Page 41 of Break The Ice

“It’s not so much a matter of not understanding, it’s more I don’t care. You are upsetting him, and I’m sick of it.” I turn so I’m facing him. “You don’t need to put up with it. You don’t have to listen to them. No one would blame you.”

He shudders, and then I’m in his arms, pulled tight to his chest.

“Raider!” Bethany shouts.

He lifts me up. I wrap myself around him, holding him tight as he struggles to hold himself together.

“Leave,” Wren says darkly. “You’re not welcome here.”

“Please, just let me explain!” Bethany says.

“Your explanations are to make you feel better, not him,” Kit murmurs. “Sorry, Auggie, Charles. You should go. Raider’s had a bad few days, and he needs to be with his family.”

“We’re his family!” Auggie snarls.

I can just hear Wren when he asks if they are sure, and then we are in the house, and Raider drops me on the couch and disappears out the back.

I follow him but stop at the open door, my heart pounding. I didn’t feel this exposed in the crowd at the stadium. In the crowds, I felt like I was lost, hidden.

But, here, with this open expanse of greenery, I can’t bring myself to push out into it.

“I loved her.”

I stiffen, the world lancing me more painfully than I could imagine.

“Not like a lover, like a brother. But they had this idea that we’d be perfect together. They kept nagging me about it because, then, she wouldn’t leave, and neither would I. Except she left anyway. Everyone just left me.”

“She didn’t run away from you, Raider. It’s not personal.”

“It feels like it. What is so awful about me that my brother and sister would vanish into thin air rather than stay with me?”

“I don’t know. But it’s not you.”

“How do you know?” Raiders’ dead voice sounds mildly curious.

“Because you are an incredible, hot, sexy, funny, passionate, loyal, talented alpha who makes my blood burn.”

“Careful, I’m going to think you want to get on my knot.”

I exhale in a hiss, startled, because I do, and I would like to get on his knot. I’ve never thought about taking a knot before, but I would like to try with Raider or any of these alphas.

Fuck, now my brain is thinking. I’ve heard some betas can do it. Not all the time like omegas, but, occasionally, if they are really turned on.

“Ryann,” Raider warns.

I shift against the door frame. “What?” I spit defensively.

“Why did you defend me? Most people would have told me to be reasonable, to just hear them out, to stop acting like a child.”

“You’re not a child, you’re a grown alpha, and you said no. You don’t need to do anything anyone else expects of you.”

“And?”

“And,” I sigh and rub the spot between my eyebrows. “And you’re sad and hurting, and you might be an asshole, but right now, you’re mine. I’m not letting anyone else upset you tonight.”

Raider appears suddenly, pulling a startled squeak from me. He takes a step into the house. I step back. He follows, kicking the door closed.

“You’re mine,” Raider muses. “Am I yours?”

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