Page 86 of Bully for Sale

Ezer laughed. “Let’s put it this way, I forgot who I was and what I was all about during heat. It was so consuming. Now? It’s good enough to make me forget I didn’t want this life.”

“But you chose it!” Shan said. “Father said you signed the contract of your own volition. He said he didn’t make you.”

“He didn’tmakeme,” Ezer agreed. Though he wouldn’t say he’d done it of his own volition either. “There were circumstances, though. Involving Da.”

Both of them rolled their eyes. “We told you to stay away from Da.”

“I know.”

“If you had, maybe you’d still be home with us right now,” Flo said.

“Maybe.” Ezer didn’t think so, though. His father had wanted an excuse to get rid of him—and the eyes that had reminded him of Amos’s betrayal.

“Rodan was asking after you,” Flo said. “Father told him that you were gone, like Da, and to stop with the questions.”

“He hasn’t mentioned you since,” Shan went on.

“Oh.” That hurt more than it should have, but maybe it was for the best. “Well, I’m not sure what the future holds, but if Father thinks I’m going to just be a quiet, pregnant omega happily tucked away in Ned’s house, he’s wrong. I don’t plan to present Ned with children like I’ve plucked them from an apple tree. I’ll have these two, and then we’ll see what I do with my life.”

The twins looked at each other. “Is that safe? Won’t your alpha punish you?”

“Ned? Punish me?”

They nodded.

Ezer felt an odd, warm sensation in his chest—was it security? Was it even maybe a subtle joy? “Ned would never punish me.”

“Never?”

“Never.”

Yell at me, fight with me, fail me, or fuck me silly, yes, but punish me? No.

Ezer didn’t know why he felt so sure of that, but he was.

“Yissan said this alpha of yours is better-connected than you would have gotten on your own. He says Father did you a favor.”

Ezer chafed at that. Ned claimed to have wanted him even before this was all arranged by their parents. He used to not believe Ned’s romantic nonsense, but now after the way Ned tenaciously stuck to this story, he thought maybe he was telling the truth. Ned had been horrible at knowing what to do with that feeling, but it wasn’t as though Ezer couldn’t have made this connection on his own. But he couldn’t explain that to his brothers. They wouldn’t believe him.

“Ned is Heath Clearwater’s nephew, and former heir. He’s still close with his uncle.” Ezer did wonder, though, what would happen when Heath found out about the choices made in his absence. He got the impression that Heath was not the type of man to take kindly to being left out of big decisions like this one.

“Father wants to sell us off next,” Shan said, darkly. “There’s a businessman interested in Flo. I don’t like him.”

“You don’t like the situation,” Flo corrected. “You’ve never even met him.”

“Have you?”

Flo flushed. “Yes, and he was handsome.”

“When did you meet him?” Shan screeched.

“Why does it matter? I met him. I liked his looks.”

“An alpha needs to be more than handsome, Flo. You’re thinking with your hole.”

“What’s an alpha need to be then?” Flo challenged.

“Mature—”