“You wanted my sister,” I croak out.
I can’t see his face, but his body slumps.
“You wanted Ivy,” I repeat, staring at the dark sky. Clouds are moving fast across it. The sky looks angry.
“No. No, I didn’t.” His arms band even tighter around me, like he’s afraid I’ll bolt.
“No?” I snap, incredulous. “You didn’t get into it with Tyson there in that very barn and watch him fuck my sister in public to prove that… that what? That he’s gonna get to keep her, that …what? He was the bigger man? The alpha of all the alphas? I can’t believe this shit.”
My gaze finally lands on his face. His gorgeous face that looks like I’ve slapped it.
“Or what? What the fuck, Mason?”
“That’s not…” He rakes his hand through his hair and doesn’t finish his sentence.
I stare at him, sitting in the grass, looking… I don’t know how to decode the look on his face, but feelings course through me. All sorts of ugly feelings.
Second choice. A backup plan. Again.
And this place, these people, it all seemed so perfect, but my sister… my poor fucking sister. What the fuck?
Flashes of Ivy’s face, the pain and loss etched into her eyes when she came to me exactly two weeks ago, the day they came and dragged her back. Three of them. They dragged her back after Tyson fucked her in a half-monster form. In front of all sorts of people at a dance.
Because Mason wanted her. Mason didn’t stop him from doing that to her either. None of them did.
I shake my head slowly; accusation must be all over my face.
“It wasn’t like that. I was confused. Something was off. With the witchcraft. I was confused. I didn’t know why. The pack council alphas mate in birth order. Bailey said the history said maybe Ty would’ve been matched with you because you’re the older sister, Ivy with me, but the witchcraft or nature changed things up and… and… I was confused, I guess, while it was all getting unraveled by magic.”
My chest feels like it’s caving in.
“Until I saw you,” he says, voice deeper, stronger, “I saw you and it was clear. It was crystal clear, Amie. It’s you. It was never her.”
“Fuck you,” I spit.
He reaches for me and I retreat, trying to scamper backwards. He snatches me anyway, and rises to his feet. He’s got me in his arms like I’m his bride.
And that fucking hurts.
“Put me down. Put me – ”
“No. Let’s go home. I’ll tell you the whole story. All of it.”
Tears stream down my face. I try to struggle. “I don’t c-care,” I manage to say. “Save your story for someone who wants to hear it.”
“Baby, please,” he pleads, and the pain on his face hurts me physically. Maybe as much as the rest of it.
How the fuck was I so stupid to let myself fall for this? I didn’t guard my heart. I didn’t keep my head straight. I fell for it. My defenses melted away, day by day, until today where I find myself stripped of all that armor and absolutely vulnerable. Stupid me; I’ve allowed this to happen, I only have myself to blame.
He begins to purr and like usual, I stop fighting. Fucking voodoo. I don’t stop crying, though. If anything, I cry harder.
Why didn’t Ivy tell me? Why is Ivy now officially married to her rapist? Her abductor? Why didn’t she fucking tell me that my abductor wanted her first?
He stops purring to say, “Amie, baby, don’t think what you’re thinkin’. I love you. It’s you. Only you. Things fucked with me, but it’s you. I knew the second I saw you. I’d been a fucking wreck for over a week until I saw you. You put me back together. I swear to fuck, baby. It’s only ever been you. Tyson went into a rut out of fury because my head was fucked and he could see inside it because of our pack bond, so knew I was confused. But things were all just that, just confused. Because of the witchcraft. Not because I wanted your sister. I didn’t know what was wrong with me…”
An ugly sob comes from me. He growls in frustration. I’m barely able to see with the tears that just keep falling. I feel like I want to curl up and die.
“What’s wrong?” I hear Bailey ask with alarm as we pass the barn where the party is still in full swing.
“Sherry Creed is what’s fucking wrong,” Mason growls.
“What did she do?” Bailey demands. “Amelia, are you okay?”
“Not now, Bailey,” Mason snaps. “Get her brother to get her the fuck out of there. Don’t let any of that bullshit she’s spouting leak out from her and upset Ivy or Tyson. It’s their night.”
I scoff.
“She didn’t,” Bailey hisses, staring at me.