Page 27

Kai

H ead down, fucking trembling, she was a mess.

I could feel all her shitty emotions rolling through her because of the stupid fucking bite that was driving me insane. Just because my heart leapt when I saw her again didn’t mean a thing.

Because how dare she.

How fucking dare she turn up to the party smelling of my mate?

Maybe her reaction to Zania and Vivian proved she didn’t know Sin or Cas’s parents and she wasn’t sent to trap us, but that wasn’t the fucking point.

I’d been buzzing since she entered the building, swanning around like she owned the place in a dress that I spent two days making for her and shoes that I bought for her. And just because she smiled and blushed and looked like she was going to die from blushing when she saw me didn’t mean a fucking thing.

I mean, obviously, the only way to cure the pure fury seething through me that was getting me empty-slash-judgy looks from Sin was to throw her at Zania and see how she handled it.

But her intro and Zania’s all-star treatment just proved she wasn’t working for her. Unless their acting really was just that good.

Brandy was acting like she was already part of our pack. I mean, that was literally the whole reason she was here, but that was also totally not the issue.

If she seriously thought she was good enough, then she could jump in feet first and find out what it really meant to be Sin and Cas’s mate.

Like the fact those two assholes fucked off to do ‘business’ shit at the start of every single fucking event we went to.

I didn’t care if bringing Brandy to the party was my plan, and I fucked off as well—we should have at least stuck together to show we wanted to be a fucking pack or whatever we needed to do to show we were committed to saving Camille. But I was so used to them disappearing that I didn’t really think about it.

Now, after all that chaos with Zania, I was soaking in guilt and glee, and Brandy’s shoulders trembled as grief and rage poured through her.

I didn’t even bother lifting my fan again to hide my massive smile. Because she deserved it. Even one breath got me a hit of brandy and vanilla from where they had been rubbing all over each other before they even fucking arrived. The problem was that it was so right and wrong at the same time.

I needed to find a way to make them pay for fucking around behind my back that would actually have an impact. Because obviously reminding Sin I was his only omega by making love to him every single time I saw him wasn’t doing the fucking job.

Brandy made the smallest noise that I barely picked up, and my excitement soared.

She was crying. She was actually crying. Yeah, maybe Zania was a bit more harsh than usual. I mean, it wasn’t like it was anything new. She physically hurt me when she was seriously on one, and she only did it when Sin and Cas were away. And I tended to hide it from them because I wanted to deal with it myself.

But, fuck, if Brandy couldn’t put up with that little scene, then there was no way she would survive in our pack.

Not that she was ever joining. It was just a thought.

I draped an arm across my stomach, loosely holding my fan, while the other rested on my hip as I waited for her to get over it.

I really hoped Brandy was going to start dramatically sobbing and run off into the sunset so we’d never have to see her and her gorgeous ass again. Even standing next to her and tracing the smooth line of her scratched up bare neck with my gaze was giving me ideas. Her frazzled hair hid her face, but all I needed to do was brush it back and I’d be able to see her pain.

I thought I had to take action because she was just standing there. But I didn’t expect her to reach out a trembling hand and lightly clasp mine.

I froze as her fingers curved around mine. Pulling my hand from my hip, and she clutched at me as she shook even harder. I forced myself not to suddenly smother her in a hug like I had earlier, even though my instincts were begging me to go for it. If they thought I was going to listen to them, they could fuck right off. My shitty instincts were the reason we were in this fucking situation in the first place.

It took so much to beat back the urge to comfort her like she was my mate. I wasn't going to lose like Sin had.

Though I did let her pull my hand so she could twist her fingers through mine.

She sucked in a small breath and tension built as I waited for it. She deserved the torture after crashing my heat and expecting us to just fawn over her.

“How could she?” Brandy asked so quietly I had to lean forward to hear her more clearly.

“How could she what?” I asked, biting my lip as she lifted her head.

I was hoping for tears streaming down her face or something to show she was about to bawl her eyes out.

Instead, I was met with a storm.

My heart leapt into my throat as her untrained aura slammed into me. I almost choked as rich brandy spun around me, blazing like the fire of pain feeding into me through our bond.

It was the same brand of Cas’s pure fucking rage, the kind he got before he went rogue. Tears still marked her flushed cheeks, but with her wild eyes and quivering lips, she was gorgeous.

“How could she talk to you like that?” she rasped, her chest heaving in one shuddering breath.

The whole world fell out under my feet, my eyes wide, shock pounding through me, stealing my last piece of fucking loathing.

I thought I misheard her, that I’d just imagined it. Because there was no way she’d just said that.

“W-What… What do you mean?” My heart grew tighter as she vibrated with the same rage I thought I felt for her.

And the way her fingers flexed around our bite mark sent a thud of pleasure straight to my fucking core.

“How could she treat you like that?” Brandy asked as she turned to face me. “How could she even say that to you? Are you okay?”

My mouth dropped open as a lone tear slid down her cheek and a tidal wave of sadness broke from her.

What the fuck was wrong with her?

