Page 22 of Ronen (Sweet Alps Legacy #1)

Chapter Fifteen

Ronen

“I did something stupid.”

Matty rubbed at his face, shutting his front door behind me. “Please come in. I love having my door pounded on like the damn S.W.A.T. team is about to burst in.”

Spinning to glare at him in the middle of his living room, I didn’t apologize. Had he not just heard what I had said?

“I did something stupid.” Apparently, I needed to repeat it.

My brother leaned his large body against his closed door, arms crossed over his chest.

“Something or someone? Because you reek of dried cum and sex, your neck looks like you tangled with a vampire, and–” he waved his hand in the direction of my head, “I didn’t think it was possible for your hair to be messier than it usually is, but here we are.

And I have neighbors, you know? What the fuck warranted all that pounding? ”

Scrunching up my face, I planted my hands on my hips. “What neighbors? You’ve got Uncle Gabe and Asher across the street, and Bennett and Shay next door. They are all practically family. They don’t count.”

Matty pinched the bridge of his nose. “Some days I can’t manage to figure out how your brain works. Come in. Sit. Tell me all about your stupidity. I’m sure it has something to do with your fated mate.”

He moved past me, into his dining room, then on into his kitchen, where I couldn’t see him.

Instead, I stared at the hideous walls of his living room. One wall painted turquoise, one lime green, and the other peach possibly. It was some shade of orange. Looking at it made my eye twitch.

“I can’t believe Uncle Wade has never painted these walls,” I commented, taking a seat at Matty’s table.

It was strewn with his laptop, and various folders and papers. A red pen sat abandoned on top of a pile of what looked like student papers. “Who makes their students actually use paper? I know you’ve heard of online and computers.”

Hell, Matty had been taking online classes when he was in elementary school, and he had helped develop many apps colleges and universities now used for teaching tools.

Matty reached into the cabinet above his stove, pulling down a heavy bottle full of amber liquid. Grabbing two glasses, he carried the bundle back to the table.

Grinning as he poured us each two fingers worth of the very expensive bourbon, he slid one across to me.

“I like to fuck with them. You should have heard the bitching when I told them I expected printed copies. It gives me some kind of weird joy to wield my red pen the way I do. ”

“With great power comes great responsibility.” I might have been quoting Spider-Man, but it was good enough to clink our glasses together in a toast.

“And I think Uncle Finn has given up on Uncle Wade ever repainting those walls. I honestly think he has had to have the paint touched up over the years. It was the same color when Papa and I rented this place, before he and Dad got together,” he paused.

“Or back together, I guess, technically. Anyway, it grows on you after a while.”

Matty was renting this two-bedroom bungalow from our Uncle Wade.

It had once been owned by our Uncle Quinn, who had sold it to Uncle Wade.

Once he and our Uncle Finn had gotten together, he then decided to use it as rental property.

I had forgotten that Matty and Papa had once lived here, before I was born.

Uncle Wade had some crazy notion that the little house held some kind of magic when it came to fated mates. He claimed nearly everyone who ever lived in it had found their fated mates shortly after moving in.

It had surprised me when Matty had told us he would be staying here, since he had more than enough money to rent, or even buy, something fancier.

Hell, he could have bunked with me, our parents, even with our grandmothers.

Their house was bigger than the two of them needed, even with my cousins Sammi and Charlie moving in with them.

“Oh, my Goddess.” A thought just dawned on me. “You’re living here to try to debunk Uncle Wade’s theory about this house and fated mates, aren’t you.”

“I’m living here because I like my own space, and I needed quiet to work on my book,” Matty told me. “And, maybe to try to debunk Uncle Wade’s theory. I can use it in the book, so it’s a win-win.”

“Better watch out, you’ll be the next one to find their fated mate,” I warned, not at all sure I believed our uncle, but knowing his theory was based on a ton of people having met their fated mates when they lived in this house.

Matty chuckled, “Yeah, I’m not worried about it. So, you and Mason?”

“I didn’t intend to fuck him.”

He took a sip of his bourbon, letting it sit on his tongue a few seconds, before he swallowed. “What did you intend?”

Sighing, I took a gulp of my own drink, letting the alcohol burn all the way down to my stomach. “I…I just needed to make sure he was alright. Tell him we would cover his medical bills–”

Matty snorted, “Does the library have money for that? Without it shooting the insurance premiums up?”

“Never said the library would cover them.”

“Ah, makes sense,” he nodded. “Do continue. Wait, should I pop some popcorn for this?”

“Fuck off,” I growled, “this is my life, not some reality show on television.”

“Still good entertainment.”

Spinning my glass in a circle on the table, I stared at the amber liquid. Why did it remind me of Mason’s eyes? I was officially losing it.

“We ended up arguing,” I told him quietly.

“Shocker,” Matty interrupted, his tone dry as dirt.

Scowling at him, I asked, “Could you refrain from commenting until I’m done, please?”

“I can’t agree to those terms. ”

At my glare, he conceded, “Fine, I’ll try. But I think I’m going to have questions when you’re done.”

“He’s been stealing books!”

“Has he? Interesting.” Another glare from me, and Matty made a sign over his lips like he was zipping them closed.

“He’s been saying they were lost, paying for them, so I guess, technically he hasn’t actually stolen them. But he did lie about them! What kind of maniac does that?”

