How dare he?
I plucked a robe off the back of the door and shrugged it on.
A swell of rage choked me, and I left the bedroom, heading for the kitchen. I yanked open all the cabinets until I found a decent-sized, deep pot. I carried it to the sink and turned on the icy water. The faucet filled the pan quickly, and I lifted it so easily it could only be my rage driving me. I ignored the pinch in my arm and returned to Sinclair’s bedroom.
With as much strength as I could muster, I hoisted the condensation-coated pot, tossing it up and aiming for the bed. Some droplets fell on my fingers, telling me how cold it was.
Icy water flew across the Alphas, drenching them.
Sinclair sat up with a ragged gasp, sputtering from his mouth, while Kyan jolted, his eyes popping open. I swirled the last few inches of water that hadn’t made it out of the pot, took one step to the side of the bed, and poured the rest over Elias’ head.
He shouted, rolling off the mattress. I just managed to avoid him landing on me.
I tossed the pot, and the ringing of metal colliding with the hard floor echoed off the wall.
Three pairs of eyes blinked at me owlishly. It would have been comical if I weren’t so angry.
“When did you find out I was your Scent Match?” I didn’t recognize my rough voice. Kyan looked away, his eyebrows furrowing and lips turning down with displeasure.
“We didn’t know,” Sinclair blurted, his nostrils flaring. Was his panic all for show, too?
I looked at Elias. His focus had settled on the bite mark on the side of my neck that would become a red claiming bite, his jaw moving from side to side, still not saying anything.
Suppressants took a few hours to hit . . . “When I first went to The Bordello, did you make me wait in the lobby because you needed the suppressants to kick in?”
Again, silence.
The Scent-Be-Gone in the lounger room. They had to wait for the suppressants to hit.
I clenched the robe sleeves and crossed my arms. Did it matter when they knew I was theirs?
All that mattered was that they knew and never said anything. I’d spent close to two weeks with them . . .
“Never mind.” I turned my back on them.
“Briar,” Elias said. I ignored him. “Stop.”
I stopped a few feet away from the door.
He’d used his fucking Alpha bark.
“We’ve known since you published the article.”
My shoulders jerked with another well-placed hit.
“Oh.”
“Sin and I broke into your place. You’d just left, your pheromones lingered . . .” He continued speaking, but I was already checked out, lost to my thoughts.
Memories flickered through my head. After I was fired, while I was living in my car, and then when I was trying to clear my name. Then, when I first saw them and how they treated me. They werefightingtheir attraction to me. It had been their Alpha instinct urging them to claim me.
I tucked my arms under my armpits, squeezing.
I was falling apart. The shadows crowding closer and closer. As was Elias.
His mouth kept moving, but now he approached. And he justwouldn’t stop talking.
All fucking excuses.
