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“Smart. It’s good that you knew to do that.”
“Well,” I shrugged, “Aydan taught me well, I suppose.”
He swallowed thickly, looking away from me. Stubborn bear was bound and determined to ignore what we were to one another. “Well, how about I call on you in the morning? Or one of the other den members will. I must go.”
“Were you waiting for me?”
“Sort of. Yes. Zane asked me to show you around. I thought I’d make sure the house was in order. Everything’s good here. Bedroom’s through there if you need to rest. There’s food. I really must go.”
My heart constricted. I thought we might talk. I stopped myself from saying more. Clearly, talking was not what he wanted to do, despite the fact that his scent called to me like nothing I had ever experienced before. It could mean only one thing, yet I wasn’t going to say it out loud. Not if he was going to deny it.
It already hurt having him react this way. Pairing that with words—no. That would be too much.
“Right. Well, I do need to sleep.” Not that I was going to be able to, not with his scent hanging in the air, not with all the unanswered questions, not with knowing that he was pretending that fate hadn’t paired us together—that something about me made me unworthy for him. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Right, someone will see you in the morning.” Fuck. That wasn’t the same thing. Not at all. “Sleep well, Corey.”
“Thanks,” I said, and then he was gone, leaving me in a new house, in a new den, waiting for my new arranged mating, knowing that I’d had my real mate so close for a smidgeon of time.
My bear was restless, begging to be set free, but I didn’t trust him. Instead, I forced him down and grabbed the other bag from the front porch and then climbed into bed. Maybe I’d be lucky and sleep would come.
I wasn’t lucky.
Chapter 4
Zane
It was a fluke. It had to be. There was no way that my nose truly scented what it did in my Alpha’s brother. Fate didn’t make mistakes, did they?
It was a trick of being too tired and being woken up by having a suitcase tossed on top of me. That’s what it was. Fate would not be this cruel to gift me a mate who was a man I had been told—in no uncertain terms—was completely off-limits. A man who was, for all intents and purposes, betrothed to another.
It couldn’t be. It just could not.
Yet, when I laid my head down that night after walking back to the garage, I’d been unable to get the scent of him out of my nostrils. I was bathed in the scent of oranges and a hint of rose, and something else I could not quite pinpoint. Whatever it was, it kept me up for the entire night. My sleep was short, bits of dreams about an omega with thick, dark hair that I could bury my fingers in as I held his head to kiss him.
And that wasn’t even the worst of it.
I woke up with a rock-hard dick and an absolute refusal to do anything about it. Because the minute I reached for it, visions of Corey filled my mind. I had only been in his presence for mere moments, yet I could easily picture him there with me while I fisted my cock. And sure, maybe it was within the letter of the law to jerk off to the image and memory of Corey, but it felt like a deep betrayal to the promise I’d made Aydan.
It was extremely difficult, but I stopped myself. I could not, would not, continue down this path. Unfortunately, there was no avoiding him completely. The only thing I could do was control my own behavior.
I was tasked with giving him the tour this morning. Even if I wanted to pawn him off on another, which I didn’t—my need to be near him growing by the second—but I promised his brother that, as well. I was good and screwed and not in the fun way I wanted to be screwing the sexy omega a brief walk away. And so, at the crack of dawn, I was awake, drinking my coffee, hating the predicament I was in.
I opened up the shop and handed over the reins to Russ, who would handle things while I was gone. He was good at his work and didn’t mind. Even if he did, Alpha’s orders came first. I tasked him with getting a tire to replace the one my mate had blown.
By ten, I was making the short trek to Corey’s home, the one that sat directly next to the Alpha’s home. It’d be a good place for Corey and his new mate, whenever he arrived.
My bear grumbled.
Just because we want him to be our mate, doesn’t mean he is our mate, I reminded him. And besides, he didn’t acknowledge us either. Although there was no denying his arousal.
Within a few moments, I had my bear under control and was knocking. Corey opened the door. He bit his lip and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He was so fucking adorable I couldn’t stand it.
“Come on in,” he said, stepping out of the way to allow me passage. I hated how much I longed for him to have thrown his arms around us or given an encouraging smile.
I followed him into the kitchen where he was enjoying his own coffee, his hands wrapped around the mug.
“Would you like some?” he said, indicating the half-full pot. My little omega liked his coffee.
