Chapter 100: Unexpected Rut.

After they finished the meal together, they returned to Vincent’s house.

Vincent escorted Bryce to one of the rooms, helped him settle in, and made sure he was comfortable before finally stepping out.

He paused outside the door for a moment before forcing himself to leave despite the reluctance pulling at him.

As he walked down the hallway, he wished with everything in him that he could take Bryce to his own room instead, or at least remain with him in the room Bryce was using.

But things between them were still too fragile for him to risk pushing Bryce any further.

Although he intended to pursue Bryce properly sooner or later, he wanted Bryce to understand the place he had come to hold in his heart and his life.

To understand that Vincent’s thoughts, desires, and hopes for the future had begun to revolve around him until imagining that future without him no longer seemed possible.

He wanted Bryce to understand how much he already loved the baby they had formed together and how deeply he wanted them to raise it together.

He wanted to be present for every stage of the pregnancy, to watch their child grow inside Bryce, and eventually to watch that child grow after birth.

~

When he reached the living room, ready to head down the hallway toward his room, his thoughts were interrupted by the sight of Dave sitting on the couch, his laptop open before him.

From where he stood, Vincent could already tell that Dave was barely doing anything on it. The screen might have been in front of him, but his attention was nowhere near it.

His heart was beating rapidly, for reasons Vincent could not immediately understand.

Dave’s presence reminded him that everything he had been imagining would not be as straightforward as he wanted it to be.

He could not simply pursue Bryce, make Bryce fall in love with him as deeply as he loved him, marry him, and raise their baby together as though no one else existed in the equation.

Bryce was still in love with Dave. There was no question about that.

More importantly, it was clear that Bryce had no intention of abandoning him.

Vincent could not tell whether that was because of everything Dave had endured and the fact that he had been left with no one, or simply because Bryce still loved him.

Perhaps it was some combination of both.

Whatever the reason, Vincent had no idea what was truly going to happen between the three of them anymore.

Somewhere along the short way, Vincent’s hatred for Dave had quietly faded.

He no longer wanted him to suffer, nor did he wish any further pain upon someone who had already endured so much.

And what surprised him most was the sympathy he now felt for him, a feeling he had never imagined possible, especially toward someone he had once despised so thoroughly.

But watching Dave completely break down, trembling as everything he had known collapsed around him, had affected Vincent in a way he had not expected.

Without even intending to, Vincent had found himself soothing him like a baby. In that moment, something inside him had softened.

He had decided that he wanted to become someone Dave could rely on, if not as an older brother, then perhaps as a friend.

But now that he thought about it, their relationship was far more complicated than that, because of Bryce.

He had no idea what Bryce ultimately intended to do, and the uncertainty was beginning to torture him already.

"You okay?" he asked as he stepped toward Dave.

Dave immediately looked up, pretending as though he had only just noticed Vincent’s presence, when in reality, Vincent knew that was not true.

He could not help wondering why Dave was acting that way.

Earlier, when Vincent had escorted Bryce to his room, Dave had already gone to his own room. So why had he returned to the living room?

Had he come back simply to confirm whether Vincent would leave Bryce’s room?

Or was that rapid heartbeat coming from fear of what might happen between Vincent and Bryce that night, fear that the two of them would finally end up together and leave him outside whatever they decided to build?

The questions crowded Vincent’s mind as he moved closer.

For a fleeting moment, the temptation to slip into Dave’s mind and discover exactly what was troubling him became almost irresistible.

But he stopped, reminding himself that he had no right to do something like that. It would be almost like reading someone’s diary without their knowledge.

Unless it was necessary, he decided, he should stay out of other people’s minds.

"Yeah, I’m fine. Just... checking something here," Dave answered.

Vincent caught the lie the moment the words left his mouth, but he chose not to press him.

"Okay. I’m heading off to bed. Goodnight." Vincent started to turn away, then hesitated briefly before adding, "Don’t stay up too late."

"Goodnight," Dave answered shortly.

Vincent turned toward the corridor leading to his room and continued down it, acutely aware of Dave’s gaze following him with such intensity that the urge to glance over his shoulder and confirm it became increasingly difficult to resist. Even so, he kept his eyes ahead and walked on without turning around.

Something felt terribly wrong.

He could sense it, but he could not identify what, exactly, was setting off that instinct.

_

The rest of the night offered him no relief.

Tossing restlessly as his thoughts moved from Bryce to the baby, then to the wolf world the goddess wanted him to return to, before circling back to his own failures, particularly the ways he had wronged both the goddess and his mate.

Then to the unsettling sense that something was terribly wrong with Dave.

Then back to Bryce.

He spent the night seeing Bryce behind his closed eyes, his beauty etched into his thoughts with such clarity that sleep seemed unnecessary.

He wanted to keep that beauty in his life forever, to build a future with him, and perhaps, if Bryce wanted it too, have two more children together.

The thought drew a quiet chuckle from him.

_

Sleep finally claimed him, though for less than an hour, before a sudden, unsettling sensation jolted him awake.

His senses had sharpened to an almost unbearable degree. The smallest sounds seemed amplified, every shift of air registering against his skin, while Bryce’s scent struck him the instant he inhaled.

It filled his lungs with such intensity that he had to stop inhaling.

He had not smelled Bryce that strongly since ending his side of their bond.

Now the scent was everywhere.

His wolf stirred restlessly beneath his skin as his pulse quickened, a strange heat gradually spreading through his body.

He moved toward the window and opened it, hoping the cooler air would clear his senses.

But it did nothing.

He gripped the edge of the window, trying to steady himself as another wave of heat moved through his body.

"What the hell is happening?" he murmured, his breathing uneven as he straightened.

’Am I going into a rut?’

The realization sent a jolt through him.

’But it’s not my cycle yet.’

’Is something had triggered it?’