Page 13 of Blood and Trouble

“No. You’re trouble.” I closed the door behind me and sulked to my room.

CHAPTER 3

Poe

I groaned as I fucked my fist and came in the shower, my head pressed against the cool tile, my body jerking as my cock sputtered the last of my release. Then the shame set in.

I hated myself for this. I hated that I couldn’t come without thinking about him, that every time I closed my eyes, I saw storm gray and white-blond hair and that stupid fucking smirk.

We’d broken up nearly three months ago, and I couldn’t move on.

He doesn’t want you.

He doesn’t need you.

No one does.

My moans faded to sobs as I tried to pull myself together and ignore the tightening in my chest. Lycan certainly wasn’t whacking off in the shower, imagining the way my mouth used to warm his cock. No, he was probably balls deep in that Vanderbilt bitch by now, loving every second. And here I was, useless as a pig in a pony show, crying like a shithead over some fucking male that wouldn’t give me the time of day.

“Mate me,” I’d said to him. “Bite me. Take me. Make me yours.”

The horror-stricken look in his eyes still haunted me. His mouth had fallen open, and he’d stepped away. “I can’t.”

When I’d asked him why, he said the magic didn’t work like that. A shifter’s beast chose their mate for them, not the other way around. Ours hadn’t chosen each other. Maybe they would one day, but he didn’t want that. He never wanted to be mated.

He didn’t want me.

“Fuck the magic,” I’d said. “And fuck you. What are we doing here?”

Crestfallen but trying to hide it, he’d backed away and left.

And that was it.

Was I an asshole for wanting something for myself? Was I the selfish, arrogant prick who thought I could tame the wild wolf?

No, I was just an idiot. Two years of my life, recklessly devoted to him, and now I fucked my own hand to the greatest hits of my worst heartbreak.

A pounding fist against my dormitory door broke my train of pity, and I turned the water off, wrapping a towel around my waist before padding to the entry to swing it open.

“What?” I grumbled at Orion on the other side.

The VP raised a dark eyebrow and crossed his arms. “Good morning to you, too. Prick.”

I ran a hand back through my wet hair, brushing it out of my face. The newly mated second-in-command only stood an inch or two taller than me, but he was made of solid brick: all hard muscles and deep-rooted dominance. There was a reason he was the alpha’s second. I couldn’t stand to look him in the eye for more than a heartbeat before my wolf urged me to glance away.

He’d come back from his honeymoon early when the Scorpions had massacred everyone and everything on Vanderbilt Ranch before abducting his sister-in-law, Maeve. We’d found her, and she’d killed the leader of the vampires, almost dying in the process. That had been a few days ago. Now, Orion stared at me with expectation, like he knew what I’d been up to and disapproved.

What the fuck business was it of his anyway?

“What’s going on?” I asked, choosing to ignore the judgment in his eyes and the unnecessary name-calling first thing in the morning.

“Kodiak wants to see you,” he said. “Now.”

Without giving me a chance to ask why, he turned and walked away. Despite being mated, the Bastard was still a grumpy fuck and probably always would be. I sighed, shut the door, and went to get dressed.

I avoided the side-eyes and indistinct glares from my packmates as I walked to the alpha’s office. Everyone knew about Lycan and me. They knew we’d been together, were practically inseparable, and then suddenly…we weren’t. I hadn’t said anything to anyone, and I suspected he hadn’t either. But gossip spread like wildfire in a confined space, and these fuckers lived to pick apart everyone else’s lives. After three months, I hoped it would have died down. But then he’d been assigned to protect Ava Vanderbilt in Europe while I moped around the place like a wraith past its expiration date.

I paused outside Kodiak’s office and knocked twice, waiting until he told me to come in before I opened the door and stepped inside.