Page 37 of Brandy Snap: Part Two
“Sin, I know we said a lot of things when we were fucking, but I can’t be part of your pack. Not yet, anyway.”
His brow furrowed and I wanted to kiss away the creases, but I had to stay strong.
“But we’re mates,” he said. “We’re scent matches. It’s only right you stay with us.”
I shook my head, pulling in another shuddering breath as he continued to stroke my arms. I couldn’t tell if that made it betteror worse. Were his strokes distracting me, or making it easier to approach him calmly?
I dropped my gaze to his chest. “Have any of you done anything to make me want to be your mate?” I asked quietly, nerves bursting at the question.
“Excuse me?” He sat up, his shoulders pressing against the arm of the sofa. I couldn’t move as I waited for a proper answer. “Then what did we just do?” He cupped my cheek, asking me to look at him. “I thought you felt it, too. Did we not just make love? Didn’t you feel that too?” His pained expression clenched my heart. “Melanie, I already know deep inside my body. You are my omega. And there’s nothing I won’t do for you now.”
I watched him closely, and it didn’t seem he was lying. But he wasn’t thinking about anyone except himself.
“You have two mates who hate me. And we’ve only fucked once. That doesn’t mean I want to be bonded with you. I won’t be with a pack that treats me like dirt for the rest of my life.”
His face fell and his disappointment was thick in his scent, but I couldn’t waver.
It didn’t matter how turned on I got when Caspian and Kai were rough with me and they spat and snarled. Or how deeply my instincts craved them. I wanted mates who loved me and acted like they loved me. Even in the chaos of my new situation, where the most security I had was in Sin’s arms, I wasn’t going to enter a pack who couldn’t respect me enough to even talk to me like a real person.
“But I want to help you,” he said simply, like uprooting me from my nest was exactly what I needed after everything that had happened since I met them.
“Sin, you can help me by sticking to your original offer. It was supposed to be three parties and the Selection Ceremony, nothing more than that.” Even though it shook me to think I might not see them again after that.
“Are you saying this is still pretend for you?” he asked, the seriousness in his eyes stealing my breath. “Did the fact we made love really mean nothing to you?”
I leaned backwards, climbing off of him. I didn’t want to keep having this conversation when my aching pussy was hovering near his cock.
I sat on the edge of the sofa, my back to him, my hands curled into fists. “Sin, I’m really grateful you rescued me back there, and this night was amazing. But I think it’s better for both of us if we don’t expect anything more than that.”
“Please don’t minimise my feelings with excuses, Melanie. You already know how I feel about you. Don’t treat this as a transaction.”
“You started it, Sin. You’re the one who made our relationship like a business deal. And you didn’t need to. Not once. So don’t get upset just because I won’t do what you want.”
Even though it was breaking my heart to say it. Because if he even put his lips against my neck again, I’d probably beg him to bite me. It was taking everything I had not to jump on him again. And forget about the omega who had warned me over and over to stay away from his alphas.
A heavy silence hung between us, so suffocating that I had to move. I couldn’t sit there as darkness swirled out from him through his aura.
I always assumed he was the calmest of the three of them, but his aura was tightening, suffocating, pinning me in place, and I had to do something.
I quickly grabbed my dress, pretending not to notice the cloying energy as I put on a joking smile.
“So, now you’ve finished distracting me with sex, are you going to tell me who Camille really is?”
The energy suddenly vanished like I’d thrown him off, and I spun around to face him again.
“Excuse me?” he said, raising a brow as I stepped into my dress.
“I know she’s not just your sister, Sin. Even when I’ve been sure Caspian is ready to kill me, he’s never actually hurt me. But I thought he was really going to strangle me with an audience because of her.”
“How did you know it wasn’t because he was worried about you?” he asked.
“This is exactly what I mean. What kind of person shows someone they are worried by strangling them?” I sighed as I pulled up the straps. “Do you think I missed the way he looked at her? I didn’t even know he could be so gentle.”
Because how Caspian had held her and how his entire body softened for her, and the passion and pain in his gaze—that was how my future alphas should treat me.
Sin took my cue and reached for his clothes, watching me closely as he pulled his gloves over scarred hands, weighing up whether he should share whatever secret they were hiding.
And he sighed as he made his decision.
