Twice Tempted: Between Two Alphas (Mia and Cameron)

Chapter Ninety-Two

"Why?" Eric says.

What?

"Why does he want you?"

I shift my gaze away. He reaches for my face again and I slap his hand. His eyes widen, like he's surprised I'd hit him or reject his touch.

But I can't help it.

Enemies aside... his hand on me... it's too much.

"I don't want to talk about it," I say when he stands there, arms crossed, prepared to wait me out.

He snorts. "I can't count the number of things I don't want to do that I do anyway."

Wow, that's insulting.

"This." I point back and forth between us. "Was not my idea. I don't want to be here anymore than you do."

He shrugs. "Responsibility is accepting that we are the cause and the solution of our problems."

It's almost a 'dad' thing to say, and it takes me back to my own father and the archives he made me read. I hated doing homework and studying ancient texts. In hindsight, my life was much simpler then. This memory...with Cassian...it's from that time.

I glance away. The memory is like a too tight sweater. Stifling and scratchy against my skin. Uncomfortable like most embarrassing memories.

"I snuck out," I finally say. "It was summer."

His brows rise.

"How old were you?"

"Sixteen."

This would've been several years before his pack conquered mine. Long before I even knew my mother wasn't my birth mother.

"In summer, my pack migrates into Brooks Range. It's right at the Arctic line."

Eric whistles. "That's pristine country."

Yes, it is.

I'm wistful for a moment. The land in the far north. It's so beautiful. So open and untamed and rugged. You can run for miles and miles in any given direction and never see another being. "There was a boy."

"Of course there was." He smirks. It transforms his features into an almost boyish grin. I blink, doubting this...lighter side of him.

This Alpha's moods are mercurial. Hateful one minute, easygoing the next. It's like staring at multiple versions of the same person. I'm not sure which is real or which is to be believed. He rolls his hand. The nonverbal version of 'tell the story.'

"We were supposed to go swimming."

His grin widens. "Is that what they're calling it now?"

My own mouth twitches.

This is very unexpected. This moment of civility.

"It was hot so I waded into the creek."

"What were you doing in the water?"

"Swimming."

That brow wings up again.

He wants the truth? "I swam for a while and when it was obvious the boy wasn't going to meet me...I touched myself." I blush.

His eyes flash gold for a second. He makes some rumbling sound.

"Then he showed up."

"Cassian. Not your boyfriend."

"Yes."

I remember the moment so vividly. Like Eric, Cassian has a powerful aura about him. A strength that he just radiated, and for whatever reason, my wolf took notice. "Did he..." he eyes my neck as if looking for puncture wounds.

"No. No. It wasn't like that. He called me to come out of the water. And I did."

Eric's gaze travels from my head to my toes as if imagining the scene.

Me. Naked. Dripping wet.

I blush harder.

A muscle ticks in Eric's jaw. His eyes are so dark, so focused.

"He, uh, didn't touch me. He just leaned in close to my ear, and whispered, 'next time.""

"Huh."

It's more a grunt than a word. What does that mean?

More importantly, what does Cassian mean? What does he want with me?

Wolves and vampires, witches and other beings, we don't interact. There's an order to things, a balance where we all stay in our respective lanes so no one gets hurt.

I know New Orleans seemed different, and I'm still not sure what that party was that I interrupted when I tracked my sister. S~ᴇaʀᴄh the FɪndNøvel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

"I have to call Cameron back, Eric."

He invades my space again. After dropping that proverbial bomb about Cassian demanding me as the price for helping my daughter, Cam told me we had ten minutes to talk it over. Apparently Cassian was willing to strike a deal, but he'd put a time limit on it.

As if time had any meaning for an immortal being.

"I'm going," I tell Eric. This is for Merilee. There is no world in which I won't do everything in my power to save my daughter. "You can't stop me."

"Oh?" One dark brow goes up. "I'm your Alpha and your mate. I'm your husband. And there's the little fact that whatever happens to you will have a direct effect on me."

I tense.

There's a beeping overhead as the pilot announces that we're about to land.

"What do you want from me?" He has a play, this Alpha. He wouldn't start this argument unless he had something to gain. Goddess, deliver me from all these men with ulterior motives. Though I'm one to talk... I'd tricked and mated Cameron under completely false pretenses. I'd been prepared to kill him and Eric in my quest for revenge.

I sigh. "Just tell me, Eric."

"I'll go with you," he says. "On one condition."

"Name it."

"You bring your brother to me."