Page 22 of Spider Demon's Kiss

“I don’t understand,” he said looking genuinely confused.

“Look, it turns out that Yuki wasn’t available. I think she was promised to someone else or some shit. And since we needed to make this work, the only option was Kuroi.”

Matteo flinched in surprise. “Kuroi? You mean, the fuckin’ spider demon? What the fuck, Dante?”

“Don’t believe that spider demon bullshit. I’ve met him. He’s a perfectly reasonable guy.”

As proof I could add that he didn’t even cut an artery when he stabbed me multiple times the night before.

“Reasonable guy? Dante, haven’t you heard. That guy’s a psycho! Yeah, he’s not bad to look at if you’re into that sort of thing.” Matteo paused. “Dante, are you into that sort of thing?”

Fuck! That was a point blank question. I had managed to avoid this type of question my whole life. Marry one man and the shit just hits the fan.

“You know me, right, Matteo? You know me. I am willing to do whatever it takes to protect our pack. We need this connection.”

“We don’t need it that much.”

“Matteo, we need it! You don’t know what type of shit your acting out put us in!”

“You being forced to marry someone you don’t want to would never be worth it. It was one thing when I thought it was Yuki. I could see the two of you really working together. But Kuroi? The guy’s a psycho. Nothing is worth that. I mean, if you’re not into it,” he said suggestively.

“What’s done is done. Do you hear me? And secondly, now that he is my husband, I can’t have you goin’ around disparaging him like that. Do you hear me? You disrespect him, you’re disrespecting me.”

Matteo looked at me shocked.

“I said, do you hear me!”

“Yeah, of course. Whatever, Dante,” my brother said looking very confused.

We both stared at each other in silence for a moment. I didn’t know what he was thinking but I had gotten it out.

“Is this gonna be a problem?” I asked my shell-shocked brother.

“Of course not, Dante. No problem.”

“Good. Is there anything else?”

“One thing. How are you planning on breaking this to Pa? I mean, you know me, I’m open minded. But he isn’t exactly from our school of thought.”

Our school of thought? What exactly was Matteo saying to me?

“I assume that you’re gonna run back to him with this?”

“I’m hoping I don’t have to?”

“You don’t have to do shit.”

“Dante, you married a fuckin’ man! No disrespect for it. But, he’s gonna find out.”

Matteo was right. He couldn’t be blinded-sided with this. Coming from the wrong person, he was likely to shift and kill them for telling him.

I grabbed the spot on my side where Kuroi had stabbed me. The wound had healed after I had shifted, but I could still feel it. Sometimes it took a shifters brain time to catch up to the instant healing that came with a shift.

“You alright?”

“I’m fine. Seat belts keep you alive, but…” I said implying that my discomfort came from that.

“Wait. Did your accident have anything to do with getting married at Sato place yesterday?”

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