Page 22 of Undone
“Are you turned on right now?” Anthony murmured in a very mild tone of voice, as if speaking about the weather.
Michael glowered at him, his face very warm. “Fuck off.”
Anthony raised his eyebrows. “Come on. There’s no need to be embarrassed.”
“I’m this close to punching you, mate,” Michael said with a strained smile. “You’re enjoying this a bit too much, don’t you think?”
“This?” Anthony said, holding his gaze.
“My suffering. My humiliation.”
“I’m hardly enjoying it.”
“You’re notnotenjoying it.”
“That made no sense,” Anthony said, his eyes glinting. “Are the pheromones getting to your head?”
Michael bared his teeth at him. That had been a low blow. “Why are you being such an asshole?”
“Ahem.”
They flinched. Wrenching his eyes from Anthony’s, Michael turned his head.
Liam stood a few feet away, watching them with a puzzled little frown on his beautiful face. “What’s going on here?”
Michael straightened to his full height, suddenly realizing that he’d been slouching against the wall, uncomfortably close to baring his neck to another alpha in public. Fuck.
“Liam,” he said, picking up Liam’s slim hand and kissing the air above his knuckles. His delicate scent calmed his agitation a little. Mated omegas had that effect on all alphas, though it helped that he’d always liked this particular omega. Liam was poised, beautiful, and well-mannered—everything Michael could want in an omega.
“Is everything all right?” Liam said quietly, his pretty eyes flicking between his eldest brother and Michael.
“Why wouldn’t it be all right?” Anthony said.
Liam raised a pale eyebrow. “You were staring at each other for a long time. It looked... odd. Intense.”
Michael rubbed the back of his neck, glancing around the ballroom and catching more than a few puzzled looks.
Fuck.
He’d noticed that it had been happening a lot lately, with Anthony and him completely forgetting that they weren’t alone whenever they talked. At least Michael tended to forget that, his body becoming hyper-focused on the other alpha. But he wasn’t sure whatAnthony’sexcuse was. He wasn’t the one whose body was fucked up after taking another alpha’s knot.
In any case, they needed to be more careful. Both being alphas was probably the only thing protecting them from scandal—most people simply couldn’t fathom an attraction between alphas, so they would overlook strange behavior like that. For the time being.
“You know your brother,” Michael said. “He was bored, so he was bothering me, as usual.”
Liam chuckled. He clearly hadn’t bought the explanation, but he was too well-mannered to call him a liar. “Between you and me, Ant just needs a mate to bully around.”
“Ant is right here,” Anthony said dryly. “Run along, Li. I need to talk to Michael. Alone.”
“So rude,” Liam said, shaking his head. “No manners at all.” He eyed the space between Anthony and Michael for a moment. “Don’t quarrel at a ball, brother,” he murmured, lowering his voice. “Our family doesn’t exactly need another scandal.”
“We weren’t quarreling,” Michael said stiffly. Truth be told, he wasn’t sure whether they had been quarreling or not. Lately, all his interactions with Anthony had this strange edge to them, as if they were building toward a big, nasty fight. If he didn’t know better, he’d think Anthony was goading him on purpose, trying to make him snap.
But he did know better. For all his infuriating ways, Anthony was a good friend. He was trying to help. It only came across as aggressive and challenging because neither of them could help themselves. They were alphas. Instincts were hard to control, the urge to take charge and fix the situation messing everything up.
“It didn’t look like that,” Liam said with a nice smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. He was undoubtedly aware of the attention on them and wanted to quash any gossip before it could spread.
“We weren’t,” Anthony said, laying a heavy hand on Michael’s shoulder. “And even if we were, it’s none of your business, Li. Run along.”
