“As you can see, gentlemen, I’m a bit tied up at the moment.” Wilder tilts his face down to look at the woman still speared on his cock. “They weren’t waiting for her to turn eighteen. Vanessa is about to be twenty-five. It’s when the contract expires.”
“That’s no one’s goddamn business,” Patrick growls.
“Yes, well, I would introduce you to my sweet stepsister, but she’s currently locked on my knot,” Wilder says, his eyes cutting to me and Patrick. “You’re beginning to test my patience.”
“You canceled on us with no notice,” Patrick snaps back. “This isn’t a game, Pierce!”
“I am doing my best to mediate both of your wishes. You want the omega your family was promised. She wants the freedom to choose her own future,” Wilder says, sounding frustrated.
Yeah, me too.
It’s too fucking bad.
“And while I understand your predicament,” he says calmly. “I truly believe you should consider what your quality of life would be like tied to that woman??—”
“Malachy is half-rabid. There are times he doesn’t even recognize us,” Patrick says, surprising me. We’ve kept that tidbit of information to ourselves, but he’s letting his anger get the better of him. “We can’t wait any longer. Not to mention, our fathers honored our end of the bargain two decades ago!”
“Wait, is he getting treatment?” the woman asks, slapping Wilder’s hand away as he attempts to block her face from view. “He should be seeing an omega at least two to three times a week if he’s that bad off.”
“What’s she talking about?” I ask, catching sight of her face. It takes everything in me to keep my expression placid as recognition hits.
She’s the woman who was with Charlotte and Lucky last night at the Christmas market. I’m ninety-nine percent sure she never spotted me, but that one percent chance makes my heart rate pick up to a gallop.
Why is she here?
Did Wilder say she’s his stepsister?
Ahh, fuck.
“Pheromone treatment therapy. It helps prevent the decay from taking over. I’ve had Grim in sessions for two months,” Wilder says, referencing his second-in-command. His face tilts down to hers once more. “Is Charlotte an omega? I would assume so if she works with you.”
My pulse hammers like my heart might explode in my chest.
Did he just say that Charlotte works with that woman at some type of pheromone treatment clinic?
“She is,” the woman replies.
“Actually, I have an idea,” Wilder says to me and Patrick. “Let’s see if we can help each other…”
Fucking Christ.
I haven’t mentioned my slight obsession with Charlotte to my brothers. As far as they know, I’m still planning to join them in marrying Vanessa Chapman to honor the contract.
This is a mess.
Scratch that.
It’s a fucking disaster in the making. There’s no way Charlotte is going to believe that we met by chance. We did the first time, but the occasions since have been by design.
I need to go shopping.
I’m going to need so many courting gifts to make up for how shady all of this looks.
Chapter Seven
Patrick
Doing a goddamn favor for Wilder is not high on my list of priorities at the moment. He tried to blow us off to fuck his stepsister in his office.
