Page 92 of Aine

“Damien is stupid,” she whispers as I struggle to catch my breath. “We’ll find you a better mate. I promise.”

Her voice is quiet, but Alex hears her anyway and scolds her for putting such thoughts in my head. He can suck my nuts.

Jenna and Avia are long gone by the time I find the strength to pull my face out of the trash, and Olivia’s lost interest in me and directed her efforts into climbing Alex. He smiles and shakes his head, the action flirty, but still leans back so she can straddle his lap.

The sound of me clearing my throat has them breaking apart and rushing to my side. Olivia laughs and wraps her arms around my waist to help me stand while Alex comes up from behind and grabs both our elbows.

“I want to go home,” I cry as Alex leads us out of the pantry.

A few beasts nod and laugh at Alex as he visibly struggles to wrangle both Olivia and me in, and I stumble around and say my goodbyes to everybody I’ve befriended tonight. It takes Alex at least thirty minutes to get us outside, and by the time he does, it’s clear his patience has expired.

The sky’s black when we finally begin our journey home, and after Olivia falls and bursts into tears over a scraped knee and I trip over Alex’s foot, he snaps and lifts us both underneath his arms. Our feet drag loudly against the floor as he carries us.

Olivia and I make brief eye contact before bursting into a fit of giggles.

“I think he’s mad,” I whisper, but not very quietly.

Olivia nods. “He’s not mad at me because he loves me,” she announces after a moment. “But he might be mad at you.”

I snort, craning my neck to look at Alex. He refuses to acknowledge my stare as I struggle to free my arms, but once I do, I reach up to poke his cheek. My eyes widen as I aim for the wrong Alex and stick my finger in the real one’s mouth.

He gags before snapping his teeth around my finger in warning. I hiss and rip it back to my chest. Damien wouldn’t be happy to hear that Alex put his teeth on me. I tense. I don’t care what Damien thinks.

“Is that true?” I tease, remembering Olivia’s words. “Do you love Olivia?”

Alex remains silent, but I don’t think anything of it and turn to glance idly around the woods. He’s not being fun anymore. Olivia seems to take much offense at his refusal to answer, though, and bursts into tears. Panicked, I reach across Alex’s torso to wipe at her wet cheeks.

I try to console her. “It’s okay.Ilove you.”

She doesn’t take kindly to that and pushes at my hands with a huff. Alex’s chest expands against my head before he hikes Olivia up higher and plants a kiss on her cheek. I can’t make out what he’s whispering, but her crying stops and she buries her face in his chest after a moment.

I can’t help but feel jealous at their not-so-hidden, secret relationship, and I fall silent as I stare at the ground in front of me. Damien’s house should be coming up soon, and I count the seconds until it comes into view.

Placing us on the front steps, Alex says he’ll be right back before rushing into the house.

“I’m sorry,” Olivia whispers as he disappears. “Alex told me not to say anything about us because he doesn’t want you to be sad that you and Damien aren’t—”

“That’s enough,” Alex snaps as he returns and pulls Olivia to her feet.

She groans as he wraps his arm too tightly around her stomach, but he quickly eases up and moves his hold to her shoulders instead.

“I’ll be right back.” He points to me before lifting Olivia and carrying her up the stairs.

I lean against the railing and stare into the woods as I contemplate the absolute mayhem my life’s turned into these past few months. A small part of me wishes I could reverse time and go back to how it was before I killed Henry.

He may have been a dick, but at least I knew what to expect and how to react. Life was predictable, and I miss that.

Being with Damien is admittedly exciting at times, but the unknown and constant back and forth terrifies me. What happens when he wakes up one day and realizes he’s changed his mind about having a human as a mate? Will he kill me in my sleep and take another?

Despite his words, his actions tell me that’s precisely what he’d do. Men who value human lives don’t go out and hunt them.

After getting Olivia situated, Alex returns and helps me stand with quiet encouragement. He politely ignores my wet cheeks as he wraps his arms around my queasy stomach and leads me up the stairs.

I turn to enter my bedroom, but Alex tuts and forces me to enter Damien’s room instead. My tears start up again as I’m shoved into the beast’s private space.

“I don’t want to be in here.” I huff.

The bed’s unmade and there are a few articles of clothing strewn about, but other than that, the place is immaculate. Alex ignores my wishes and leads me to the ensuite bathroom.

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