Page 107 of Rejected By the Shifter King

Hexius simply waited. Hexius and Alphonse had grown up with Brandy since childhood, and even then it was obvious to all that it was Brandy who was the smartest, the one destined to change lives through science. She was the quickest to put one and one together, and so—

Brandy was now looking at him like he had confessed to asking for the Jinn to turn him into a Fae.

“The human?”

He inclined his head in acknowledgment, saying broodingly, “I may have misjudged Alphonse again.” He had thought that his older brother had chosen a human bride for him in a petty bid for vengeance. But with the Concord Agency affirming Samira’s compatibility as his mate?

The only question he had this time washow.

How had Alphonse known Samira was his ideal mateyearsbefore the Concord Agency or even Hirsche Laboratories had come out with their mating technologies?

“Does she know about me?” Brandy wanted to know.

“I told her that I rejected her that time because of another woman. But it was Alphonse who supplied the details.”

“Idiot.”

He would not argue with that. However—-

“Don’t you think that’s a bit like the pot calling the kettle black,” he drawled, “considering how you’ve just as idiotically accepted—”

The fact that Brandy only winced at this spoke volumes.

“—the marriage proposal of Alphonse’s former second-in-command?”

“It’s Alphonse’s fault!”

Hexius had a feeling he was about to want to start throttling Brandy again. This, too, was another change resulting fromThat Day,but it was one he liked the least. BeforeThat Day,Brandy had always been the voice of reason, and was the least emotional of the three of them. It was why he had originally seen her as a challenge, his pride wanting her like she was but a trophy, and whose submission would be another notch in his bedpost.

Now, however?

“Alphonse cannot be blamed foryouractions,” he reminded her. “And no one certainly pointed a gun to your head to make you say ‘yes’ to being Vaughn’s wife.”

“I just wanted to make your brother jealous,” Brandy defended herself.

“But instead, all you achieved was to cause further trouble—”

“I get it, I get it! I’m wrong, I’m sorry!” Brandy threw her hands up in surrender. “I miscalculated, okay?”

“You didn’t just miscalculate. You’ve caused Vaughn to think he needs to get rid of my brother and me in order to win you back—”

“Why do you think I’m here?” Brandy burst out. “I know I made a mistake. I admit it. But when I started dating him, I really wanted to make it work. I really believed he could make me forget Alphonse. But it just...it just didn’t work out the way I thought it would. So...here I am, just a girl standing in front of the boy who once loved her—”

The idiot actually dared to lay her hand on his cheek and start batting her lashes at him.

“Stop that!”

Brandy only laughed at the way he had flung her hand off. “It’s gross, isn’t it?”

“Extremely.”

“Oh, Hexius.” She was smiling still, but her eyes were also full of tears. It was another side of her that didn’t exist beforeThat Day.And somehow, even with the scarring on her cheek, this side of her made Brandy seem more...beautiful. And she was that, but he only saw this in a way a brother would see his own kin beautiful.

“You can’t believe how happy you’ve made me right now!”

“You’re happy because I want to get rid of you?”

“You could have phrased it a little better, but yes, Iamhappy about that because I know it can only mean one thing, and that’s—”