Allyn and Ransom – 12

 

"You told Ransom?" Allyn spat out angrily. It was the morning after Ransom had come by, and the first time Allyn had talked to Miranda since then. As soon as he'd left the room, to get away from Ransom's accusations, he had taken off for Montana. If he was to be honest with himself—and he was—he did it as much to work off his anger as to help a small pack of wolves relocate to a safer area, away from the men hunting them.

 

"I had to do something to change his opinion of you," Miranda replied.

 

"I don't care what he thinks of me. I haven't in years. Hell, I haven't even thought about him since soon after we went our separate ways—not until he showed up on our doorstep yesterday." His expression tightened as he tried to keep Miranda from sensing his lie.

 

He had thought of Ransom—far too often. Had he loved Ransom? Perhaps. Had he been devastated when Ransom walked out of his life? I'm not certain devastated is the word, but it hurt like hell. Of course, it was my fault. I had a plan I was certain he wouldn't approve of. He was—he is—the big bad gray wolf shifter, protective to the nth degree, especially of those he considers weaker than him. Allyn smiled slightly. Not that a red wolf is, when it comes down to it, but Ransom didn't see it that way.

* * * *

Obviously misinterpreting the smile, Miranda asked with some asperity, "Do you find it amusing? My sticking up for you?"

 

"Not at all," Allyn protested. "I think it was very noble."

 

"Noble, schnoble. I did it because you're my brother and he needed to know you aren't the waste he thinks you are." She studied him thoughtfully. "You're still in love with him."

 

"Not. I never loved him," Allyn protested. "Liked him? Yeah. Admired him? Definitely. But that was it. Sure, for a while I might have hoped something more would come of our relationship—other than good sex—while it lasted." He paced the patio. "We worked well together to stop that pair targeting shifters. But Ransom wasn't willing to accept that I could hold my own against the bastards when it came down to the final fight. I was the bait for our trap. The effete young shifter, with nothing more on my mind than when and where the next party would be or what club I should go to. That was my cover story—"

 

"It still is," Miranda broke in.

 

"Because it works. Anyway, they thought it would be no problem to eliminate the weak, unwary shifter. I left a fancy club that night, knowing they were there and watching. I was supposed to lead them to the location where Ransom would be waiting then disappear while he dealt with them. There was no fucking way I was going to do that." Allyn pounded his fist into his other hand. "We won, and I did my fair share of the fighting."

 

"He should have been proud of you," Miranda said softly.

 

"Oh, he was, once he got past the hit to his pride that my being there really had been necessary. Things were tense between us for a while before they eased up. Then he decided he wanted to do more than just working as a bodyguard, which was what he was doing at the time. We were in Charlotte then." He smiled at her. "You probably didn't know that, since you were still a kid, living with Mom and Dad."

 

"Yeah. In the backside of nowhere, until you rescued me."

 

He nodded. "That was after Ransom left. I was lonely and… But that's neither here nor there. He decided to become a cop and ended up on the Charlotte police force. It was around then that I decided wolves needed protecting."

 

"And he didn't like the idea you were going to do something about it?"

 

"I never told him. I knew what his reaction would be. Despite what happened when we took down those men, he still saw me as the smaller, weaker, red wolf who needed him to keep me safe." Allyn smiled wryly. "Even in his human form he was—is—bigger than me."

 

"Much bigger," Miranda agreed, looking at her lean but still well-built brother.

 

"Yeah, rub it in."

 

"Me? Never." She grinned at him before asking seriously, "Is that what finally made him leave?"