Page 88 of Brandy Snap: Part One

Melanie

Ididn’texactlyslammycar door, but some passersby on the street gave me startled looks.

It had been two days since I stormed out of the party, and I’d been in a terrible mood since.

After all the crap they put me through, I left anyway.

I kept arguing with myself about how there had been no point in them scent marking me in the first place, but it had actually been everything to me.

Now that I didn’t have a job, I had enough time to visit Mum, but it was just another few hours of me forcing a smile and pretending I was okay. I felt so guilty about crying and worrying her a week ago that I was determined to make all my visits nice for her.

Which resulted in a mini breakdown in my car as I left Greensprings before I layered myself in more scent blocking spray to drive home.

I noticed the bulky alpha in the suit standing by the front of the building, but I was so focused on getting back to my nest that I raced straight on through the doors and up the stairs to my flat.

I kept thinking of calling the three of them and just raging at them down the phone. Yelling at them for treating me like that, for acting so hot and cold that I couldn’t tell what anyone was really feeling.

I slid to a halt as I reached the last step and laid eyes on my door. Because there was another huge, suited alpha standing to the left of it, with an obvious gun-shaped bulge under his jacket.

His sharp eyes landed on me the minute I came into view, and he nodded, clearly waiting for me.

I paused like a mouse that had been caught before I even had a chance to escape. On the one hand, he might have been sent by the Risler pack for safety or some other messed-up reason. On the other, there was an alpha twice my size right next to my nest, and I had no idea what kind of danger I was in.

It was about twenty paces between me and the alpha. But I couldn’t run away, not when my nest was at risk.

So I adjusted my handbag over my shoulder, straightened my back, and walked towards him.

“Can I help you?” I asked, my neck actually craning back to look up at him.

“Mrs Risler would like to talk to you inside,” he said gruffly, acting as if it was totally natural for him to be standing there.

I froze as I looked back at the door, my heart plunging straight into my stomach as I realised what he was saying.

She was in my nest. I didn’t know for sure if it was Zania, but someone was in my nest. Someone I hadn’t invited. Invading my private space.

I’d locked my door before I left the flat. The whole building had security codes and keys.

“How…How did she get inside?” I asked, my voice cracking mid-sentence.

“The owner of the building let us in.”

I winced as another realisation set in. Because the owner was an alpha, and my whole flat was drenched in my scent. It was exactly what I’d been praying wouldn’t happen.

I could fight the alpha now, demand that he get her out of my nest, but I didn’t want any alphas in there apart from Sin and Caspian.

Pressing my lips hard together, I fumbled around in my bag for my keys.

But it didn’t matter, because he just twisted the handle and opened the door, making space for me to step inside.

My stomach rolled, my throat going dry. I could have cried just seeing his hand cross the threshold.

I was so aware of his pointed stare that I wanted to run away. If I hadn’t presented, I would have been able to escape without the wild instincts tearing through my body, telling me I had to protect what was mine.

The scent of hyacinths hit me the second I entered the home I had spent years creating for myself.

My nest.

The hairs on the back of my neck shot up as my eyes landed on her.

---