I see red.
I know I love my brother, but I can’t feel it past the rage in my brain.
My words come out as a growl. “You‘tried out’your‘game’on Adley? When you weretwenty-fiveand she was at mosteighteen?”
“It wasn’t like that, Adam.”
I can hear Adley’s words, but they don’t quite register.
Ben’s expression isn’t at all apologetic, it’s more knowing, and that further enrages me.
I get up out of my seat and look down at my mate. “What did he do?”
Her face is shocked, but I’m not bothered. “Adam, he didn’t do anything. We talked, and he tried out some cheesy pickup lines on me that I just laughed at.” She takes my hand and looks up at me from her seat. “And I never saw him again until right now.”
She speaks like an adult to a petulant child, slow and steady. And maybe I’m acting like one. And maybe I don’t care.
I pull Adley to her feet by our joined hands until her chest crashes into mine, and I grip the back of her head, dive in to kiss her. I plunder her mouth with my tongue, my mouth open so wide I’m swallowing her lips, holding her tight and growling into the cavern of her mouth.
It doesn’t take more than a minute for a voice in the back of my mind to start whispering,You’re in public. You’re eating your mate’s face in a cafe you go to almost every day.
My body stiffens before I pull away from Adley, leaving her lips puffed and wet, my dick struggling not to stand at attention. And failing. Miserably.
What did I do?
“Do you feel better now?”
I blink at Ben, who’s got one brow raised in question as a fog lifts from my consciousness, and all I feel is confusion. Then, out of nowhere, Adley stuffs my mouth with a piece of her strawberry danish, and my brain sizzles back to life.
I look at her with wide eyes, but all she does is smile at me, understanding shining in her dark eyes.
What… what was I so mad about?
My brother shakes his head at me as he reiterates, “It’ll get better once you’ve mated.”
And that line hits me like a freight train.
Heightened emotions. Instability.
This is the start of Bond Sickness. This is because we haven’t mated yet.
Fuck me.
Chapter Seventeen
After the very possessive, very hot, and very public display with Adam at Cuppa that had Liz giving me two thumbs-up from behind the counter, he’s been very quiet.
We left the cafe together, leaving Ben behind, and because he drove there while I’d walked, he drives me back to my place. Once he puts the car into park in my driveway, everything goes silent, the air I almost oppressive. And I don’t like this one bit.
I know Adam would never behave that way under normal circumstances, and now, I consider myself fortunate to know about pack dynamics and how hormones react to pack formations. Especially when the members haven’t consummated their bonds.
Gripping his hand in mine, I draw his knuckles to my lips and place a kiss on his skin, making his head whip toward me. His icy eyes are wide, like he’s scared, and I’ll be honest, sadness is just about all I feel.
If I thought it would fix everything and that it was the right thing to do, I’d fuck and mark Adam right here in his car. Right now.
But I know that’s not what he needs. Adam tends to do something I also do: overthink. And I want to help him break that cycle, even if it’s just for now.
“What you did was really hot.”
