Page 78 of Brandy Snap: Part One

I froze as her fingers curved around mine. Pulling my hand from my hip, and she clutched at me as she shook even harder. I forced myself not to suddenly smother her in a hug like I had earlier, even though my instincts were begging me to go for it. If they thought I was going to listen to them, they could fuck right off. My shitty instincts were the reason we were in this fucking situation in the first place.

It took so much to beat back the urge to comfort her like she was my mate. I wasn't going to lose like Sin had.

Though I did let her pull my hand so she could twist her fingers through mine.

She sucked in a small breath and tension built as I waited for it. She deserved the torture after crashing my heat and expecting us to just fawn over her.

“How could she?” Brandy asked so quietly I had to lean forward to hear her more clearly.

“How could she what?” I asked, biting my lip as she lifted her head.

I was hoping for tears streaming down her face or something to show she was about to bawl her eyes out.

Instead, I was met with a storm.

My heart leapt into my throat as her untrained aura slammed into me. I almost choked as rich brandy spun around me, blazing like the fire of pain feeding into me through our bond.

It was the same brand of Cas’s pure fucking rage, the kind he got before he went rogue. Tears still marked her flushed cheeks, but with her wild eyes and quivering lips, she was gorgeous.

“How could she talk to you like that?” she rasped, her chest heaving in one shuddering breath.

The whole world fell out under my feet, my eyes wide, shock pounding through me, stealing my last piece of fucking loathing.

I thought I misheard her, that I’d just imagined it. Because there was no way she’d just said that.

“W-What… What do you mean?” My heart grew tighter as she vibrated with the same rage I thought I felt for her.

And the way her fingers flexed around our bite mark sent a thud of pleasure straight to my fucking core.

“How could she treat you like that?” Brandy asked as she turned to face me. “How could she even say that to you? Are you okay?”

My mouth dropped open as a lone tear slid down her cheek and a tidal wave of sadness broke from her.

What the fuck was wrong with her?

Was she trying to trick me? I didn’t think she was the kind for mind games, but I didn’t know shit about her, really. I mean, Zania hadn’t sent her, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t plotted the whole thing herself.

“Oh, that?” I replied. “Don’t worry about that. It’s just how she is.”

I was absolutely casual as fuck, even though I was ready to whip out my fan and hit her over the face. I didn’t want her to look at me with so much emotion.

Because it looked like compassion, or understanding, or something. I didn’t want to feel that shit, especially with her.

“Then why didn’t you help?” she asked.

Like I was really going to tell her I’d frozen because the second I saw Zania grab her, I was actually scared something might happen. Like how my closest friends all had mysterious accidents or were suddenly blacklisted from the fashion industry because I’d ignored Zania’s threats to leave Caspian and Sin. That was the first time I was genuinely terrified I'd pushed Zania too far, and I instantly wanted to tell Brandy how sorry I was for being so fucking weak.

I hadn’t realised I’d become way too comfortable with Sin and Cas’s influence keeping me safe until she was in danger. And my moronic omega instincts told me deep-down that I couldn’t protect Brandy if Zania really went for it.

It was a joke.

“Well, Sin, Cas, and I have an agreement. We need to keep the peace and all.” I shrugged, even though it hurt so badly that I had to keep my mouth shut all the time to protect an omega I didn’t give two shits about. Because it was all for Camille, the omega Cas really wanted.

Which meant no fighting with Zania, no matter how much of a raging bitch she was.

Brandy’s gaze panned back to the corridor where Zania had left, and I felt another sting through the bond.

“But you’re Kai Risler. You’re…You’re so much better than this.” She shook her head, her eyebrows rising as she turned back to me, another tear sliding down her face. “You’re supposed to be family.”

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