The Pact Of Five

THE RULE WE MADE FOR YOU

CHAPTER 2

Timeline: 29 Days Until 18

“Whoever touches her first… walks away.”

The voice drifted through the study door, sharp and angry. I froze in the hallway, my hand raised to knock, my breath catching in my throat. Liam’s voice, tight and furious, vibrated through the wood.

“That was the deal,” Knox answered, calm as stone. “We all swore it on our own blood. No takebacks. No exceptions.”

“Easy for you to say,” Cole cut in, rough and raw. “You’re not the one waking up at three in the morning because you can’t stop thinking about her smile. You’re not the one driving past this house three times a day just hoping to catch a glimpse of her through the window.”

“I’m the one who thought of the pact,” Knox shot back, his voice dropping low, dangerous. “Because if we didn’t have rules? If we let this get out of hand? We’d tear each other apart before she even turns eighteen. And she’d get hurt. That’s the one thing none of us can let happen. Not ever.”

My blood turned to ice in my veins. I pressed my back to the wall, the wood cool against my shoulders, and listened hard, every word landing like a blow.

“Touch her, you’re out,” Jax said, lighter but no less serious. “Whoever breaks the rule, leaves. Pack, friends, everything. No fighting over her. No sneaking around behind each other’s backs. She gets to choose. Fair and square. Or as close to it as we can manage.”

“And if none of us follow the rules?” Zane asked, quiet but intense, like he was speaking the truth he’d been holding back for months. “Because let’s be honest—I’m already hanging on by a thread. Every time she laughs, every time she looks at me like I’m still the same guy who used to carry her on my shoulders, I want to throw every promise I ever made straight into the fire.”

“Then we all lose,” Micah said, and his voice was steady, sure, like he’d thought about this a hundred times. “And she’s alone. That’s worse than any of us walking away. That’s worse than losing everything.”

My throat went tight, burning like I’d swallowed something too hot. They’d sat down—all five of them—and made a plan. About my life. About my body. About what I was allowed to be and when I was allowed to be it. Like I was a thing to be guarded and claimed and passed around. Like I didn’t have a voice in any of it. Like my feelings didn’t matter at all.

Anger flared up, hot and fast, chasing away the cold fear. I pushed off the wall and shoved the door open hard, the wood slamming against the wall with a loud crack. “Like I’m some kind of prize to be won!”

Every head snapped toward me. Five pairs of eyes—Cole’s dark, Jax’s amused, Zane’s guilty, Micah’s knowing, Knox’s unreadable—all locking on me at once. The air in the room shifted, thickened, turned heavy with something that felt too big for the walls to hold.

Liam was behind the desk, face red with frustration, one hand fisted on the leather surface. Knox stood in the center of the room, hands clenched at his sides, shoulders squared like he was expecting a fight. Cole was closest to the door, and before I could take another step, he moved—fast, silent, reaching out, catching my wrist in his hand. His grip was firm, steady, not hurting, but not letting go either, like he knew if he let me go I’d run and never look back.

“You were listening,” he said, his voice lower than before, his thumb brushing the soft skin on the inside of my wrist once, back and forth, back and forth, in a slow, steady rhythm that made my pulse jump.

“Of course I was listening!” I tried to pull free, but he didn’t budge. “You made a pact about me. Without me. You sat there and decided my life for me like I don’t even exist. Who gave you the right? Who gave any of you the right?”

“Your brother did,” Knox said, stepping forward, his gaze never leaving mine. “And we did it to protect you.”

“Protect me?” I laughed, sharp and shaky, tears stinging the backs of my eyes. “From what? From yourselves?”

“Exactly.” Cole stepped closer, and suddenly I was moving—he shifted me back until my legs hit the edge of the desk, and then he was there, caging me in, hands resting on the wood on either side of my hips, his face inches from mine. I could feel the heat coming off him, warm and solid and overwhelming. “Do you have any idea what it’s like? To look at you and want everything you’re not old enough to give? To have to sit there and watch you grow up and wait and wait and wait, counting every single second like it’s a year? We needed rules. Because without them… we’d have taken you a long time ago. And we would have ruined you before we even got to know the woman you’re becoming.”

