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Edmond skipped another stone over the edge. “I have given things a lot of thought over the years. Gone over where we went wrong. We rushed things with Sabine. Each of us eager to make her ours. We competed for her, both of us trying to win her over. We fought over her.”

Of course they had. Finding a mate, claiming a mate, was a primal need buried as deep within their souls as any of their wolf instincts. To deny it would drive a man to frenzy. Look at what had happened to Lance. He was responsible for the murder of over half their pack because the woman he had wanted as his mate had chosen another.

All his shameful memories, the guilt, choked him, the urge to destroy something boiling up inside of him. He wanted to take fate by the throat and throttle her for the unfairness of it all. Most of all, he did not want to trust it. He did not want to trust her.

“She is not Sabine, Aubert.”

“How do you know that?” He paced along the edge of the escarpment. “Do not forget she knows of us.” Sabine had known about them, too.

Edmond shook his head. “Sabine reveled in our rivalry, encouraged it, and set us against one another.” She had, and it had nearly broken them both, but in the end, losing her had forged a bond between them stronger than it had ever been. And while his heart ached for the loss of a mate, he could not say he was sorry fate had taken her away. Nor was he sure he was ready to face it all again.

“We are not so young and foolish anymore.” Edmond shook the remaining pebbles in his hand, then tossed them over the edge. “We are strong enough to walk away. We will not make the same mistake again.”

No, they would not. He would cut out his own heart before he would ever harm his brother again. Nor would he succumb so easily to the pull of the mate bond, or trust it without question.

“What do you say, Aubert? Shall we do this? Can we not give our mate a chance?”

He scrubbed his face with his hand. Another mate. He had never heard of such a thing. Nor did he deserve it. Aubert heaved out a sigh. He would give Edmond this chance. It was the least he could do for his brother.

The tension in Edmond’s shoulders eased. “We will find a way to make this work.” Edmond patted his shoulder. “Come. We should head back. And hunt up some food on the way. She will be hungry.”

Edmond trudged back to the cottage. Back to the woman who had upended their lives and revisited upon them such painful memories. He had never faulted his brother for almost choking the life out of him. In that moment, had he got the upper hand, Edmond would have done the same. But something about this time was different. Perhaps because they were older and wiser, no longer inexperienced boys running on instinct alone. And he had faith in the bond he had forged with his brother.

One thing Edmond was certain of, this time, no woman would come between him and his twin.