Chapter 153

Alpha Terrell’s POV

I stood as I asked the question, completely filled with shock and confusion. Was my brother truly serious about this? Or was this just one of his random jokes?

But as I looked at him, he returned the look with the steady expression of someone who had thought about this for a long time and was not backing down.

He was damn serious.

And I honestly did not know what to feel about it.

I felt happy, because the part of me that had been told it needed to share a mate and had been making its peace with the arrangement was actually elated about this news. But I also felt concerned, because Merrick was my brother and his wellbeing was not separate from mine. If he was truly serious about this, then it was a good thing. But one thing I won’t accept is him doing it for me. Then there was the confused part of me: how had it happened? When did it happen? Where... All these unanswered questions were driving me crazy.

"Who is this woman, brother?" I asked again.

He looked at me but still said nothing, his expression giving me signs that this was something I ought to know.

What wasn’t he telling me?

I calmed my scattered thoughts, and tried to think about who had been in Merrick’s orbit.

Who he had spent the last weeks in proximity to.

Who had arrived in this castle and rearranged things.

"Agnes," I said, eyes widening in surprise.

Merrick nodded.

I put both hands on my waist.

I looked at the ceiling, then back at my brother.

"How," I said, "did this happen. She’s not even the type of woman you’re physically attracted to. Asides being beautiful, she’s also... on the slim side."

"It happened gradually, then completely when I wasn’t even looking." Merrick said, then, tipping his head to one side, he continued. "And I think it’s safe to say, brother, that the shape or size of a woman doesn’t really matter when it comes to love. Don’t you agree?"

I nodded, because he was completely right. I mean, I had Angel to prove it .

"But then again, Merrick, you were supposed to be helping her with the search. You were..."

"I know what I was supposed to be doing, and I did it diligently."

"Agnes hates our family."

"She’s working on that."

"She..." I stopped. Organized myself. "Does she feel the same way?"

Something moved through Merrick’s face - a complicated expression.

"There’s something between us," he said. "I’m certain of that." A pause. "But Agnes is... you know what Agnes is."

"Impossible," I said.

"Principled," he said. "In a very Agnes way." He looked at me. "Instead of addressing it, she wants to leave. She feels she’s going to hurt her sister."

I stared at him. "She wants to leave."

"She’s been seriously looking for you for the past three days. Probably to discuss her going away plans."

"She was? But no one told me..."

Merrick gave me a look.

I heard how that had come out. "I know," I said. "I was indisposed."

"For three days."

"That’s not..." I stopped. "That’s a separate matter. The point is..." I sat back down. Organized my thoughts. Let the pieces arrange themselves into shape.

Agnes.

In this castle, which she hated because of what I had done - and she was right to hate it, I had no argument with that. Agnes, who had called me Satan in my own home and put a condition on the table at dinner, had gone on a one-week journey with my brother and come back with her son and had, apparently, somewhere in all of that, formed a love bond with my twin brother. A man carrying my face. A face I’d thought she hated, but it turned out it was just the person wearing it.

And then - slowly, like a man receiving a gift he had not known he was hoping for - I felt it.

Relief.

The deep, intense relief of a man who had been told he didn’t have to share after all.

I stood up.

I crossed to my brother and I put my arms around him and I held on tightly. With all sincerity.

"Thank you," I said.

Merrick pulled back. Looked at me with the expression of a man who had expected several responses and had not expected this one.

"I’m not doing this for you," he said. "This is not a gift I’m giving you. This is how I actually feel."

"I know," I said. "I know that. I’m thanking you anyway." I put my hand on his shoulder. "You have no idea..." I stopped. Then smiled. "You have absolutely no idea how happy this news has made me."

"You’re frightening me," Merrick said. "You keep smiling."

"I’m going to keep smiling." I patted his shoulder with satisfaction. "You’ve done well, Merrick. You’ve done extraordinarily well." I turned him toward the door. "Go tell Angel. Now. Don’t wait until tomorrow - this can’t wait, this is exactly the kind of news that cannot wait a single day." I pointed down the corridor. "She’s in the second door on the left past the stairs. Go."

Merrick looked at me.

"Go," I said.

He went.

I stood in his chambers alone and looked at the window and I was still smiling.

If this news had been brought to me on time, I wouldn’t have spent three days in that bedchamber trying to breed my wife.

Part of me didn’t want to share with my brother just yet, so I’d greedily held on to her. But the other part had been solely focused on her and her need for a baby.

But this? This was by far the best news I’d ever received.

Kane appeared in the doorway later on with a stack of reports and the expression of a man who had been waiting three days to deliver them.

But I was still riding the high of Merrick’s news that I dismissed him immediately without letting him finish.

"But Alpha..."

"Later, Kane," I said. "Much later."