Tilly shakes her head. “No need to bore them. I’m sure this might take a while.”
“Mom, we’re here because we care about you,” Vera says. “We’re not rushing out of here.”
Tilly fixes her with a look that says not to argue.
Vera sighs. “Come on. We’ll wait outside, OK? We’re coming back when the doctor is finished.”
Jamie pats her shoulder. “I’ll buzz you.”
Vera keeps her expression firm and her spine straight until we close the door and round the corner, but as soon as we’re out of eyeshot of Tilly’s room, her strength crumples and she lets out a sob.
I react instantly. A purr starts up deep in my chest, and I reach for her, hauling her against me as another wracking sob shakes her whole body. “Shh. We don’t know anything yet.”
“That’s just it! Now I’m imagining the worst.”
Riley, who was walking a little ahead of us, stops and turns. “Bas is right, Ver, we don’t—” he stops, cuts his sentence off short, and stares at me holding her. I can’t bring myself to let her go, and she makes no move to step out of my arms.
Riley’s head tips to one side, and his eyes narrow. “Bas, are you…purring?”
Shit. “Ahhh, yeah, about that. There’re a couple things I guess we should tell you.”
“What do you mean?”
Vera turns to him. “Not now, Riley. Just don’t be a dick about this now, OK?”
“Why don’t you tell me exactly what the fuckthisis so I can decide how I react? Because it looks to me like you’ve been screwing my sister, Sebastien.”
Vera groans. “I knew you’d be a dick.”
“Riley, it’s not like that.” I try to step in. I can feel things getting heated already.
Riley shoves me hard in the chest. “You’re damn fucking right it’s not like that because no friend of mine would fuck my little sister! I’ve treated you like my brother since we were kids. She’s practicallyyourlittle sister, man, that’s just wrong.”
Vera’s whole body is vibrating. On the plus side, she’s not crying any more. She looks like she’s about to hit her brother,though. I stay between them, keeping my voice calm, my body language neutral. “It’s not like that, Riley, she’s my m—”
At that moment Riley’s fist connects with my face, cutting off the word mate. The air fills with a stench so potent I’m literally immobilized for a moment. It takes me a second to realize it’s Riley’s alpha musk, hitting me like a forcefield.
“Oh no you did not just hit him!” Vera lunges for Riley, and I have to wrap an arm around her waist and hold her back while dodging Riley’s next blow at the same time. Luckily I’m bigger and stronger than them both. Even so, my movements are sluggish, my whole body reacting to Riley’s musk.
“Fuck you.” Riley is shaking the hand he hit me with.
My face is still stinging. He might be smaller, but he’s always had a great right hook.
“You need to leave.” He glares at me.
“Maybeyoushould leave,” Vera snaps.
“The fuck I will.” He turns back to me and straightens, his voice gaining a new depth of power as he speaks his next words. As an alpha, he can imbue his spoken commands with power which makes it almost impossible for an omega or a beta to disobey. “Don’t you come near me again, traitor. You’re not my friend. You’re nothing to me. Vera, you’ll realize this was for the best when your hormones have calmed down and you’re thinking straight.”
Vera holds her ground. “Don’t patronize me.”
“If you want to see Mom again, you’ll let him leave and you’ll stay here and not do anything stupid.”
Vera is clinging to my side. “Listen to yourself; you can’t gatekeep our parents from me.”
“The hell I can’t.” Riley steps toward me like he might try to hit me again. His words ring out through the empty corridor, the force of command in them slapping me in the face as he jabs anangry finger toward me. “You need to leave. Vera, let him go and get here, now.”
Vera’s whole body quivers. “Stop it!” she snarls. She doesn’t let go. She’s got to be hurting from how much it’s costing her to refuse his command.
