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“Here’s the thing, Leona, you don’t want me,” he said.

“I have always only wanted you,” I said.

“But not really,” he said. “Just in this way, in this way we want each other, which is all about the scent match, and the alpha-omega shit.”

I started to fish my clothes off of the blanket. “You know what I think, Damian?”

“What?”

“I think that’s the way you want me,” I said. “I have always wanted you with my whole self. You have always been my alpha and my boyfriend and—I thought—my future husband. For me, there’s no difference between the scent match or the omega part of me or me. They’re all part of me. And the alpha part of you is part of you, too. For some reason, you don’t want it to be.” I shrugged into my shirt and pulled on my pants. I didn’t bother with putting on my underwear, but I did put my shoes on.

He was quiet, not saying anything as I got dressed.

I stood up, standing over him. He was lying naked there, his softening cock lying on his belly, his body beautiful and powerful and strong. He was supposed to be my everything, but he didn’t want me.

He couldn’t help but fuck me.

But maybe that didn’t mean anything.

CHAPTER TWENTY

WHEN I GOT back to my house, I was relieved to see that my dad’s car wasn’t there, because I wasn’t looking forward to another awful conversation with my dad smelling Damian all over me.

Something stirred in the woods surrounding the cabin, and I recognized the movements of a wolf, one too big to be anything other than someone in the pack. I didn’t think much of it, because we were in werewolf country and people shifted and ran all through these woods.

But as the wolf came closer, I realized who it was.

“Vincent,” I said.

He shifted into human form, and he was entirely naked. He covered his penis with both of his hands. “Okay, I didn’t think this through. I wanted to talk, but, uh…” He looked down at his crotch.

“I’m leaving after the will reading tomorrow,” I said. “There’s nothing here for me.”

“No?” he said. “Because you smell like my brother right now. You fucked him again, didn’t you?”

“Are you jealous or something?” I took a step towards him.

He tensed. “I told you that I’m not—”

“I know you’re not,” I said. “I know that, whatever this is, it’s some complicated thing between you and your brother, and it’s not about me, it’s about Opal. Or no, Opal wasn’t about Opal. You kept fucking her because you have some vendetta against him, and I’m the latest thing you want to use to antagonize him.”

“No,” said Vincent, shaking his head. “No, that’s not it at all. I never wanted to antagonize him. I love him. I want him to be happy. I will never touch you, Leo, never, no matter what I feel or think or want.”

I squared my shoulders, nodding. “Okay, then.” I started to walk away from him.

“Wait,” he called after me.

“There’s nothing to talk about, Vincent,” I called back.

He was coming after me. I could hear him.

I stopped and turned around.

And got an eyeful, because he had moved his hands from covering himself, and wow, there he was, soft but impressive and thick, really thick, and I wondered about his knot. Would I give him a knot? I was an omega, but he was not my scent match, and it might only happen if I went into heat.

He covered himself again, but his movements were slower.

When I raised my gaze to his, his expression was haggard. He licked his lips and shifted on his feet, moving his hands in a way that let me know he had grown erect. “Uh, I wanted to say that I do want to read it. Opal’s thing she wrote? So, when you’re finished with it, even if, um, you’re back in the city, maybe reach out and, um… if you don’t mind.”