Page 139 of Candy & Her Saints

“I could only tell you this. Thank you for giving me this.” Thomas’ magnetic gaze holds mine.

I feel privileged.

Yet a deep loneliness sheets through the bond.

It’s devastating.

For the first time, it truly hits me that Thomas has been separated from his twin.

His fucking twin.

I know how hard it was to lose Lincoln.

Yet Thomas was never apart from Mercy in high school. I never saw them with anyone else.

All they had was each other.

How alone must Thomas have been feeling for the last couple of years?

He won’t feel alone any longer, however, because now he has a new pack. We love him. Lincoln and I have the closest bond in the world to him.

I will spend my life making certain that he knows he won’t be betrayed, hurt, or left by himself again.

Thomas straightens his shoulders.

He doesn’t break his gaze, and this time, he looks fiercely determined.

I admire his courage.

I nod my encouragement.

“The second time that I was sentenced to the center by Dad,” Thomas forces out each word, “it wasn’t about training, rather breaking with pain. But I didn’t break. I became colder and colder. Nothing could hurt me because I was an ice statue. Of course, the Chief Instructor appeared to have realized this. When he didn’t get the fun responses from me that he wanted, he tried a new approach.”

“What?”

“He had me strip naked in front of a full-length mirror. The method is to make you face yourself. Humiliate you. I just shrugged. He became even angrier, forcing me to write Bad Alpha in marker pen over myself. Then I had to look at myself in the mirror again. And this time…” Thomas becomes ashen. “Bad Alpha…Bad Alpha…Bad Alpha…it was the only thing that I could see. It was the first time that my ice cracked. I was a bad Alpha, and it was all that I’d ever be. Bad Alpha, Bad Alpha…”

A tear trickles down my cheek, as Thomas repeats the mantra. He’s caught in the past.

He’s not a bad Alpha.

He’s mine.

“You’re good.” I grab Thomas by the shoulders, shaking him. “If I have to brand it into every inch of your skin with kisses or lick the words onto your fucking ass, then I will. You’re my soul mate, and only the best Alpha in this country could be that.”

Thomas blinks like he’s coming out of a trance. Then his gaze brightens like he’s truly seeing me.

“Brand me with kisses? Lick good Alpha onto my ass?” He snarls in a way that instantly makes my pussy wet.

I stand, gripping his hair and yanking. “Now, get up. You’re never taking a cold bath again. My Alpha deserves to be pampered and loved. I’ll run your next bath for you with rose oils and candles, then I’ll wash you, until you’re relaxed and panting.”

“I told you not to give me orders.” But Thomas’ eyes are twinkling with mischief, which makes happiness come alive in me. “Why can’t the oil smell of blueberry muffins? You know that it’s my favorite scent.”

I preen. He knows how to compliment an Omega.

“Done. Blueberry muffin oils and the best relaxing hot bath of your life.”

“But now, you said something about licking and kissing my ass, or was it my cock?” Thomas shakes my hand out of his hair and stands up, sending the freezing water splashing over the sides of the bath.

---