Page 128 of I Replaced His Husband
But when I saw his face, I froze.
I knew my little brother well. We were four years apart, but as kids, we’d been close, teaming up against Storm whenever we could.
Skye was regarded as the most attractive of all alphas in our family, having that effortless handsomeness that could easily land him a job as an alpha model.
However, today Skye looked terrible. His usually unfazed face was almost gray-green, as if he were ill. There were dark circles under his eyes, and his hair was tousled and unkempt.
I walked up and hugged him, whispering, "Hey, bro, you look rough. Are you sick? Hungover?"
"No," he muttered. "Just dealing with some crap. Nothing major."
"Doesn’t sound minor, either. You look like hell."
I wanted to press him, but Kay was right there, and I didn’t want to leave him out.
"Hey, I want you to meet someone. This is Kay, my True Mate."
"Yeah, I heard," Skye said, barely glancing at Kay before locking eyes with me again. He was the only one of my brothers who didn’t seem remotely interested in Kay’s looks or our TM Bond. No curiosity, no awe, just indifference. It threw me.
"Nice to meet you," he mumbled, glancing around, distracted.
"Congrats on graduating with such great grades, second in the whole year," Kay offered politely.
"Thanks," Skye said shortly, staring at the ground.
I nudged his side lightly. "Hey, what’s going on with you, little bro?" I couldn’t help but ask again. He really did look like crap.
"Nothing, seriously. Not worth getting into," he muttered, then turned and walked off as the ceremony began.
I looked at Kay. "Something’s definitely wrong. Skye doesn’t get rattled easily. He’s always been the chilled-out one, the level-headed type. When he broke up with Martin, we didn’t even find out until much later. He usually handles life pretty well, stress and all."
"Maybe it’s something romantic," Kay said, glancing at me from under his lashes. "At his age, that’s a safe bet."
"Who knows, who knows…"
The ceremony kicked off, and students began receiving their diplomas.
Everything went smoothly. Skye got his diploma with honors, but right after, something odd happened.
As he came down from the stage, a single beta student stepped in front of him and said something. Skye’s jaw tightened, and without a word, he walked right past the guy and headed straight for us, leaving the other student standing alone.
As he reached us, everyone started congratulating and hugging him. No one seemed to notice the earlier interactionexcept for Storm and me. We both kept an eye on the guy trailing behind.
He was… interesting.
The sides of his head were shaved, while the top and back were pulled into a long black braid that reached his mid-back. His ears were loaded with earrings, and he had a seriously intense tattoo: barbed wire or thorny vines curling from his neck up both sides of his face. He also had eyebrow piercings and one on the corner of his lip. Despite all that, his face was striking. He looked like someone who deliberately tried to hide his beauty behind all the edgy accessories and dramatic styling. Not really my type, I preferred a classic look, but if Skye was into that, who was I to judge?
Storm was watching him intently too. As the guy passed us and walked away, Storm suddenly turned to Skye and asked, loud enough for everyone to hear, "Who was that?"
"No one important," Skye growled. His jaw clenched again, a dead giveaway that the guywasdefinitely important. Very important.
"I think you should talk to him. Might be worth it!" Storm stated with a strange smirk, but as the rest of our brothers glared at him, his face flushed a bit, as if he realized how uncalled for his suggestion was. Some random eccentric guy, and here Storm was encouraging Skye to… what exactly?
Even our parents stared at him.
Finally, Storm cleared his throat and mumbled, "Why’s everyone looking at me? I’ve got a talent for matchmaking, alright? I used to get top bonuses at that matchmaking firm I worked for."
"Emphasis on ‘used to’," Skye snapped, his face going crimson with irritation.
