Page 83 of Reclaiming Home

“I’m not one of your fucking betas!” Rian roared.

Two things happened simultaneously. Max dove under the blanket to hide against his brother. And Brodie got off the couch and pointed a finger toward the hall.

“Rian. Up to your room. Right the fuck now.”

It took me a few seconds to realize this was his Dom voice.

I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that Rian folded immediately. He got up and walked out of the room, with Brodie following him.

“That was more than only being hungry,” Carys murmured.

I moved to Rian’s old spot and put my hand on Max on top of the blankets. “He’s being a brat,” I said gently. “He’s not actually dangerous or mean.”

Ben smiled at me sadly. “We know that. It’s just that yelling is a trigger sometimes, and….”

“He’ll be okay once he’s done with his tantrum,” I promised.

I would also make sure that he would fucking apologize to Max. He was the sweetest guy and scaring him like that was not allowed, whether you were a two hundred year old multi-millionaire or not.

We finished the movie, and I went to pick up our laundry from upstairs. It had been maybe forty-five minutes since Brodie and Rian went upstairs.

As I was going into our bedroom, Brodie stepped out of Rian’s room.

“Hey, is he doing better?”

Brodie nodded and came to me. “He’ll be fine. All he needed was a bit of pain, to be put into his place, and a bit of blood to tide him over.”

I opened my mouth to respond, then realized that I knew Brodie’s expression. He was turned on.

My brain stalled, and I blurted out, “I was going to get our laundry.” I ducked into our room.

I could feel my mind scrambling around, my heart beating too fast suddenly.

“What’s wrong?” Brodie asked, walking up behind me.

He put his hand on my shoulder, but without making a conscious decision, I twisted away from under his touch.

“Don’t touch me,” I said, my tone as weird as my roiling emotions.

“Baby?” The confusion in his voice told me exactly how off my own reaction was, right then, but I couldn’t help it at all.

I went into the bathroom to grab the laundry basket but ended up turning around and locking the door behind myself.

“Kye?”

I didn’t know how to explain any of what was going on with me, so I sat on the toilet lid and rubbed my hands over my face.

I guess I did have jealousy issues after all.

Chapter Nineteen

Brodie

Iwas so fucking worried about Rian. I knew my best friend inside and out, but this was something new to me. Sure, the pain and the blood had eased whatever was going on with him some, but the underlying current I felt from him was still there.

When I’d told him to tell me what was wrong, he’d looked at me, tears in his eyes and whispered, “Don’t make it an order.”

I’d left him resting in bed, coming down from the mini-scene alone because he’d told me he wanted that here. He felt safe here and besides, he hadn’t flown this time. The respite from whatever was bothering him had helped, though, if less than I would’ve wanted.

---