Page 7 of Star-crossed Betas

“This is the third week in a row I’ve heard you sneaking out. I thought following you was probably a step too far, so I resorted to waiting up for you. Where have you been? Or should I ask who have you been with? I can smell them all over you.” I roll my eyes in response.

“Jas, you’re my brother, not my keeper. Go back to bed,” I say firmly.

“If Mum finds out where you’ve been going, I won’t be able to help you.” I try to keep my heart rate as even as possible because Jasper will be even more suspicious if he hears it beating erratically. For a moment, I worry he knows who I’ve been with. Even by wolf standards, Jas has the ears of a bat and the nose of a bloodhound, but there’s no way he could know that if he’s telling the truth about not following me.

“I know. I would never ask you to defend me. Go back to bed.” He walks towards me and grips me by the back of my neck, pressing his forehead against mine.

“You know I’m only looking out for you, right?”

“I know.” I let out a sigh.

“Go take a shower, Nix; you smell like sexual frustration.” He cackles as I open my bedroom door and shove him out.

“Fuck off,” I whisper, trying to ignore the heat flooding my cheeks because he’s not wrong.

Four

March 2022 - Present Day

Connor Kelly

For a brief moment when I wake up, it’s just another familiar day of standard abject misery. That’s until the memories from yesterday come flooding back to assault my mind.

No, today is a day that definitely comes under the category of,maybe if I claw my own skin off, I won’t have to go through with it, kind of day. Unfortunately, I’m certain that on this occasion, my da would drag my skinless body around that table and have me sign the agreement with my own blood if necessary.

The sound of Niamh stomping up the staircase like a baby elephant pulls me out of my spiralling thoughts.Please don’t be up here to talk to me, I say to myself internally right before there’s a loud knock on the bedroom door.

We’re staying in my crotchety Uncle Karl’s farmhouse in Marsden; it’s on the very edge of our territory. Thankfully, Karlshould be out herding the cows by now. I ignore the knock, knowing fine well Niamh will burst through the door in less than five seconds, regardless of an invitation.

“One of these days, dear sister of mine, you’re gonna walk in on somethin’ you don’t want to witness,” I say as she appears on cue.

“When we were fourteen, I could literally hear your loud, gross pubescent thoughts when we were shifted. I’ve never been able to look at Kieron Cooper the same way since. What’s another item on the agenda for my future therapist,” she says brightly.

My face flushes with embarrassment. Kieron was my first boyfriend; we went out for roughly six months as teenagers. He preoccupied most of my thoughts at the time, and they often leaked out when I was in my wolf form.

Niamh’s mind, on the other hand, has always been a steel trap, so I’ve got nothing on her. Thankfully, by the time I’d met Phoenix, I’d learned to lock those thoughts away.

“Why are you so chipper today? It’s annoying.” I shoot her my best scowl with the scant energy I can muster.

“Well,dear brother of mine, my disgraced husband is out herding cows to avoid running into our father. My twin brother is about to marry his ex-boyfriend andmyex-fiancé. Frankly, Eastenders has nothing on our family drama, and if we don’t laugh, we’ll cry, Con, so buck up; you’re getting married today.”

“When you put it that way, you make it seem almost unreasonable that I’m contemplating launching myself out of the window.”

“You and I both know that if you do that, the worst that’ll happen is a broken leg, and I don’t think you need to make today any more painful than it’s already going to be. Now get dressed; you need to look hot for the ol’ ball and chain.”

“No,” I say, shaking my head at her.

“No, you won’t get dressed? Or no, I’m not allowed to refer to Phoenix as your ol’ ball and chain?”

“The latter,” I confirm. “I’ll get dressed; today is gonna be humiliatin' enough without addin' nudity into the mix.”

“Nice, that’s the positive attitude we know and love you for, Con.” She winks at me and starts dragging clothes from the wardrobe on the room’s far wall. I let out the deepest sigh of my life.

Fee and I—I meanPhoenixand I—stand side by side at one end of the room while my da and Alpha Campbell put the final signatures on the peace agreement.

“You look good,” Phoenix says softly under his breath, still looking straight ahead.

“I figured I’d dress to match the mood of the day,” I reply sarcastically. I’m dressed in black from head to toe because I am, in fact, petty as fuck.

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