Page 35 of Change

“I said I would let you make your own medical decisions, as you should.” Bryce sounded bored, but his arms were tense. “But not that you can neglect to make them entirely. I refuse to let you suffer because you’re too stubborn to go to a gynecologist.”

I narrowed my eyes at his blasé expression. He wasn’t even looking at me, his focus remained on the check-in station, but he obviously felt some measure of guilt—a muscle in his jaw had begun to twitch.

Who cared if he felt bad? It wouldn’t stop me from strangling him.

It wasn’t that I was being stubborn; Icouldn’tgo to a gynecologist. Besides, the details of my menstrual cycle were absolutelynota discussion I wanted to have with myolder brother.

But if he wanted to go there, bring it on. He had no idea what he was dealing with. I’d had years of practice traumatizing Finn over this very topic. The discussion of bodily functions was his weakness, and sometimes, I just wanted to be left alone.

Bryce was going to have no idea what hit him. I would make his dreamshorrendous to behold. The visuals would scar him for life. I refused to let him manipulate me.

I didn’t care if he had my picture on his phone; I hated his stupid face. “Why you—”

“Bianca!” Titus stormed through the waiting room doors, hair wild and voice fanatic. He was pulling at his tie while glancing around the space. He spotted me almost instantly, then Bryce, and the drawn lines of his face sharpened into something terrifying and ferocious.

“You!” Titus growled and he crossed the room before Bryce even had a chance to stand. The dragon grabbed my brother by the collar, dragging him to his feet. “What the hell did you do to her?”

Bryce was a tall man, but not nearly as tall as Titus, and so he stood on tiptoe as he attempted to offset the force of the dragon’s anger. “I’m sure you’ve heard it from Finn: I’ve brought her in for a checkup.”

“Finn said she didn’t want to go.” Titus’s grip tightened on Bryce’s collar.

“Shefainted. Why are you all ignoring a potentially serious medical issue?” Bryce waved his hand in my direction. “Someonehas to make her, and it obviously wasn’t going to be any of you. So I’m assertingmyauthority to do something about it. I refuse to just sit by as she suffers needlessly, even because of her own stubbornness.”

“We’re not ignoring it; we’ve never ignoredanything. We’re concerned too,” Titus sharply retorted. “But she’s a grown woman who can make her own decisions.”

I groaned, pressing my face into my knees. Luckily, the only other people in the waiting room were desk clerks, who only watched the scene with mild interest. But as they obviously knew who both Bryce and Titus were, I doubted the police would be called.

But the fact remained, we were in public and now the two of them were practically shouting my personal business for the world to hear.

This was so humiliating.

Bryce was dumped back into his seat and a heavy warmth pressed against the front of my legs. I lowered my hands from my face, coming eye to eye with Titus.

The dragon was kneeling on the floor in front of me, trying to be reassuring as his green eyes flickering over my form. “Are you okay?” he asked. “Are you ready to go home? Or, maybe, do you want something to eat?”

Food would be good, I usually always liked food. But—

“No thanks, I’m not hungry.” I hugged my arms around my knees. Besides the pain, I was an emotional mess. First, Damen remained impossible to figure out, then there was my afternoon with Brayden and my confrontation with Uncle Gregory. Plus, I worried about this new thing I’d signed up for with Gloria. Would it be more than I could handle?

And now, I had Bryce bombarding me out of nowhere.

My mind was so filled with self-pitying thoughts that I didn’t even realize my mistake until it was too late.

“See,” Bryce was saying as he waved an accusing hand in my direction. “She’s not evenhungry.”

Titus’s lips thinned, and my limbs grew cold at his sudden look of contemplation.

My spine stiffened. “Hold on,” I rushed to explain. “It’s not what—”

“What’s going on?” Julian had arrived—still in his scrubs, so he must have been summoned from elsewhere in the hospital. He inclined his head in Bryce’s direction as he addressed Titus. “You didn’t kill him yet. It must be really bad.”

Again? What did Finn tell everyone?

“She won’t let me take her out to eat,” Titus replied.

Julian’s eyes widened.

Bryce waved his hand in the air. “I told you! And she fainted three times today,” he added, almost as an afterthought.