Matty raised one brow, but instead of answering my question, he poured more alcohol in both our glasses. When I raised my own brow at him, he just shrugged. “You can stay in the guest room. But it feels like this is going to call for a fair amount of booze.”

“So, we were arguing over the books–”

“As you normally do.”

“And I was leaving, because he made me so mad I was going to throw something at his head, and then I don’t know what happened. We were suddenly kissing, and other things.”

“Other things,” Matty gave me a smirk. “I can tell what those other things were.”

His eyes narrowed, and he pushed from his chair. Leaning over the table, he grasped my chin in his hand, tilting my head up to the light. Growling, he demanded, “Did he put those bruises on your neck?”

Oh, shit. That. Hmmm, I’d need to explain that to my brother before he wolfed out and confronted Mason. My skin was pale, and bruises tended to show on it fairly quickly and easily.

“He didn’t do anything I didn’t ask him to do.”

Matty’s eyes widened a fraction, before understanding shown in their blue depths. Sinking back into his seat, he gave an exaggerated shudder. “I didn’t need to know that.”

“Stop asking me questions and getting all growly then. You know I can take care of myself.” I reminded him. “And, I like what I like.”

He gave me a steady look across the table. “There’s always someone better, Ronen. You need to remember that. Someone stronger, faster. What is Mason anyway? A wolf? Something bigger like Uncle Gabe?”

“I’m not sure what he is,” I told him honestly.

“He heals super-fast, I know that. His ankle is broken, but he wouldn’t let them cast it.

It’s in a boot. He said it would be fine in a week.

But he wouldn’t tell me what he is. He said he can only share it with his mate and we,” my voice took on an annoyed tone, “haven’t talked about what we are yet. ”

“Huh?” Matty grunted. “That’s very interesting.”

I knew that gleam of interest in my brother’s eyes, and I wasn’t going to stop him from digging up any information he could about what Mason might be.

“But Mason wouldn’t hurt me.” My fingers unconsciously touched my throat, then skimmed over the purple bruise resting just over my mate gland.

I didn’t know why I was so sure of Mason, but I was. Every cell in my body just knew that he would never hurt me. Not physically anyway.

He had done what I had asked, pressing his fingers into my flesh when I had downright demanded it.

But his other touches had been gentle, his eyes soft.

Always checking in with me, sometimes without words, to make sure I was still enjoying myself, still wanted him.

Had I said stop, I knew Mason would have instantly stopped whatever we were doing.

“So, what stupid thing did you do?” Matty asked, refilling my drink. Fuck, I was going to need to crash in his spare bedroom.

“I didn’t make him use protection,” I muttered, mad at myself.

Matty had told me earlier about his research, and I had completely ignored it. I couldn’t even explain why. Even being on birth control, I always made any alpha I was with glove up.

But with Mason, I hadn’t wanted that. It was like someone had taken over my body, some lust crazed demon, who wanted to feel his cum inside me.

Wanted to feel his skin against mine. Who didn’t care about the consequences of pregnancy.

My body had been burning up, and nothing else had mattered but getting Mason's cock and knot inside of me.

Knowing nothing else could quench the fire that had been blazing inside me.

Fucking hell. Heat. Mini-heat. Matty’s information and facts from earlier were coming back to haunt me.

Matty was silent while he took a few seconds to spin his own glass in front of him. I knew him well enough to know when he was trying to find the right words to say. Without saying ‘I told you so, and what the actual fuck were you thinking?’ “It doesn’t mean you’ll get pregnant.”

“Doesn’t all your research say differently?”

“Mostly, yes, but there are always exceptions to variables. So, where did you and Mason leave things? What are you planning to do about being fated? Is this something you want to pursue, especially after…that.” He indicated the marks on my neck.

“We…ah…didn’t.” I mu mbled.

“Didn’t what? Decide?”

“Didn’t discuss it, so yeah, we didn’t decide.”

“Ronen,” Matty groaned, pushing the palm of his hand into his forehead like I was making his head hurt.

“I know!” I cried, jumping up to pace the dining room. “I didn’t plan to lose my temper–”

Matty snorted derisively, and I ignored him, because okay, I had a habit of losing my temper frequently. Especially where Mason was concerned.

A flickering behind Matty, at his patio slider doors, caught my attention. William appeared, and I pointed a finger at him. “Go! I’m not dealing with you. I have enough shit to deal with right now.”

“But–,” William started, and I cut him off at the pass.

“No! Haven’t you done enough damage for one day? Just leave me the fuck alone, William. I’m not in the mood for your cryptic bullshit, or to discuss what you did earlier.”

He disappeared, and I sighed tiredly, exhaustion slamming into me so hard, I nearly swayed with it.

Matty was watching me with concern in his eyes. “You look exhausted, Ro. When’s the last time you slept?”

Opening my mouth, I almost told him about the dreams that had been plaguing me for months, but I didn’t. It was just a stupid nightmare, that meant nothing, and suddenly I had more important things to sort out in my life.

“Why don’t you go get some rest,” Matty told me quietly. “Things will look clearer in the morning after you’ve had a good night’s sleep. Then you can figure out what you want.”

But nothing looked clearer in the morning .

My dreams of a giant snake had plagued me, only this time my dream dragon joined in the fun, breathing fire around us, shaking the earth with its rage.

Waking in a cold sweat, my heart pounding in my ears, fear nearly paralyzed me.

And, I still had no clue what I wanted when it came to Mason.