Betrayed Forced Mate (Rosecreek Special Ops Wolves #4)

“You’re a man now,” he’d said, placing them in front of me.

“Isn’t this for when I turn twenty-one?” I laughed, as I took a bite of the cake. It was the first time since our parents’ deaths that things had felt even close to normal. That Zane had felt closer to the brother I once knew, instead of a ghost floating through the house, coming home to shower and sleep for a few hours before disappearing again.

“I’d argue that you earned that beer,” Zane said, quietly, before quickly challenging me to a battle on Mario Kart. We stayed up all night, playing video games and laughing, pushing each other and trying to sabotage the other’s chance of winning.

It was one of the best birthdays of my life.

Then, I woke up the next morning on the living room floor, wrapped in blankets, the controller still blinking, and it needed reconnecting. Our game paused at the moment I fell asleep.

When I walked into the kitchen, saying his name, all I saw was a hastily scribbled note on the counter. I’d sat, hard, on a kitchen stool, a cold feeling of loneliness like nothing I’d ever experienced before descending over me.

I was different than all the other kids at school, working forty hours a week, barely sleeping, filing taxes. The teachers pitied me, but didn’t make an effort to connect with me. The Alpha never even reached out to make sure I was okay.

After Zane left, I waited a year, then got guardianship of myself. I worked hard so I could graduate a year early, with the class above me, which made me feel even more alone. They were all staring at this scrawny kid who had just dyed his hair blue, wondering what the hell I was doing amongst them, wearing my cap and gown.

I was walking across the stage when I glanced up and saw Zane, standing at the back of the room, up against the padding on the walls behind the basketball hoops. I had no idea how he even knew I was graduating—I hadn’t sent him notice or taken a picture with the class. I just wanted to get in and get out, and the only reason I was at the ceremony was for extra credit from my government teacher.

“Trust me,” she’d said, pacing in front of the classroom. “Someday, you’re going to look back on these moments and be glad you took the time to recognize them.”

By the time the ceremony was done, my brother was nowhere to be seen. I had nobody to take pictures with, so I just left, driving back to my parents’ house, and nobody even noticed I was gone.

It took two months to sell the house, and I subleased in Massachusetts until my dorm was ready. College was easier because the other people in my program were like me—quiet, drive, and technology-obsessed. We were all too busy with our heads in our computers to care about parties and social hierarchies.

During my senior year of high school, a recruiter from the agency came. He said my tech skills were amazing, but if I wanted to be on a special ops team, I would need to get strong. So, I trained every day until I was no longer the typical scrawny computer guy.

I could bench press enough to shock other people at the gym. I got good at throwing knives. I learned how to incapacitate people, shifters, and other paranormals in hand-to-hand combat.

Then, after graduating at the top of my class at MIT, I entered the agency and joined Aris’s force. At first, I held back from that team, thinking that everyone in life leaves you. After years of having each other’s backs, I started opening up to them. A drunken conversation with Linnea on St. Patrick’s Day had me revealing more than I ever meant to.

Now, I’m a part of this family, part of the Rosecreek pack, but nobody relies on me. If I left—or died—tomorrow, they could go one, unlike Zane and I when our parents died. Once they were gone, we had nobody.

On the screen, Bigby is slapping Zane on the back, chatting with him easily. It’s not my friends’ fault—I’ve never told any of them how Zane left me, the extent to which that’s affected my social life—but it still hurts to watch him get in easily, just off the fact that he’s my brother, when he’s spent most of his life pretending that’s not true.

Chapter 18 – Olivia

After dropping Zane off at his motel, I’m struggling with Byron’s eight different locks when the door swings open, and he’s standing there staring at me. He’s shirtless, which isn’t fair because it immediately makes my mouth go dry, even though I’m doing my best not to think about how much I like the soft curves of his pecs, how his shoulders flow into his back, his toned stomach and the knowledge that while he looks small, he can hold and carry me easily.

“You’re back,” he says, his voice completely flat, and I summon all my attitude while pushing past him, dropping my keys back into my purse.

“What a great observation,” I mutter, chewing on my lip as I turn away from him, pretending to rummage for something in my purse. I can feel his presence behind me, can practically hear him breathing—feel his heartbeat like it’s my own.

After talking to Zane today, I want to give Byron the benefit of the doubt. I want to be the person who’s willing to be there for him while he works through it. But is he working through it? And is it worth it to sacrifice myself for his sake?

My body, my brain, the parts of me consumed by the mating bond and blood bond respond immediately, in unison: yes.

“Did you have a good time?” he asks, scrubbing his hand over the back of his head, which makes his hair go crazy, then fixing me with an intense, almost accusatory look.

“You probably know the answer to that, don’t you?”

“What are you implying?”

“Tell me you weren’t watching me on the cameras.”

He stares at me for a moment, something in his jaw twitching.

“You, you’ve had all these kidnapping attempts, and the—”

“I was with Zane!”