Is that longing in his eyes, before he masks it?
I peer into the corridor outside.
My heart sinks, when I see that it’s swarming with Jin’s black suited security team.
There is no way to fight our way out of here.
Torin’s expression tightens, as he seems to do the same calculation.
“Brother,” the new Alpha says through clenched teeth, “quite a mess you’ve created for me.”
Brother?
Despite the fear, excitement winds through me at seeing one of the elusive Idol siblings.
My gaze slides to Torin, but he’s wearing a bored expression now, giving nothing away.
Yet Jin is trembling, clutching his arms around his middle.
His distress is enough to make me choke.
Torin shrugs. “Alphas will be Alphas. You know what it’s like, when you see an Omega you want.”
Rory bares his teeth, as if he wants to snap something but is holding himself back. “I don’t, as you well know.”
Something like regret flashes across Torin’s face, before he can hide it. “Watch your tone, Rory. What would Mena do, if she heard you talking to me like that? Have you forgotten your place in the pack in the couple of years that I’ve been away? Do I need to make you bare your neck?”
I gasp.
Making another Alpha bare their neck in submission is brutal. Doing it in public is the ultimate humiliation.
Jin ducks his head, letting his hair cover his face to avoid watching.
As if he’s seen this happen before.
“Why is Charming bullying his brother?” Cricket whispers.
I shake my head at a loss.
When I think of all the times that elite Omegas sneered, trying to put Piper and me in our place, it makes me shake.
I’d burn the world for Piper and Chase.
I had imagined thatTorinwas the bullied, younger brother within the pack and not the other way around.
Why is this older Alpha being deferential to Torin?
Fear and shame flit across Rory’s expression.
He takes a hurried step toward his taller brother. “Please, Torin, I’m only doing my job. I haven’t forgotten that I’m the adopted son. When do any of you let me forget that?”
Torin snatches Rory by the tie and yanks him closer. “Careful, brother, that sounded like you were complaining.”
When I stare at this cold, deadly man, it’s like I don’t know Torin at all.
Yet I became so close to Torin during the heat.
Except, the Alpha in front of me now…?