Chapitre 2: Chapter 2: His Brother’s Mate.
Phoenix’s POV.
“You could at least look like you want to be here.”
Dragging my eyes from watching the closing gates of the Monet Estate to land on my brother, the future Alpha of the Blood Moon Clan, who is smirking at me.
“I don’t want to be here.”
“Goddess, Nix… Don’t let these uptight city folks hear you!” Maddox's laughter barks loudly.
“You had your choice of anyone else in the clan—”
“Yes.” Maddox’s smile muted down to a smirk as he regarded me from across the limousine that the Muete De Loup Pack sent to pick us up from the airport. “And I chose my brother… my second. You know how important this meeting… this engagement is to not only our pack but to our family, Nix.”
“You’ve been reminding me since you were twelve.”
“Everything in our worlds will be a steady stream of change, Nix. But this. This family we’re building. It’s the one thing that will be steadfast. Steady. Unwavering. Consistent—”
“You and Adel will be—”
“No.” My brother's interruption only dulls the annoying ache that always occurs whenever I think of him and the sparkling brunette with the smile that seems to make my stomach swarm with unwanted emotions. “All of us, Nix. You can’t just hide in the woods and only come out when you’re hungry.”
“I like the woods,” I grunted, looking away from my brother back to the long driveway as the house of the Monet Pack comes into view.
Though we had been here many times as kids, as soon as the marriage agreement was signed when Maddox was twelve and Adel was ten, they kept the pair from each other, only bringing them together on very rare occasions. Some lore about not wanting to spark their mate bond too early in their pubescent years. But now that Adel was twenty-one she was deemed mature enough to fully accept the mate bond between the pair.
‘Chridhe,’ Fin practically growled in my mind as the car pulled to a stop outside the wide expansive doors that sat at the top of the stone staircase.
‘She’s not for us,’ I reminded my wolf.
‘You can lie to all of them pup… but you can’t lie to me. I see your feelings. I feel them for myself. We both felt it the first time she touched us.’
I hated that he flashed the memory in my mind as my hand touched the door handle. I hated that instead of the cold metal handle, I felt her small fingers brush against mine.
‘Oops,’ her small voice said as her soft pink lips blossomed into a full smile.
Even then when we were both ten, I was a whole head taller than she was. Always looking down at her. But I wasn’t looking at her. I was trying to figure out why I wasn’t feeling the normal panic I did when people touched me. Why instead of feeling the need to run and hide I felt strong. Then her eyes found mine. Her clear green eyes. Eyes like sea glass. Fin and I both stopped breathing.
Fin whispered, ‘Chridhe.’
‘Stop it,’ I demanded my wolf, pulling myself out of the recesses of my mind back into the present.
‘As you wish,’ Fin responded, and though his words respected my demand I still sensed him very present in the corner of my mind, eager just as I was for a glimpse of the ray of sunshine that blotted out the darkness that seemed to follow us.
“Ah!” The pompous leader of the Muete De Loup Pack, George Monet, greeted as he burst through the large doors of the huge three-story mansion. “Welcome!”
George Monet stands back with arms spread wide, his staff revealed to be standing in a row. Pouring out of the house like a swarm of matching ants they line up on the stone stairs. All of them tip their heads down in reverence as Maddox climbs the stairs slowly.
“George.” My brother purposefully used the self-made leader of a self-proclaimed pack's first name. The entitled rotund a**hat bends at the waist, forcing me to hold back the urge to roll my eyes at the pure disingenuous display.
“Heir de Alpha—”
“That’s not a thing,” I grunted, interrupting the pack leader, pushing into the sickening flex of wealth in the foyer that sadly has only grown since the last time we visited.
“…he doesn’t travel well.” I hear Maddox laugh charmingly, following behind me as I stand with my jaw clenched in the bright foyer.
“Jasper will take you to your rooms. I’m sure you both are exhausted from your travels. Since your earlier-than-anticipated arrival, you’ll be able to join us for breakfast.”
“Great,” Maddox and I answer simultaneously, his more eager than my response.
The human house staff member I assumed was named Jasper stepped in front of us, keeping his head tilted down toward the white marble floor, as he led us toward the matching staircase. Its matching twin staircase had been empty until a flurry of dark clothing rushed down it. Maddox and I quickly turned our focus as we tracked the being who immediately I sensed was Fredrick, the black sheep cousin, and nephew of Adel, and George Monet.
“Freddy!” Her voice blurred out everyone else in the room as my heart rate sped up.
Fin keened against my mind, the need to move closer to the sound of her voice caused my hand to shoot out and hold the cold gold metal handrail of the staircase. The bitter metal bites into the palm of my hand. The pain brought me back into the present as I watched her run after her cousin.
“Adel,” her father barked, stilling the beautiful creature to a stop in the middle of the marble staircase, and like an apparition, I knew she would continue to haunt me for the rest of my days.
Adel’s eyes grew wide as her nostrils flared, scenting that she and her pack weren’t the only wolves in the house. Tucking her wild dark hair behind her ears, Adel stood up straight before she extended her hand to take hold of the handrail. I find myself quietly begging for her eyes to find mine first. For her smile to be just for me. Though I know it won’t happen. Her eyes seek out Maddox, and her smile is his first. It doesn’t dampen the disappointment of watching it unfold before my eyes.
‘Get used to it pup,’ Fin whispered. ‘Get used to the feeling of your heart breaking, at watching your mate's firsts all being for him.’
“She’s not my mate,’ I barked back at my wolf.
“Oighre, Alpha Maddox.” The arousal is thick with the sound of her tongue rolling the Gaelic word for the heir. My d*ck obviously doesn’t get the same message I’ve been trying to communicate to my wolf that she’s not ours, especially when she smiles so sweetly at my brother than at me.
“A bharrachd...” Adel looked at me, her nose crunched up as she stumbled over the Gaelic word for spare. The sound of it coming through her perfect lips has the opposite effect on my body.
“Oighre Ceannard,” my brother called out across the foyer, his alpha voice loud and impactful, sending a visible shiver through his future bride's body. “I’m pleased to see you.”
‘Chridhe,’ Fin whispered once more as she smiled so brightly that I swear she competes with the sun.
‘You’re going to drive yourself mad, old man. All we will ever be to her is the spare heir… might as well get used to it.’
Cadeaux
-- Cadeau
reçu État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone