Page 9 of The Gamma's Second Chance

“Cassandra is going to be staying at Crescent Lake for a while,” he says in answer to my unspoken question.

“Okay?” I reply, not sure what that has to do with me or why I needed to drop everything to come here to be told that.

“She’ll be staying with you.”

I blink at him, my gaze flicking between Haven and him. “Excuse me?” I ask, crossing my arms and tilting my head to the side.

“All the guest housing is full since the remodels on Silver Ridge keep getting delayed, and the new buildings here for the pack members who decided to transfer packs are also unfinished due to the same delays,” Wesley explains, sitting down in his chair again. “She can’t stay with Sebastian since he’s staying with our parents while a family is using his apartment. You’re the only other ranked member who is single and has a spare room.” I clench my jaw and hold in the groan threatening to leave my mouth. “It’s just until space opens up in the guest housing,” he adds, his tone leaving no room for argument.

Everything building within me from the moment Rachel said this was really the end; everything I held back while talking with her erupts from me in a singular, violent explosion. I throw my arms in the air, and my nostrils flare as a growl rumbles in my chest beneath my words. “I don’t want her to stay with me!”

Haven’s eyes widen, and her hand instinctively covers her growing belly. I almost feel guilty for my knee-jerk reaction, almost backtrack and apologize to Cassandra. I don’t, however. I’m too riled up and frustrated from today’s earlier events and the memories and all too familiar emotions they awakened.

But my deviation from my usual rigidity and stoicism doesn’t faze Wes. He sits there, fingers tapping the top of the desk as he watches me, studies me. Sebastian is usually the intuitive one of the two brothers, but Wesley knows me too well since he was the one constant in my life in the months and years following Kimberly’s rejection. He knows my reaction has almost nothing to do with Cassandra staying with me and everything to do with something completely unrelated, something he’ll confront me about later on when we’re alone.

“Why not?” he asks.

I can’t hold back my groan this time. My volatile emotions influence my reactions, surging through me and out of me like a shaken can of soda someone tried to open unawares. “I have a routine. She’ll just be a nuisance. She’ll be in my way.”

Cassandra clears her throat and raises her hand, and I glare at her. “‘She’ is literally right here. Listening to your every word.”

Even with my outburst and my incredibly rude reaction, she still wears the same fucking happy-go-lucky smile on her face, and it’s not even fake. It’s genuine. That pisses me off even more. How can anyone bethathappy?

My teeth grind together, and my hands curl into fists at my side as I study her. She stands with her hands clasped behind her back, her green eyes flitting about the room, her curled, golden brown hair swaying with the subtle rocking of her body. The long, dark blue skirt of her dress floats around her calves, mimicking the movement of her hair. And that smile. That Goddess damned smile. I just know that smile is going to drive me up the wall. It will be my undoing. I cross my fingers that she’ll only have to stay in my house for a few days, so her smiles don’t bleed into the corners of my home and uproot my routine.

“The spare room in my house isn’t ready for someone to stay in,” I say to Wesley through my teeth, still staring at the ray of sunshine who will be my house guest for the foreseeable future.

“I’ve already sent the hospitality team to work on it,” Haven says, her voice and eyes soft.

I give her a curt nod and turn on my heel, ripping my eyes away from Cassandra and her incessant happiness that threatens to poison my perpetually pitch-black soul. “I have to go to the airport.”

It’s a lie, but none of them need to know that. All I know is I need to get out of there before I explode again.

Before I do or say something worse than I already have.

Chapter 3

CASSANDRA

“How are you settlingin, Cassandra?”

I pinch the phone between my ear and my shoulder as I wash the mixing bowl in the stainless steel sink, staring out the window. It looks out over a small yard that leads into the forest of redwood trees, and I can’t wait for a chance to explore thelands here. They’re beautiful, and expansive, and they call to me, begging me to delve into their hidden mysteries. “I don’t know, Mama. It’s only been a day. I haven’t even unpacked my bags.”

“Well, you need to do that soon. You’ll be there for a while, and you don’t want to be living out of a suitcase the entire time. Plus, your clothes will wrinkle, and I know how much you hate ironing.”

“Yes, but I’m still hoping a guest room in the packhouse will open up sooner rather than later.”

I shut the sink off, then grab the dish rag, drying the bowl off as my mother hums out her response. “Mmm.”

I sigh. “What?”

“I didn’t say anything,” she says.

“You said ‘Mmm.’”

“Did I?”

“You did!” I exclaim, setting the bowl down and leaning against the counter, my head tilting backwards as I gaze up at the exposed wooden beams in the ceiling.

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