Feral Northern Shifters 2

abruptly and bolted for the bathroom.
God, yes, he needed to leave. But not because of Ethan’s supposed shortcomings. The idea of leaving Ethan tore at him. Bram stepped back into the shower, put it on cold, cleaned himself up and then stared at the door. He didn’t know how to face Ethan. What to say. If he told Ethan he wanted to save him from Doug’s wrath, well, Ethan would want to help Bram. He simply couldn’t endanger Ethan again. Not after he’d helped capture him. What if Doug had his contact with him? Bram might have a chance against Doug, but Ethan would have none against someone associated with the paramilitary, some powerful group of people out to contain a cat shifter for God knows what reason.
Too dangerous. Bram was shaking. He had to get out of here. He’d stayed too long as it was. He’d wanted to wait until the next full moon. But he couldn’t even manage that. If Ethan hadn’t been a shifter, Bram would have climbed out the bathroom window, turned wolf and ran. But Ethan would hear him and chase him. So Bram rather grimly went to the bedroom and put on clothes.
    Ethan had messed that up and bad. Bram was utterly spooked, even as he gulped down the canned chili Ethan had heated up. Liam had stressed that Bram would still feel ties to his pack, it was impossible for a wolf not to. So Ethan had thought he should make it clear that he had feelings for Bram. Offer Bram another kind of tie.
    It had made sense at the time. And Liam being wolf, Ethan had thought he’d have better insight into an omega’s situation than a cat who’d spent the past eight years essentially by himself.
Of course, if Ethan had left it at declaring his deepening feelings, Bram might not have freaked. But no, he had to mention that Bram seemed to be planning on leaving. Something he couldn’t bring himself to deny.
“I’m sorry I upset you.”
Bram lifted his gaze from his chili, his eyes burning. “ You haven’t upset me.”
Okay. “If you do feel you need to go, I would always welcome you back.”
“I have to do something.”
Realization dawned and Ethan couldn’t help but think he really was stupid not to understand what was going on in Bram’s mind. “Does this something have to do with Doug?”
Bram’s gaze slid away. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
For the first time since he’d settled in this house, Ethan felt frightened, and it wasn’t for himself. “Does Doug have some kind of hold on you?”
“No.” The word came out strangled.
“Do you feel you owe Doug something?”
“ No .” Bram put down his spoon and clenched his fist. “I was never any fucking good at lying or dissembling or any such thing.”
“The last time we discussed Doug, you said he wanted to kill you. So I didn’t think you were bonded to him.”
“I am not bonded to Doug .” Bram almost spat out his alpha’s name as he shoved away from the table. “He will kill me, or die trying. I don’t want you anywhere near me when that happens. Don’t you understand that! I’m a danger to you.”
“Oh, Bram.” Ethan ached as he watched Bram tremble.
“You don’t know what he’s like. You think it’s safe because he’s with Trey, but Doug will bide his time when he has to. God knows, he did it for years with Gabriel.” His chest heaved. “You’re not safe with me and you never will be .”
“I’m not questioning your assessment of Doug here, okay, Bram? But can you explain to me why Doug would be so focused on you?”
“I attacked him. I set you free. I cost him his leadership. But it’s not only that, I belonged to him. In return for protecting me, I couldn’t do anything without his permission. And I rejected that in the worst way possible.”
“Okay.” Ethan rose slowly, walked around the table as if approaching a wary animal.
Suddenly Bram hung his head. “Don’t touch me.”
Ethan stopped. “Why not?”
Bram released a shuddery sigh. “You make me weak.”
“I don’t think that’s true,” Ethan said softly as he pulled Bram into his arms. “You belonged to him?”
“If I did everything as he asked, no one could touch me, no one could hurt me.”
“Except Doug.”
“Except Doug,” Bram agreed.

Chapter Twenty-Two
    “He’s convinced Doug will come after him.” Ethan waited for Trey’s response. Silence, he’d come to realize, meant Trey was thinking. Repeating himself never did much to hurry along Trey’s reply.
“I won’t just execute a shapeshifter, Ethan. I don’t do that.