Page 53 of My Brutal Alpha

My irritation sparked in response to his. "He's not like that...not actually."

"Oh, he's not? Then how come he hurt you at least once already? And what about his parents?”

"Sebastian..." Lydia muttered, tone a bit sharper than before as Callie stirred.

But neither of us listened then.

"Where is this coming from? You didn't freak out when I was here the other night."

Sebastian's jaw clenched. "I held back because you were upset, but I was furious. And seeing him today, seeing how you two were acting like nothing happened...it set me off."

I narrowed my eyes at him, piecing together that shouting from before and his obvious anger. "So, what, you were out there yelling at him after waiting for the baby shower to be over?"

"Yes! Someone had to put him in his place," Sebastian snapped, tone raised loud enough to spook the little one. “Someone had to remind him that you’re my little sister, and it was out of line for him ever to see you that way.”

The moment Callie started crying from the room over, Lydia huffed and glared at Sebastian before heading to her. "Look what you've done now..."

At her obvious disdain, Sebastian pulled back a fraction. But when she left the room, collected the toddler, and disappeared further into the house, my brother focused his whole attention on me.

"Why, Zoe? Why get caught up in this mess?"

Irritated by his interference, I crossed my arms over my chest, putting up that invisible wall between us. "We have a mate bond—you know that! You are well aware of how impossible it is to ignore."

"But him of all people!"

"It doesn't matter who he is, I didn't have any choice in the matter. It just happened. That's how this kind of thing works," I returned sharply, trying to get him to see some sort of sense. "Even if I tried to avoid that connection, it would've brought us together eventually."

Obviously not satisfied, Sebastian bared his teeth. "He should've known better than to entertain it...he never should've messed around with you in the first place, regardless of that connection."

Seeing how determined and stuck in his opinions he was made me recoil slightly. At that moment, I almost didn't recognize my brother.

Tired of fighting, I shook my head absently and lowered my voice. "Why can't you just let me have this? Why can't I be happy too?"

Sebastian blinked back at me then, seeming almost caught off-guard by my switch in tone.

When he said nothing, I continued, "My situation with Ezra is no different from what happened with you and Lydia. You found a mate bond with my best friend, and I was fine with it because I love both of you and want you to be happy. I didn't consider standing in between that bond for even a moment. So why are you?"

Completely stunned, Sebastian realized I had cornered him in his hypocrisy. Struggling to come to terms with it, almost like he didn't want to admit it, he took a moment before he sighed.

The kitchen fell into an almost startling silence as we looked at each other.

But my irritation remained even while his anger seemed to simmer away at the realization.

"Zoe..."

Too annoyed with him to even want to be in the same room, I shook my head and moved toward the door. "I can't believe you..."

When I remembered how it all started with the two of them yelling outside, my worry spiked, and I knew I had to find Ezra.

As I reached the threshold, I heard Sebastian calling my name again, but I didn't care.

Leaving him there, I left the house and hurried out of the yard.

With my heart clenched tightly in my chest, I pushed forward, afraid that whatever Sebastian said might have caused more damage to our connection than I wanted to accept.

Chapter 25 - Ezra

My pulse roared in my ears as I aimlessly stormed down the road on foot, too aggravated to get behind the wheel yet.

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