Page 62 of Brandy Snap: Part One

Melanie

“Melanie?”Sin’scoldvoicewound down the phone as my heart leapt in my chest.

“Sin?” I croaked. Now that I was suddenly hearing him again after what felt like a month, I didn’t know what to say.

“Sin, I…” My bottom lip trembled as I scrambled for the words that had been swimming around in my head for hours.

I needed to do this. If I was going to take care of my mum, I had to surrender and return to the men who’d slashed up my heart.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

My eyes fluttered closed. “Is your offer still there? I mean, the offer to pretend to be your mate? Do you still want me?”

My body was vibrating with pure frustration. Not just at Rosa, or myself for being so powerless, but because I had missed them so much. And I had to use the word ‘pretend’ when the bite and the scent match were the realest things I’d ever felt in my life. Just three words from Sin, and I felt like breaking down and begging them to come to my nest just to help me relieve this ache.

“I’m going to put you on speakerphone,” he replied.

I swear I could hear rustling on the end of the line, and other familiar noises. And he was taking too long to answer.

“Sin?” I asked again.

There was a gasp, and his voice filled the phone again.

“Yes.” He paused and there was more rustling. “Yes, we still require a female omega, if that’s what you’re asking,” he murmured, and I could hear whispering behind him.

His clinical tone hurt more than I could say. It wasn’t me, or even an omega. They just needed ‘a female’, like I could be ordered from a menu.

I pushed away the stab of pain and focused on what I had to say. I wasn’t doing this for myself. I couldn’t afford to have pride anymore when my mum’s life was on the line.

“And you said it was a month, right? That was it?”

“Three events and the Selection Ceremony, to be precise.”

I sucked in a breath. It was every young girl’s dream to attend the Selection Ceremony. Some of my friends in school even started saving for it when they were twelve. Everyone knew if you met your scent matches at the Ceremony, then you found your true loves and would be happy for the rest of your life.

There was a shuddering sigh from Sin, and the silence between us suddenly expanded.

Eyes closed, biting my lip, I felt like he was about to say what I’d been wanting to hear from them since I left. That he had been waiting for me. That he missed me. That he wanted to see me, too.

“How are you?”

“How’s Kai?”

We both spoke at the same time, and both trailed off. The tense hope that was trembling in my heart broke as the questions hung between us. The silence was agonising for the full minute it stretched on, neither of us willing to answer until Sin spoke.

“I imagine you are in the same position as he is,” he said, sending awareness flooding through my body.

“As Kai?” I mumbled.

“Yes, the bite you gave him has been quite difficult and it could be worth—”

“Is that Brandy?” Kai’s voice suddenly burst through, and I let out a whimper that I really hoped they didn’t hear. “Hey, slut. I’ve been thinking about you,” Kai said sharply, even more bitter than the hate he’d poured on me when we were fucking. “And your shitty present,” he snarled.

Sin tutted at him and they both went silent again.

My heart thumped at the sound of his voice, and I tried to control my breathing. My hand was on my thigh, and I could barely resist opening my legs and stroking myself. All from one sentence.

“Me too…I mean, I’ve been thinking about you too, and I…” But I wasn’t calling them for that. If I let myself get taken away too strongly by my feelings, I might not be able to ask them for what I really needed.

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