Page 18 of Knot Your Basic B*tch

“I mean Emmanuel? Well, he seems like a nice guy. He’s pretty cute…” Titus just shrugged.

Something within me sank at the realization.

Why was Titus so oblivious?

I wanted to quit this stupid interviewing thing, but did he literally have no idea that he was about to bond with an alpha likethat?Was he so ready to walk into the loving arms of a backstabbing jerk?

Alpha bonds were no joke. He’d be able to sense those other guy’s emotions in his mind all the time… for the rest of his life. I had no idea why these alphas weren’t taking mental health into consideration. I couldn’t imagine how having a bond with someone with anger issues would impact your happiness.

“Yeah, all the other guys that you sent my way… some of them have been just clueless, or straight up dumb. But Emmanuel? I think that he’s a psychopath. No, I mean literally. There’s something about him that is definitely off. Like he hides it well, but I think that he could be legitimately evil.”

“I don’t care about Emmanuel. If you say he’s shit, he’s shit. I’m not going to bond with him.”

I hadn’t noticed the tension that had built up in the pit of my stomach until it was suddenly gone. I hadn’t noticed how anxious I’d felt about Titus bonding an asshole until just now.

Titus frowned when he noticed me sighing. “Was Emmanuel really being psychotic? Do you want me to get him to apologize?”

I shook my head, trying to dislodge the mental image of Emmanuel’s pathetic attempt at saying sorry if he was ever forced to apologize to anyone. He just seemed like the kind of guy who was so convinced that he was right that he wouldneed to consult a written list of different ways to apologize for hurting people. There was no way that he was simply human enough to feel regular emotions and produce the words that sounded even close to empathic. I wasn’t up to hearing his bastardized and cheap imitation of sounding like a decent human. It seemed like more effort than it was worth. I didn’t have the mental energy to deal with that right now.

“So what’s going on with Kain?” Titus crossed his arms as he stared at me with an expression he’d photocopied from Father.

“Uhh…” damn. Titus was not supposed to pick up on that. What happened to him being oblivious? “Why would anything be going on with Kain?”

I did not want my family involved in my relationships before I even figured out what I wanted with these guys. I hadn’t evenmetthe entire pack. I didn’t even know all theirnames.

“Hey,” Titus grabbed my shoulders, watching me closely. The look in his eyes was burning, promising vengeance and swift retribution. “Your text said that he’s okay. You literally had nothing nice to say about a single one of the alphas that I sent your way. Is he blackmailing you? Tell me what’s going on.”

Damn, Titus thought that I was actually in danger or something. Well, I couldn’t let him think that Kain was using me… but I was kinda hoping to still be able to pawn my scent matches off on him once they started to annoy me.

“Alright, I’ll tell you what’s up with him. But can you please promise me that you won’t tell anyone? I mean no one. Not even our parents.”

“Okay?” Titus clenched his jaw. He had to be grinding his teeth—and he knew better than to mess with his teeth after wearing braces for three years when he was in middle school.

Why did he say it as a question? I didnotmean it as a question.

“Promise me, or I’m not saying a word.” I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Okay, fine. I promise. What is it?”

“So Kain ended up being my scent match.”

“Oh my God! Chloe,” Titus pulled me in for an enthusiastic hug. “That’s great!”

“No!” I pulled out of the hug, shaking my head. Did no one ever listen to me? “This is the worst thing that could have happened to me.”

“Okay… not great then.” Titus frowned, as he tried to wrap his head around the very simple fact that I did not want scent matches. “Are they just not your type? Do you just dislike them or something?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t even met any of the pack besides Kain, and he’s not bad.” I crossed my arms across my chest and raised my chin. Just because my brother was stupidly taller than me and older than me did not mean that his points were any more important than mine. He wasn’t going to talk me out of my priorities.

“So, what’s the problem?”

“I don’t want a scent match right now. There are just other things that are more important to me.” I knew that the most important thing for my future happiness wasnotdick. I needed to focus on my academics in order to get my dream job.

Titus just stared at me.

I glared right back at him. “What?”

“What do you mean, what? What’s more important to you than having a pack? Not just a pack, one with your scent match?”