Chapter 90
“What’s wrong with you, Bradley?” I asked, watching him warily.
He placed his hands on either side of my head, effectively trapping me between his arms. “What’s going on?” he growled, his face inches from mine. “What are you doing with Delta Mark?”
The question caught me off guard. “Why do you care? It’s none of your business.”
Bradley leaned closer, his voice dropping to a pained whisper. “Can’t you see what this is doing to
me?”
I noticed the slight tremor in his voice, the pained expression in his eyes, and suddenly, I was transported back to happier times–before his betrayal, before everything fell apart. Bradley had been my first love, my everything. Now he was just another painful chapter in my past.
“I thought you were alone,” he continued, “which is what you wanted, and I gave you space. And I didn’t bother you in any way. But seeing you with another man… his voice broke slightly. “It’s painful, Erin. I regret everything I did behind your back. Everyone deserves a second chance; why can’t you give me one?”
“Stop, Bradley,” I said, trying to stay calm. “Let’s not do this. There’s nothing between Mark and me. He’s just a friend. Lily is lying…
My words trailed off as I realized the irony of the situation. “And you believed her again. You really disappoint me!”
Bradley’s hand moved to my face, his thumb gently stroking my cheek in a gesture that was once so familiar. I immediately tensed under his touch. Where once I would have found comfort and love, now I felt only discomfort. To my shock, it wasn’t Bradley’s face before me, but my mind suddenly filled with images of Derek–his gray eyes looking down at me, the warm feeling of his tongue on my skin as he healed my bruise.
I blinked hard, trying to dispel the image, confused by my reaction. Why would I think of Derek now, of all moments?
“Get away from me, Bradley,” I said firmly, trying to push him away, my voice unsteady.
Instead, he pulled me into a tight embrace, pressing his cheek against the exact spot Derek had licked the night before. In memory, my skin tingled, as if it remembered Derek’s touch. That contact which should have felt wrong the intimate healing between an Alpha and a non–mate Omega–had felt more right than Bradley’s embrace.
“I’ll do anything you want,” Bradley pleaded, his voice muffled in my hair. ‘Please don’t give up on me. I promise I’ll never be unfaithful again. I love you, Erin. Please come back to me.”
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Chapter 90
My wolf, who once responded happily to Bradley’s presence, now stood completely still within me indifferent and distant. This was in stark contrast to her reaction around Derek, when she practically climbed the walls of my consciousness, wanting to be closer to him.
I stood rigid in Bradley’s embrace, unable to reciprocate his feelings. The Soul Bond was changing me from the inside out, recalibrating my emotions and responses. Even Bradley, my first love, couldn’t evoke a fraction of the feelings I experienced from just a glance from Derek.
“Bradley, it’s over,” I said, calm and resolute. “It’s been over for a long time. Please accept that and let me go.”
He pulled back slightly, his eyes searching mine. “Is there someone else? Is it true about you and
Mark?”
I shook my head, unwilling to explain the complicated reality of the Soul Bond with his brother. “There’s no one. I just need to focus on my studies and my new position at Stone Group.”
“I don’t believe you,” he said, his hands tightening on my shoulders. “Your reaction when I touch you -that’s not just indifference. You’re thinking about someone else.”
His insight caught me off guard. “You’re reading too much into this.”
“Am I?” Bradley challenged, his expression hardening. “Is it someone at Stone Group? A Beta? Or…” his eyes widened slightly, as if a terrible thought had just occurred to him. “Is it my brother?”
The question hung in the air between us, full of dangerous implications. I carefully maintained at neutral expression, but inside, my heart raced in panic. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
Bradley stared at me for a long time, his jaw tightening as he processed my reaction. “You’ve changed, Erin. There’s something different about you.”
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