Page 19 of The Dragon's Stormwoven Bond

Shit. I should have showered. “Your dad had—”

“They brought an omega to dinner with you?”

I stepped closer to my mate, and he stepped back.

“Shower. Go shower.” He shooed me away, snatching the food first. “Please tell me he didn’t touch this.”

“I promise. I ordered it and waited for it after everyone left.”

He turned his head away so that he wasn’t facing me. The look of hurt on his face would haunt me forever, but maybe the fact that he accepted my gift was a good sign. I wouldn’t know until I scrubbed every inch of my skin, making sure there were no remnants of Samual’s scent to be found.

Maybe I should burn my clothes too. Anything to prevent my mate from feeling that pain ever again.

Chapter 11

Pep

I always thought that crying yourself to sleep was just something that happened in books and movies, not in real life. I mean, what could get a person so worked up that they would cry about it until they slept?

Why not just talk it out? Communication was key in any relationship, right? Crying until you couldn’t cry anymore was pointless and overly dramatic, or so I thought.

Then I scented another omega onmyalpha, and after a quick moment of seeing red and wanting to take to the skies and burn the world down, hurt settled in. Even though, logically, I knew absolutely nothing had happened. I trusted my mate. This was not his fault. It was both of our faults, really.

My parents would never have set him up with anyone if they knew he was my mate. We’d deliberately lied to them and concealed our mating. They were attempting to do something good for their life-long friend. This lay on our shoulders.

I couldn’t blame the omega. He was a victim of our deception and nothing more. Had Valen not gone there wearing a scent blocker, that omega would’ve stayed away. He’d have known Valen was mine and backed the fuck off.

The really messed-up part was that it wasn’t even as if the guy had been all over my mate. They had shared the same space, the one my parents had put them both in and nothing more. Scents didn’t lie. Or maybe they did. My mate did have a scent blocker on. Argg, this was so frustrating.

If I discovered that the omega had tried anything that my mate hadn’t wanted or that would make me uncomfortable—he was going down. I didn’t care what the consequences would be. Valen was mine. Full. Stop. And anyone who thought they could have him would pay.

It was safe to say all rational thought had left my being. All that remained was a whole lot of possessiveness and anger and spiraling into the land of what-ifs.

Despite all of that and despite knowing that this was a situation of our own making, it hurt. A lot.

At first, I attempted to drown myself in the food he brought. It was a favorite restaurant of mine. I devoured the steak tips, the cheesecake, and the chocolate layer cake like it was my job. It left me with just as much hurt and a layer of stomachache added on top. Not my best plan.

“Why?” Tears were still flowing down my face. “Why did this happen?” I couldn’t imagine how I’d feel if my mate had actually cheated. All he did was be in the same space as an omega who thought he was on a date—with two chaperones at that. Didn’t make it hurt any less.

Valen spent a long time in the shower, which was good. I needed the space. While I understood my reaction wasn’t what anyone would call reasonable, I couldn’t help how I felt. If he came out earlier, I might’ve said something I’d regret later. No. I would’ve. The pain was too raw to hold in.

I went to bed before he came out, hoping to be asleep before I had to deal with the situation any further. Silly me. Of course sleep didn’t come quickly. I cried even harder when he climbed into bed next to me and tried to put his arms around me. I don’t know if it was all in my head or if I truly could scent another omega on him still, but I sent him away. I couldn’t have even the hint of another omega’s scent on our sheets.

And so, I slept alone for the first time since we were mated. It was the worst sleep of my life, but I couldn’t bring myselfto call him back to me. My mate, he was beyond patient and understanding. Not once did he show me even a hint of anger.

The dinner couldn’t have been good for him. He couldn’t exactly tell him why bringing the omega was such a bad idea, and he couldn’t be rude to the poor omega because that would be a slap in the face of one of his oldest friends. The entire situation was 1000% my fault. I was the worst mate ever.

I got up the next morning, splashed some water on my face, and tried to alleviate the puffiness around my eyes with a cold cloth, multiple creams, and steam. It didn’t work. No matter what I did, it looked the same—awful. I resigned myself to working from home for today, not wanting to field questions about why I looked like shit.

Before I grabbed my mug, I had several missed texts from my brother asking me what was wrong. He knew that something was going on because as twins we sometimes shared a brain. That wasn’t supposed to be a thing, but not once had either of us had big feels when the other didn’t instinctively know. Good or bad, we were always aware something was happening.

Still, I didn’t want to tell him the story. I wasn’t ready. I hadn’t even tried to mend things with my mate yet. Eventually, I would share all the details with my brother. It was our way, but not right now.

I went into the living room and found my mate in his dragon form, lying on the floor. It was the last thing I expected. He’d teased that there was room in here for his beast when we movedin, but I thought he was acknowledging the roominess, not that he ever planned to utilize it in that way.

Laughter bubbled out of me before I could hold it in. He was almost too big for the room. His tail was flopped over the couch, the tip of it hanging off the side. He had pushed the coffee table away.

Seeing him here, like that, melted my resolve. He wasn’t in this form because he thought it would be fun. He was suffering as much as I was. I went to his side and sat down next to him, resting my cheek against the coolness of his scales, needing to give him the comfort he deserved.

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