Page 89 of I Replaced His Husband
"So when did you and Maurice start dating?"
"Freshman year already. But it wasn’t until our glands matured senior year, and our Allure kicked in, that we figuredout we were High Mates. We ended up going to the same college, even though we had different majors."
"So you weren’t in the same classes. Did anyone try to hit on you?"
"Yeah, a few did, but I didn’t care and never responded. Maurice usually waited for me after class, and we’d head back to the dorms together. He kind of acted like my bodyguard, actually. He started martial arts at sixteen to improve his self-defense skills. I had… seven attempted rapes during college."
My eyes flew wide.
"Wait, what?! Seven?! That’s insane! Fuck… I’m so sorry, Kay."
He let out a long breath. "Yeah. Some students started calling me a‘cursed beauty’because so many alphas got expelled over me. Sometimes, I felt like a magnet for predators. But Maurice was always there. He saved me every time. Once, he even fought off three alphas on his own."
I stared at him. "In fighting mode?"
"Yeah. But despite that, he got pretty messed up. Broken ribs, a concussion, he was in bad shape. They’d hit him with a baseball bat multiple times, but he didn’t back down, high on adrenaline." Kay’s voice cracked slightly, and I could hear both pride and pain in it.
I felt like I had some seriously big shoes to fill.
"Maurice sounds like he was an amazing guy. A real hero." My throat tightened as I said it.
Why the fuck had I even brought up his dead husband? Not the best idea for a casual conversation. Duly noted.
Kay’s eyes had a bit of a glassy look now. "You’re six-eight, right? Maurice was shorter than you, at six-five, but he was a force to be reckoned with in a fight."
Jealousy, sharp and dumb, crept up on me. I mumbled, "I’ve only seen one photo of him. That small one from your wedding. It wasn’t close up, so I didn’t really get a good look."
Kay flinched a little.
"He was very handsome. A lot like you, actually. Dark hair, gray eyes, same nose and mouth too. You guys could’ve been brothers. I think this almost imprint-like similarity was part of why Adam brought you here."
Great. Now I felt like a knockoff version of someone with such a heroic legacy. That stung more than I cared to admit. But it was my own damn fault for bringing it up in the first place, and I really needed to change the subject.
"It’s kinda messed up how dangerous it is to be beautiful. It shouldn’t be that way. But I guess every perk comes with a price. Still, I’ll fight for you too, Kay. You’ve got a new bodyguard now."
Kay looked at me, biting his lip. "Rain, you’re notjustmy bodyguard. I don’t want you to see yourself only that way," he said softly.
I didn’t expect him to say that, so it stirred a burst of pink bubbles in my heart. To cover my involuntary smile, I turned my head back toward the lake and didn’t say anything, thinking hard about what to say next.
It felt like every topic could be anotherlandmine.
Kay stayed quiet for a moment, then asked, "What about you? Was Brian your first?"
So, he also chose to shift the conversation a bit. Our mating bond worked the way it was supposed to; I knew he could feel that I was uncomfortable. He was trying to take the pressure off.
"No. I had another boyfriend in high school. His name was Larry. But when our glands matured, we turned out to be incompatible. It sucked. We were in love, though it was pretty tumultuous and kind of toxic. Probably doomed anyway. But once we could scent each other’s Allure, the chemistry justdisappeared. It felt more like we were brothers. So we broke up and…" I clenched my jaw, remembering what came next.
Kay tilted his head, clearly intrigued. "Sounds like there’s a story there."
"There is. One of my brothers, Storm, had this twisted habit. He liked to sleep with our exes. Mine included."
Kay’s eyes went wide, his whole face saying: Tell me more.
I sighed. "Storm’s about a year and a half younger than me. Larry stayed in our hometown and didn’t go to college. Storm went to the store where Larry worked and started flirting with him. They ended up fucking."
"Wow, that’s not exactly what you’d call brotherly loyalty," Kay snorted.
"It wasn’t the only time. He also slept with my younger brother Skye’s ex-boyfriend, the one Skye dated all through high school. Skye and Storm got into a fight over it, and Storm ended up breaking two of Skye’s fingers."
