Page 180 of Ruined Beta

“I’m not a sociopath,” he says. “If I was, I wouldn’t feel so much sometimes that I have to go numb to cope. I’m done hiding from how I feel, but I need someone who can see things in black and white to keep me on the right path, Spencer. I need you. I always have, I just couldn’t always see it.”

“If I’m the lead Alpha, you’ll have to do what I tell you to do.”

“That’s the idea.”

“You’re sure you can handle that? It’ll mean no more distance from the rest of us. No more pushing everyone away when things get hard.”

“No more pushing anyone away.”

He sounds like he means it. I can’t believe this is happening.

Of course, I always think I’m right, but I never expected him to admit his judgement isn’t always the best.

We’ve been so fractured, so at odds that I thought we were headed toward a break-up, not the complete opposite. I know the moment I mark him, everything changes.

“If you need more time,” E.A. starts.

I shake my head, and step in close, holding the side of his head and inspecting the mark on his right side. Toshi made this mark. It looks almost exactly like the mark he left on Echo. I stroke my fingers over the mark.

“Alphas don’t usually let their mates mark them so high up,” I tell him, knowing it means something that he let them. My teeth are already tingling with the need to mark him like they have.

“It’s time I made what matters to me more obvious. I intend to ask Echo to mark me again.”

“And what exactly matters to you the most?” I ask, wanting to hear him say it.

“You. Echo. Toshi. Leanne. This pack. All of you.”

I lean in and bite down.

His groan is enough to make my cock swell in my pants.

Fuck, this is going to get confusing. He feels like he’s mine, the same way Echo and Toshi do. The same way Leanne will once we’re official. I’ve literally never looked at E.A. and thought about pinning him against a wall, and now it’s all that’s filling up my head.

I step back, clearing my throat.

A mark doesn’t have to mean a claiming.

It doesn’t make E.A. one of my fated mates.

Even if that’s kind of how he feels to me now.

Goddamn. What the hell is going on today?

It’s like the world flipped upside down while I wasn’t paying attention.

He looks at me, and for once his stare doesn’t seem cold and calculating.

It’s warm, and the way he’s looking at me, I know he’s thinking the same things I am.

I can’t ignore this, and I don’t think he can, either.

I touch the mark, and he shivers.

“Do you …” I start, leaning in.

The kitchen door opens, and I move back.

Echo slips into the room. “Spencer, you’re missing it!”

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