Well, there’s no point in sticking around. It looks as if I will have to find the money for Grandma elsewhere.
I get up and leave, but Rome’s voice stops me in my tracks. “Interesting choice of cologne, brother.” He sniffs. “Coconut. A little feminine, but it suits you.”
I freeze, peering over my shoulder.
It’s not cologne. That’s Dove’s perfume. How the hell did it even get on me? I’ve barely spent time with her
I meet Jeanette’s eyes briefly. She looks away the moment I catch her staring, but her expression says it all. She knows. I bet she could detect another omega’s scent a mile off. Yet she doesn’t care to share her knowledge with her alpha, and for that, I’m grateful.
The last thing I need is Rome finding out about Dove.
There’s no telling what I would do to him then.
***
I arrive back at the estate in a bitter mood.
Fuck Rome. He can go and choke on his caviar. He’s no brother of mine.
I already know who my real brothers are, and that is Isaac and Sebastian. I never believed the saying that you can’t choose your family. You can, and I chose mine.
It’s hard to love a heartless bastard who couldn’t give a shit whether our grandmother was happy or not. She deserves to live out her days in peace, yet I failed her because I couldn’t keep my gambling in check.
What do you expect from a former trafficked child? Gambling helps me cope with the depression, and I’m half tempted to book a flight to Las Vegas.
Fuck.
Isaac lounges on the couch when I step inside the front room, flipping a blade around in his hand. He drops the knife when he sees me, a worried expression forming on his puppy-dog face.
“Hey, you all right, boss man?”
I growl in response, storming over to the bar. I already filled up on whiskey back at Rome’s fancy mansion, but another glass wouldn’t hurt.
My drinking and gambling will be the death of me.
Isaac jumps to his feet, picking up the blade. He approaches my side. “Wanna talk about it?”
I gaze into the bottom of my glass, but it’s not as if I will find the answers I seek in there. I have never felt so trapped. I feel like a fly stuck inside a web, and the spider has the face of my fucking brother.
The tension reaches boiling point, and I fling the glass at the wall, watching as it shatters to pieces. Isaac steps back, holding his hands out. He drops the blade, and it lands on the carpet with a thud.
Sebastian enters the room from the adjoining library, wearing a dark glower on his face. Yet his eyes soften when they see the state that I’m in.
I calm my rapid breaths, reaching my hand up to wipe my face. My heart is thumping inside my ears, and now my sharp whiskey scent fills the room.
Sebastian and Isaac never take their eyes off me, and I sigh. “I’m sorry. I… just got back from Rome’s...”
Understanding dawns in their eyes, and Isaac offers me a sympathetic smile. “So, I take it it’s not good news? He isn’t going to help Granny Cobra?”
I glare at him. He knows I hate it when they call her that. Her last name is Torrance and always will be.
“No. He doesn’t give a flying fuck about her.”
Silence echoes through the room as my pack brothers take in my words. Sebastian looks as if he wants to murder my brother, and I bet Isaac is already dreaming up all the ways we can torture him. The voices in his head appear to give him a few pointers too as he giggles a few times.
I roll my eyes and peer around the room, and that’s when I finally catch the scent.
”Is that… lemon?”