Page 21 of Spider Demon's Kiss

“How? When did this happen?”

“Yesterday. There was small ceremony at Sato’s place.”

The silence that drew out made me look up. Matteo was more than just stunned, he was white-faced.

“What do you mean there was a small ceremony at Sato’s place?”

“I took care of it.”

“You took care of it as in, you’re now a married man?”

“Yeah. I took care of it,” I said trying to raise my voice to make it seem like he was the idiot for making me repeat myself, but my heart wasn’t in it.

“So, my big brother, and the alpha of the Ricci pack, got married with no one from the pack there?”

“Of course not. Lorenzo was there.”

Matteo, who had gotten up to talk to me across my desk, flopped down into a chair. He pulled on his face like his head was spinning.

“What? It’s not a big deal. There was a problem you caused, and like usually, I took care of it. What’s new about that?”

“What’s new is that you got fuckin’ married.”

“Yeah,” I confirmed starting to get a little confused regarding what we were talking about.

“My big brother, who I always imagined standing by his side on his big day, got marriage and the only one there was Lorenzo?”

“Matteo, it’s not a big deal.”

“Not a big deal? Dante, Ricci wolves only get married once. You hear me? Once! And now, the person I admire more than anyone in this world is married, and I wasn’t there to bear witness to it?”

“Bear witness to it? What are you talking about, Matteo. It’s not a big deal.”

Staring at Matteo, I saw his eyes get glassy. What was going on? I had once watched him nearly beat a man to death. I had watched our father almost beat him to death. And not eventhen did he cry. I was starting to think that I might have done something wrong.

“Okay,” Matteo said pulling himself together. “Then can you at least tell me who my new sister is?”

My chest tightened like a drum. His new sister? The idea that I could be with a man wasn’t even imaginable to him. I didn’t know if I could do this.

“It’s a little more complicated than that.”

“More complicated? How can it be more complicated?”

There was no way of escaping this, especially with my new husband having moved in with me. I glanced down at the papers on my desk not able to meet his eyes.

“Look, what you did was bad. I had to stop a war. Who knows how many people would end up dead if I didn’t make this move.”

“What are you saying?”

“What I’m saying is that I didn’t marry a she. It’s a he.”

Shock overwhelmed my brother. Every second that went by without him speaking made my wolf nervous.

“What are you thinking, Matteo?” I asked wondering if I was gonna have to get physical.

“I…”

“You what?”

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