Was she trying to trick me? I didn’t think she was the kind for mind games, but I didn’t know shit about her, really. I mean, Zania hadn’t sent her, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t plotted the whole thing herself.

“Oh, that?” I replied. “Don’t worry about that. It’s just how she is.”

I was absolutely casual as fuck, even though I was ready to whip out my fan and hit her over the face. I didn’t want her to look at me with so much emotion.

Because it looked like compassion, or understanding, or something. I didn’t want to feel that shit, especially with her.

“Then why didn’t you help?” she asked.

Like I was really going to tell her I’d frozen because the second I saw Zania grab her, I was actually scared something might happen. Like how my closest friends all had mysterious accidents or were suddenly blacklisted from the fashion industry because I’d ignored Zania’s threats to leave Caspian and Sin. That was the first time I was genuinely terrified I'd pushed Zania too far, and I instantly wanted to tell Brandy how sorry I was for being so fucking weak.

I hadn’t realised I’d become way too comfortable with Sin and Cas’s influence keeping me safe until she was in danger. And my moronic omega instincts told me deep-down that I couldn’t protect Brandy if Zania really went for it.

It was a joke.

“Well, Sin, Cas, and I have an agreement. We need to keep the peace and all.” I shrugged, even though it hurt so badly that I had to keep my mouth shut all the time to protect an omega I didn’t give two shits about. Because it was all for Camille, the omega Cas really wanted.

Which meant no fighting with Zania, no matter how much of a raging bitch she was.

Brandy’s gaze panned back to the corridor where Zania had left, and I felt another sting through the bond.

“But you’re Kai Risler. You’re…You’re so much better than this.” She shook her head, her eyebrows rising as she turned back to me, another tear sliding down her face. “You’re supposed to be family.”

I paused, my hand tightening around my fan. Incredulous looks were kind of my deal, but speechlessness definitely wasn’t.

Brandy was serious. She was actually giving a shit about me after everything we’d done to her.

“Hey, you should be worried about yourself. She bloody manhandled you.”

And Brandy just let Zania walk all over her, like it was normal for a bitch-class omega to grab someone else’s hair and yank them around.

She shook her head again. “I’m only here until the Selection Ceremony. How long have you been putting up with that? Has she treated you that way all the time?”

It was sort of hard to say how I'd been fighting with Zania when my alphas weren't looking to get myself in even more trouble. Like using my show to tear down her fashion sense, or specifically excluding her from some of the top fashion shows of the year.

But I was just a stroppy little kid acting out. I couldn't compare to what Zania could really do to me or Brandy if she tried.

I opened my mouth to reply before snapping it shut just as quickly. I was literally just about to start bitching over how that was nothing compared to some of the shit other people did to me when I’d presented just because I didn’t have a vagina to push a baby out of.

I pulled my lips in between my teeth, cutting myself off. I wasn’t fucking doing this. I wasn’t about to have a heart-to-heart with the woman who was stealing my mates from me.

“Like I said, that’s what she does. Zania’s the top omega around here, so you need to keep your head down and endure it.”

“Are you saying that people just let her act that way? Isn’t there something we can do to stop her?”

My irritation spiked as I glared at her.

“Since when the fuck did it become ‘we’? You’re a temporary solution. It’s got nothing to do with you.”

“It has when she’s dragging me around like that! Has she done that to you!?”

I shrugged and turned my head to avoid her piercing gaze. I didn’t think I’d ever forget the way Zania had sunk her nails into my neck the first time she saw Sin and Cas’s bites. It was like she wanted to dig them out of my skin.

“Maybe once or twice. Couple of times a year,” I mumbled, gritting my teeth at her horrified gasp. More pain flowed through our bond, tearing away at me. “Just sort of depends on her mood.”

If there weren’t still tears daring to fall, I might even have thought she was narrowing her eyes at me.

But she hadn’t levelled up enough to unlock our tragic backstory.

“A long…Kai, a long time ago doesn’t mean it didn’t happen!”

With her body shaking with rage, she was getting sexier by the second.

“And what did she mean by a ‘deal’? What was she talking about?”

I paused, weighing up the pros and cons of telling her about Camille and the Hiscoxes.

Pro: She’d probably be as devastated as I was when I learnt I was just a replacement for the omega Cas really loved.

Con: It would spoil the surprise when she saw how Cas and Camille were together.

Pro: Cas would probably be grateful I dealt with his shit again, like always.

Con: I really didn’t want to talk to the fifth wheel about the fucking fourth wheel hanging around our pack.

Though there was always the bonus option where I ignored Brandy’s question and did whatever the fuck I wanted.

Which was way easier than mapping out the fucking complexities of my bullshit relationship with Camille.

And the warm snuggly feeling winding its way up from my toes, simmering with pleasure that someone was putting me first, even in a situation like this? It needed to be stamped down.

ASAFP.

“Come on.” I lifted our clasped hands and ignored the urge to wipe away her tears with my thumbs and cup her face so I could see if she was being honest with me instead of just feeling it through the bond. “We need to get rid of that stench.”