RYKER

I moved closer to Rowan slowly and wrapped my arm around his shoulder in what might have looked like a brotherly gesture to anyone watching, but was really a strategic move to keep him from walking away.

I needed him to get on board with this plan and I would use every tactic I knew to make it happen.

"Come on brother," I coaxed, keeping my voice friendly and persuasive while my grip on his shoulder remained firm. "Do you not want her here? Be honest with yourself. Do you really want her to go back to Stormshadow?"

Rowan’s jaw clenched and I watched the muscle jump under his skin. His throat worked as he swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing with the effort. His hands had curled into loose fists at his sides.

"No," he admitted quietly. "But you know there is no way we can actually keep her here."

He protested exactly as I expected he would. I knew it would not be a smooth sail getting him to agree. Rowan was someone who operated with logic and careful planning, was not a daredevil who threw caution to the wind like I was.

But I also knew he wanted her badly enough to bend those rigid principles.

"There is a way," I insisted, tightening my grip on his shoulder until I could feel the tension in his muscles under my palm. "If we cause her to have an accident, Alpha Corvin will not ship her back in that condition."

Rowan immediately shoved my arm off his shoulder with violent force and stepped back several paces like I had physically burned him with my touch. His eyes were wide and his chest heaved.

"Are you insane Ryker?" he demanded, his voice rising. "You want her to have an accident? Have you completely gone crazy?"

I held up my hands in a placating gesture, trying to appear reasonable even though we both knew what I was suggesting was anything but. "A mild one," I clarified quickly. "Nothing too dangerous or life-threatening."

Rowan sighed deeply and ran both hands through his hair, making it stand up even worse than it already was from Amaris’s fingers. I watched something click into place behind his eyes as he connected the dots and put the pieces together.

He scowled at me with that expression that said he knew exactly what I was doing, knew I was manipulating him. "And you need my mechanical skills to make it happen. That is why you are really here, you sick bastard."

I smirked because at least he was quick on the uptake, at least I did not have to spell everything out for him like he was stupid. "Call me whatever you want," I responded with a shrug. "But you do not want her to leave either and this is the only way we can keep her here."

I moved closer again, deliberately invading his personal space until we were nearly chest to chest. "If we do not act fast, as soon as she leaves she is gone for good."

I walked around to stand behind him, placing myself in his blind spot. I knew he was already thinking about it even if he did not want to admit it out loud, even if his moral compass was screaming at him that this was wrong on every level.

I could see the war playing out in the rigid line of his shoulders, the way his hands kept clenching and unclenching at his sides.

"You know it is true," I whispered near his ear, close enough that my breath stirred the hair at his temple. "Do you not want to keep our mate?"

The word tasted bitter in my mouth. I detested calling her "our" mate, hated acknowledging that the bond connected her to both of us equally instead of just to me. But at this point I would say anything to make Rowan agree to help me with this plan.

"Do you not want to continue and finish what you started here today?" I pressed, my voice dropping lower and becoming more persuasive with each word. "Find out what it feels like being inside her?"

I placed my hands on his shoulders and leaned in even closer, my mouth practically against his ear now. "I will tell you from experience, I have been inside her and I can promise you she is worth every risk."

Rowan groaned and the sound was tortured, full of conflict and desire and self-loathing all twisted together into one agonized noise. His shoulders slumped slightly under my hands.

I knew I had him then.

"Fine," Rowan ground out through clenched teeth, the word sounding like it was being ripped from his throat. "I will do it. Can you please stop the creepy devil’s advocate act? You and I both know you do not actually want me to have her. You want to keep her all to yourself."

I grinned wide enough that he would probably be able to hear it in my voice even though he was not looking at me. He was absolutely right but I was not about to admit that out loud when I still needed his full cooperation.

"True," I conceded easily, not bothering to deny the accusation. "But at least with her being here at Gravemoon you will have a chance to be near her."

I paused for effect, letting the silence stretch between us. "We can even make it interesting. A little competition between brothers to see who can drive her crazier."

Rowan pushed my hands off his shoulders roughly with enough force that I actually had to take a step back to keep my balance. His expression had shifted to pure disgust when he turned to face me.

"You are a deranged lunatic," he stated flatly. "Everything is just a game to you, is it not?"

I shrugged casually because he was not wrong about that assessment of my character. Everything was a game and I played to win.

"I am only doing this because I do not want her to go back and suffer at Stormshadow," Rowan stated firmly, his voice taking on that righteous tone he used when he needed to justify morally questionable decisions. "And also because if I let you handle this alone you will most likely kill her in that accident."

I scoffed at his completely transparent attempt to maintain some kind of moral high ground in this situation. "Sure sure. Whatever helps you sleep well at night, you can tell yourself that story."

The truth was we both wanted her for entirely selfish reasons and we both knew it on some level. But Rowan needed the pretense of noble morality to make peace with what we were about to do, needed to believe he was saving her rather than trapping her.

"Let’s just get this over with," Rowan muttered, running his hand through his already messy hair one more time and deliberately avoiding making eye contact with me.

I grinned even wider because this was the exact moment I had been waiting for, the moment when my perfect responsible brother finally gave in to the darkness he tried so hard to suppress and deny.

"I like when the demon in you comes out to play brother," I said with genuine appreciation in my voice. "You hide it so well most of the time but we know it is there."