Page 10 of Knot Your Business

“I was,” I say, shrugging off his hand and standing. “And then I got to chatting with someone I recognized. What’s wrong?”

Jasper sucks in a breath, his countenance going from concerned to betrayed to damn near wild in the span of a heartbeat. He moves the chair from between us, taking up every single inch of space until our noses are almost touching. He’s shorter than me by a couple inches, and he doesn’t carry that presence that Alphas have, but it still takes my entire control to not concede any ground.

Goddamn, he’s been taking lessons from Dominic.

“How the fuck do you know Violet?” His voice is low and dangerous.

I’ve never heard him like this. How in the hell does he know Violet?

“How do you know who she is?”

Jasper shakes his head. “Don’t fucking deflect right now, Rylan. How do you know her?”

I shrug and force nonchalance. “Just ran into her once in LA.”

Not technically a lie. I ran into her all right. And then fucked her into oblivion multiple times over the course of 48 hours. My dick pulses at the memory. Bergamot bleeds out from me. Jasper’s breathing turns ragged.

“Shit, Rylan, did you fuck her?”

This time, I take a half-step away from him, using the small space to fix my jacket and bowtie.

“I love you, but it was before we started dating,” I mutter, keeping my anger leashed. Enough, at least. An acrid note bleeds into the bergamot, but I ignore it. “It’s not really your business, Jasper.”

He snarls and closes the gap again.

“Stay the fuck away from her, Rylan. You know we can’t match with anyone here.”

I cock an eyebrow and shove my hands into my slacks.

As if we haven’t been hashing out exactly how to approach this whole mess for the last six months. Register as a pack and attend a single gala so that Dominic can access his trust fund. The moment we’re notified we weren’t selected for an Omega, deactivate with the Council and move on as our little trio.

Dominic will kill me—literally, probably—if I end up being the reason we’re matched with someone. Not even a male Omega would be enough to keep his rage from landing directly on my head. And Dominic’s level of lethality is not something I want focused on me. He was trained by the goddamn Italian mafia, after all. He’s the precision knife of his father when his enforcer brother fucks up too much. At least he is until we get back from this whole event.

Anger over nearly having Violet again and having her snatched from in front of me makes me shorter than I’ve ever been with my lover. The itch to smoke rises up. Fuck me, I haven’t wanted to smoke in literal years at this point. Resentment festers low in my stomach.

“I’m well aware, Jasper,” I whisper, letting that intrinsic part of me out to play just a bit.

His throat ripples with a swallow, but he doesn’t back down.

“Matching with Violet is the absolute worst thing that can happen.” He presses a finger into my chest with each word. “Stay. Away. From. Her.”

I take his hand and lace our fingers together. “All right,” I whisper, kissing the back of his hand. “I won’t talk to her any more tonight.”

And it’s absolutely not regret that’s twisting through my stomach at realizing I won’t get to see her again. That I won’t get to smell her honeysuckle.

Dominic comes up behind Jasper, his eyes shrewd.

“We’ve been here for the minimum requirement. Let’s get out of here.”

Yeah, definitely not regret. That weightless sensation has to be relief.

Fuck, I want a cigarette.

Six

VIOLET

Iroll over and pick up my phone without checking who’s calling.

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