Page 50 of Brandy Snap: Part One

Camille sat against an overflowing pile of pure white pillows, her lace dress nearly hidden by the thick duvet tucked around her to keep her warm in the stuffy room.

I bent down as I reached the bed, my hand denting the duvet as I leant over, kissing her cheek. And we both inhaled.

It was our ritual. Like we used to do before either of us presented.

One hit of her composed chamomile scent and she instantly soothed me.

“Hi,” she whispered against my cheek.

Her skin was usually hot, like she constantly had a fever, even though she always said she was cold.

I pulled back, about to speak, but she got there before I could say a word.

“Kai told me the good news,” she said softly, reaching a trembling hand out to lay her fingers gently on my wrist.

I just had to keep pretending, even though red fucking rage flared through me at her dim expression.

My aura spiked, and she flinched back instantly. Her eyes widened and I tried to draw it in, but I’d been shit at controlling my energy since the first time I went rogue.

I hated the fact I upset her whenever even a little wave of anger raced through me. I just wished I could hold it together around her.

“Oh, has he now?” I forced out a chuckle as I leant back, acting like it was okay as I casually moved my hand away. I didn’t deserve to touch her after everything I’d done to her.

“I’m so happy for you all,” she replied with a weak smile. “Who could imagine you would find another scent match?”

“It’s a miracle, isn’t it?” Kai’s laugh was filled with spite, and I instantly turned to growl at him.

He’d fucked Mel, too, even though he was so fucking furious that he could barely keep calm every time she was brought up. If I hadn’t worn myself out from fucking both of them when I was in rut, I could have stopped Kai making the worst decision of our entire fucking lives.

“And it’s a female omega!” Kai continued clapping his hands like he was actually happy about it. “How lucky for us, right?”

He beamed at her. If Camille was bonded to us, she’d have felt the bitter resentment bubbling up in Kai. And the desperate need for her that was eating him alive.

“It’s fine,” I cut in. “She rejected us. There’s nothing there anymore.”

“Come on now, Cas, you can’t say that,” Kai purred as he lifted his hand. “She did bite me, after all.” He waggled his fresh wound in front of her.

Camille’s sharp intake was enough to show that Kai had been saving onto that nugget of information until his alphas arrived.

Her gaze swung to me as her thin fingers clenched around the duvet. Guilt pierced me strongly enough that my scent went sour.

I wanted to hold her. I wanted to wrap my arms around her and cover her ears with my palms so she didn’t have to hear the poisonous truth.

I thought there’d be an end to all the fucking hurt I’d dumped on her, but it turned out I was great at surpassing expectations.

Kai’s finger was already healing, forming two nice semi-circles on each side. Adding the extra presence of another fucking omega to our bond was like a splinter in my foot that I couldn’t fucking find. I had to keep walking, but I couldn’t get Mel out from under my skin.

Omega-to-omega bonds were only supposed to last a few weeks, but it already felt like she’d tortured us for months.

“Kai, enough,” Sin said heavily from the chair on the other side of the bed, sending him a firm push of disapproval.

Kai might think we didn’t know how he felt about Camille, but anyone just had to look at the way he smiled at her to know he didn’t want her anywhere near us.

Camille was even paler than normal as she lifted a shaking hand to her lips.

Her pink fingertips pressed hard against them, like she was silencing herself. But her throat bobbed and her chin dipped, her frail scent twisting like a rope tied too tight.

I didn’t want to see her pain, but I had to. I had to look at what I’d done to her.

---