He Wouldn’t Marry a ‘Widow’ So I Left Him and His Brother Both Chapter 02

He Wouldn’t Marry a ‘Widow’ So I Left Him and His Brother Both Chapter 02

The words struck me like thunder.

I jerked my head up and stared at Callum, my face drained of color.

“Is this what you want? Or is it…”

Was this what Ronan wanted?

Callum did not catch what I meant and only said apologetically, “Honestly, when we first got together, I was only looking for a little fun. Before I knew it, nearly three years had passed.”

“I’m not going to take a widowed female as my bonded mate. I feel bad for stringing you along this long.”

“How much time do you have left before your three years are up?”

I stared at him numbly and held back the truth.

“Two days,” I said.

Callum visibly relaxed.

“Don’t worry. When the time comes, I’ll speak to the clan chief and ask him to choose a decent male for you.”

“You can still come to me if you ever need anything.”

When I remained silent, a shadow passed over his eyes. He forced a smile.

“I actually have a twin brother. He’s been away on a long assignment, but I hear he’ll be back soon.”

“I can introduce you to him when he returns, and then…”

“Leave,” I interrupted.

Callum froze.

I raised a hand to cover my face. My palm was hot and damp, and it felt as though humiliation were seeping from every pore.

“Please… just go. Stop talking.”

Callum said nothing.

After what felt like an eternity, his footsteps finally faded into the distance.

A pair of tiny hands reached up and clumsily stroked my cheeks.

“Mama, don’t cry…”

I had no idea when Rory had come out of the back room. She stood in front of me, on the verge of tears herself but still fighting desperately not to cry.

The straw grasshopper she had adored only moments ago now lay abandoned on the floor.

“I don’t like Ronan anymore. I hate him!”

“Don’t be sad, Mama. Tomorrow, I’ll tell everyone in the clan what he did! I’ll tell them he bullied you. He’s bad!”

The more urgently she spoke, the harder she cried, her tears falling even faster than mine.

I laughed through my own tears. “Mama isn’t sad. I just think… I was so stupid.”

I had been stupid enough to know exactly what was happening and still be the one who got left behind first.

Ronan had not come to say the words himself, but after all the lies and blurred lines of the past three years, what difference did that make?

Ronan had been Callum, and Callum had been Ronan. Having his brother speak for him was no different from Ronan standing in front of me and saying it himself.

Too exhausted to keep thinking about it, I looked at my cub and asked softly, “Rory, what would you say if I took you somewhere new?”

I had already braced myself to spend a long time talking her into it.

Leaving everything familiar could feel like tearing away a piece of yourself even for an adult. How much harder would it be for a cub who was not even five?

Before I could say anything else, Rory answered, “I want to go. Wherever you go, I want to go too.”

I stared into her bright, shining eyes, my lips trembling.

At last, I pulled her into my arms.

“All right. We’ll leave tonight.”