control, and I always pushed those thoughts away completely.

Today, though, I hadn’t even realized what was happening.

Nothing had really happened between us today.

She hadn’t even touched me.

Defeated, I decided it was time to go home.

Ragnar and Jaguar kept calling me.

If only Ragnar knew that the brother he was so worried about wasn’t even worth worrying about.

That his brother was a disgusting person.

When I came out of the woods, I got another call from Gigi.

At first, I wanted to ignore it completely. I couldn’t face her.

Then I realized that would be even worse.

As soon as I put the phone to my ear, I heard Gigi sobbing through hiccups on the other end, and it felt as though I’d committed some terrible sin.

”Gigi, please don’t cry,” I pleaded.

I couldn’t even raise my voice above a murmur.

”It’s all over.”

She forced each word out between hiccups, making my hands curl into fists.

”Nothing is over. It was just one little mistake. It’ll be fine.”

I tried to reassure her, but what she said next stunned me.

”Someone else has made a place in Ragnar’s heart.”

The moment she said that, all the tension already running through my mind disappeared, completely replaced by her words.