Page 25 of Cost of Courting

I wince.

Luna gets to the doorway and gives me an ‘are you ready’ look. I can honestly say I’m not, but there is nothing on Earth that is going to make me walk away from this either.

She pushes open the door and walks in. I slowly approach the door frame and look inside.

Selene spots me at once, looking between us. Frantically adding two plus two and coming up with the right conclusion. Her scent blooms into the air, blueberry cobbler, but it’s sour, it’s off.

Last night’s idiocy crashes back through my brain.

“It was a mistake.” The words slip out in a regretful whisper.

Her eyes flare and then narrow dangerously. I feel like I just made a huge mistake.

“Is this the guy? Your guy?” Selene asks, and I can see her rapidly turning to a level of rage that I haven’t seen in a person before.

“Yes. This is him,” Luna gushes, beaming between us. “This is my Bailey.”

Selene cups her sister’s cheek. “No. Fuck no. Not even if he was the last idiot on the planet. It’s no.”

Luna’s face falls. She just stares at her sister, stunned.Ican only stare at her sister, stunned. Selene…oh, crap. This is bad, so bad. Of all the luck.

“You can’t do that. You can’t just veto everything. It doesn’t work like that.”

“I can, and I will. He’s not for you. He’s not a good person.”

I wince, but she’s right. I’m not a good person. But I don’t like her saying it.

Luna glares at her sister, the animosity between them growing and thickening.

“You’re just jealous.”

I wince. Selene stares straight at me. Daring me to say something, anything. I hold my tongue, trying to figure out how to play this.

“Okay, sure, I’m jealous. He’s so hot. Such an absolute winner of an alpha. You’d be lucky to have him, and I’d be lucky just to be in his presence,” Selene pauses, cocking her head to the side, “just like the other one.”

Luna flinches, but she juts her jaw. How long have we known each other now? Two months. We’ve kissed, but I’m so grateful now that we never went past that. This relationship is over, and I think Luna is the only one who doesn’t know it.

“Mael, Kingston, Edric, have you met Bailey Raines?” she glances over her shoulder, but I can’t take my eyes off her. “He is a lot like you guys. Self-absorbed, jackass. No sense of right and wrong. The ethics of a pig.”

“How did you know his name?” Luna asks.

“Pig of a man,” Selene snarls.

“HOW DID YOU KNOW HIS NAME, SELENE?”

“Ask your boyfriend,” Selene hisses.

She walks past her stunned sister and up to me. She tilts her head back and then wham, her knee slams into my junk. I double over, wheezing.

“Selene, wait-”

She whirls around, and, for the first time, I notice the alphas. My body is struck as if by lightning. I can’t move. All I can do is hold on as my entire self disintegrates.

“Oh, shit!” I whimper.

My scent changes before I can stop it. It slams into the air, mixing with hers. The room is unlivable.

“Bailey Raines,” my mystery stalker purrs and glides towards me.

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