Page 24 of My Brutal Alpha

Our night together had been nothing short of passionate, and with that chemistry between us, I knew we'd be more convincing. As I told her, we only had to try.

That wasn't entirely what I had in mind, but I wasn't going to complain.

The only snag was that I did a horrible job sticking to my guns. I was supposed to resist her and to resist that longing I had for her regardless of how I tried to bury it.

I was mad at myself for being so weak and risking everything just to get short-term satisfaction and fulfillment.

The goal was to harmlessly convince my parents we were in love and that no matter what, I would not be agreeing to the deal with Nora's dad. We were supposed to be believable enough without crossing any boundaries.

But, as usual, it seemed I couldn't even get that right.

I didn't want to hurt Zoe, especially not after everything from before. I had done enough damage, and I didn't want to give her even more reasons to hate me.

Even though we’d crossed that line, I still needed to be careful, especially since things felt so different after sleeping together again. I was afraid we might get attached from the beginning, and I wasn't prepared to make it into a real thing.

However, even as I found myself in the office, waiting at the big table, I could feel the mate bond pulsing within me.

Even though I severed it the first time by rejecting her, it seemed to snap back into place again, and I couldn't deny how much stronger it felt. I wanted to pretend like it wasn't there to preserve my sanity and to avoid acknowledging how badly I’d screwed up, but there was no ignoring it.

Giving in to those urges was bad enough, but reawakening our bond was even worse. That meant dealing with it, regardless of whether my parents believed us.

As much as I didn't want either of us getting hurt, it seemed to be a likely outcome, which filled me with a sense of dread.

Still, even considering breaking it felt wrong. I couldn't tell if that was the bond speaking in an attempt to preserve itself or if that was my knee-jerk reaction to the situation. Either way, I did the one thing I wasn't supposed to, and by having sex with Zoe, everything became that much more complicated.

"You're earlier than usual," Sebastian said as he entered the meeting room with a coffee in hand and whatever paperwork we needed to start the morning.

I perked up at the sound of his voice, easing back into my seat. I shrugged, trying to keep it casual. "I beat my alarm this morning and decided to head over sooner to get ahead of traffic."

Sebastian chuckled as he took his seat. "Need space from my sister already?"

The question startled me, and my mind immediately went to the memory of us having sex only hours prior. But I pulledmyself together, recalling how I already told Sebastian about the arrangement between us. He wasn't alluding to anything else, even if it caught me off-guard.

I waved the tease off. "Nah, nothing to do with her."

He hummed to himself, seeming somewhat skeptical. "What, don't tell me she's actually being nice to you."

Needing to save face, I chuckled and shook my head. "Just the usual, but I'm used to that."

"I guess that's a good thing for your sake. She's never been afraid of being ruthless around you."

It was true, but I couldn't tell him how that ruthlessness had changed. The list of things I couldn't tell him was beginning to get longer and longer.

Before I could say anything else, Beau and Levi rolled in, both looking just as curious.

"You're here early," Levi said, echoing Sebastian's earlier words.

"Don't act too surprised. If anyone's consistent here, it's Levi's tendency to be late," I returned, doing my best to keep the heat off me, to keep my cool, and not give away the depth of just how exciting my night had been.

Levi chuckled as he sat down. "Sure, but you're never one to jump at the opportunity to be early. Either something really good or really bad happened."

Beau inspected me with an amused glint in his eyes. "You do seem a bit different. More…engaged than usual."

Rolling my eyes at the comment, I did my best to shove down any sign of being happy because of Zoe and our renewed connection. It took a lot of effort to mask the mate bond in front of them, but I had to. All hell would break loose if I didn't.

As much as I didn't want to hide anything from them, I was running low on other suitable options.

"Can’t I be eager?"

---