My breath caught in my chest, my heart hammering so hard I could feel it in my fingertips. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Wouldn’t I?” His eyes dropped to my lips, dark and hungry, lingering there like he could taste me already. “I’ve thought about it. Every single day. Every time you walk into a room. Every time you smile at me. All of us have. We’re not boys anymore. And neither are you.”

“Cole,” Knox warned, his voice sharp, a clear line drawn. “Back off. You’re pushing the edge.”

“I’m not breaking the pact,” Cole said, not taking his eyes off me for even a second. “I’m not touching her. Not really.” His thumb brushed my jawline—once, barely there, so light I almost thought I imagined it. “See? Just a little. And I’m still here. Still in the game.”

“Cross the line and you’re out,” Jax said from the corner, but he didn’t sound like he wanted Cole to stop. He sounded jealous. Raw and burning jealous. “Rules are rules. Even when they hurt.”

Cole leaned in closer, his forehead resting lightly against mine, his breath warm against my skin. “Twenty-nine days. Then there are no rules. No pacts. No brothers standing in the way. Just us. And you get to choose. All of us. Whatever you want.”

“And if I don’t choose any of you?” I whispered, my voice trembling, my hands fisting in the fabric of his shirt. “What then?”

He smiled, slow and sure, and it reached his eyes—bright and hopeful and terrifyingly certain. “Then we’ll wait. As long as it takes. Years. Forever. Whatever you need.”

He pulled back and stepped away, leaving me leaning against the desk, dizzy and breathless and burning all over, my skin still tingling where he’d touched me. Liam stood up fast, his chair scraping loud against the floor, his voice tight with exhaustion and something that looked a lot like fear. “You all need to leave. Now. Before this gets any further out of hand.”

Knox walked past me, paused right at my shoulder, and lowered his voice so only I could hear it, rough and sincere. “Don’t be angry at us. Be angry at how badly we want to do this right. You deserve better than a quick grab in the dark. You deserve someone who waits. Someone who earns you.”

Then they were gone. All five of them. The front door clicked shut, and the house went quiet around me, too quiet, too empty.

Liam sighed and sat down again, rubbing his face with both hands, his shoulders slumping like the weight of the world was sitting on them. “I tried to keep them away. I really did. I told them to leave you alone until you were ready. But they wouldn’t listen. They never listen when it comes to you.” He looked up at me, eyes tired and serious. “But they’re not lying. Not about this. They would burn the world down before they’d let anything happen to you. Can’t you see that?”

“Why them?” I asked, my voice small, pulling my arms around myself like I could hold myself together. “Why did you agree to any of this? Why not anyone else?”

“Because they’re the only ones strong enough to keep you safe from everything coming.” He leaned forward, elbows on the desk, his gaze steady and sure. “And because they’re the only ones who would ever put you first. Before their pride, before their pack, before each other. This pact isn’t about keeping you for themselves. It’s about making sure whoever gets you… deserves you. And none of them are willing to settle for anything less than everything you are.”

I walked out of the study without answering, my head spinning, my chest tight with too many feelings I couldn’t sort through. I didn’t want to believe him. I wanted to be furious. I wanted to hate them for deciding my future for me. But deep down, where I wouldn’t let myself look too hard, where I kept the things I was too scared to say out loud… I knew he was telling the truth.

Up in my room, I reached for the light switch—and froze.

Sitting right in the center of my pillow, folded neatly, was a single sheet of paper. My door had been locked. I’d turned the key twice. I’d pushed the heavy oak chest against the handle when I came up. No one should have been able to get in. No one.

I walked forward slow, my heart thudding in my throat, and picked it up. No name. No signature. Just three words, written in dark, bold ink, the letters sharp and sure:

We are counting.

My fingers tightened around the paper, crumpling the edges. Twenty-nine days. And they weren’t waiting quietly. They were already here. Already inside my room. Already breaking the rules they made to keep themselves in line. And the worst part—the part I couldn’t say out loud even to myself—was that I didn’t want them to stop.