Not that I give a shit.
“We were worried,” I say, but the words are growled out.
My brother sets a hand on my arm, seeking to calm me down, “It’s fine. Everyone is fine. It’s no big deal.” He’s trying to downplay it, but I’m not going to waste my breath lying.
I shake his hand off and finish walking up the steps, angling my body so that I tower over Jessica and she has to crane her head back to hold my stare. Less than a foot between us, her peppermint scent is stronger now, but not as strong as it should be thanks to whatever she lathers on her body.
“Next time you want to go for a hike in the woods,” I hiss, “you take one of us with you so this doesn’t happen again.”
She doesn’t say anything. All she does is stare up at me with eyes that have no right being so pretty in the sunlight. She swallows, and because we’re so close, she can’t hide it from me, nor can she hide the way she puckers her lips slightly.
I take a tiny step toward her, closing what little distance remained between us as I whisper, “Is that understood, omega?” I don’t use my dominance on her, but I do still have an effect on her.
Though my brother is busy glaring at me, Jessica can only nod and whisper, “Yes, alpha.” And when she says that last word? Let’s just say I’ve never heard anyone say it quite like that before.
Asher coughs, and just like that, whatever spell is between us is broken. My brother drags me inside the house, and he’s only able to do so because I’m so confused at what just happened and how badly I want to hear her call me alpha again.
And Jessica? She doesn’t move a muscle, not even when Asher and I are inside the house. Her back is to us, and I can’t help but wonder if her mind is spinning as much as mine.
“What the heck was that?” my brother questions me. “That was totally uncalled for. What were you thinking? You can’t talk to her like that—”
I grind my jaw. He’s right, of course. She doesn’t belong to me. I have no right to tell her what to do, let alone call her omega like that, but you know what? She has no right, either. No right to look up at me with those eyes. No right to answer my ‘omega’with her own soft ‘alpha’.
Everything is suddenly too much. Too much and not enough all at once. Nothing has ever set me off like this before; it’s a strange, odd sensation I don’t know how to deal with. I came here to be alone, not to want things I have no right to.
Before my brother can say anything else, I frown at him and tell him, “Fuck off.” And then I move around him and head through the house. I only relax once I’m safely inside my room, the door shut.
And even then, I’m not fully relaxed. I shouldn’t have gotten so worked up, shouldn’t have said what I said the way I said it, nor stood that close to her.
What was I thinking? What was I doing?
Fucking hell. I knew the moment I saw her here this was a bad idea.
Chapter Ten – Jess
I stand outside, clutching that glass of water like it’s my only lifeline, for what feels like an hour. In reality, it’s more like a minute or two, but still. By the time Asher steps outside and joins me with a sorrowful look on his face, I’m lost in my own head.
Mostly in the past. The recent past.
I can’t get the way Mason said that, and how he stood, out of my mind. Being on the couch with him at night was one thing; he was standoffish and mean, sure, but this time it was different. This time there was genuine concern behind his words… and what feels like something else. Something with a bit more weight behind it.
The way he was gazing down at me, even the memory of it made me shiver.
Asher cautiously moves to stand beside me. “I’m sorry about him. He’s… you know. When I asked him for help, I didn’t think he’d get that into it.” He really does sound apologetic, like he’s taking what his brother did and how he acted toward me personally.
I am, too. I mean, I think I am. I’m pissed at that über, but at the same time I’m not. It’s the weirdest thing. Everything inside of me is so conflicted, I don’t know what to think or how to feel.
“It’s—” I’m going to say it’s fine, but you know what? No, it’s not. It’s not fine. Just because I’m an omega doesn’t mean Mason gets to take that kind of tone with me, and just because my body reacted the way it did doesn’t mean I liked it or anything.
Hell no. That alpha’s an asshole through and through, and I am so not into assholes.
It takes a lot out of me to say, “He’s a jerk.”
“He really is. I’m sorry. I was just… when I saw how much time had passed, and you weren’t back yet, I freaked out and begged him for help.” Asher sighs and shakes his head. “Honestly, I’m surprised he helped at all.”
“Did you interrupt something important that he was doing?”
“No. He was just hanging out in his room as far as I know.” Asher’s green gaze studies me, and he takes his time in adding, “I’ll talk to him again later. He’ll probably never apologize, but it’s worth a shot.”
