Chapter 102: The Middle Child
Rowan didn’t miss a beat. "Yes," he said.
Cassian opened and closed his mouth, clearly having more than plenty of things to say.
"Unless you have a better option?" Rowan added with a slightly raised eyebrow.
In the end, Cassian swallowed everything down and huffed.
"Fine," he said. "Better than leaving either of you to stand guard. Who knows how long you two can resist before eventually using the wrong head to think?"
I was much too tired for this. I had no interest in listening any further. Turning, I trudged back in the direction of Rowan’s bedroom. However, before I could open the door, someone came up and put their hand on my shoulder.
"Wait, Briar―"
I turned back to see Soren’s face just inches away from mine. Unable to help it, I flinched, my grip on the handle tightening. Never had I wanted more to lock myself in Rowan’s bedroom.
"Soren, get back here," Cassian hissed. However, Soren ignored his brother’s words. He simply stared at me.
"Can we talk?" he asked. "Please."
I pursed my lips. I didn’t really have much to say to him.
At the start, Soren had been the nicest. He was always a gentle soul to many others, and even though I hadn’t received that kindness firsthand from the Alphas, I had always realized that Soren was different from his brothers.
And when we found out that we were each other’s fated mates, his gentle nature seemed almost within reach.
Yet, time and time again, I had been burned for getting too close to his fire, believing that he had my best interests in mind. It took me too long to realize that he didn’t know what he wanted for himself.
Soren was the middle brother, the middle Alpha, and as a result, always fighting desperately to be the middle stance between his brothers and me as well.
He couldn’t decide between giving in to our fated bond and believing in what he and his brothers thought was the truth with regard to the mystery behind why they hated me. He wanted me to be his mate, but he also didn’t want to fall out with his brothers over it. He was jealous that Rowan got to mark me first, but after he attempted to mark me himself, he called it a mistake.
It was simply too tiring for me to handle.
I didn’t need this wishy-washy behavior. If he wasn’t going to figure it out, I had no obligation to stick around and wait for him to decide. There was no use in his kindness if he thought it was retractable whenever it didn’t suit his narrative. I had no need for a mate whose actions changed with the weather.
"Soren!" Cassian started again, sounding more pissed off than before. However, there wasn’t a need for Cassian to call Soren back. I had no intention of speaking with Soren for a second longer.
"No," I said simply, before pushing the door to Rowan’s room open and storming straight in.
I could see Soren’s lips moving, about to say something in reply. His hand was hovering in the air, as though he longed to reach out for me but didn’t quite have the courage to.
However, I simply stepped back and used every strength I had left in me to slam the door in his face before he could start. The door closed with a loud, resolute bang, and I locked the door shut behind me before pressing a hand to my chest. My heart was thundering so quickly within my ribcage that it felt ready to burst.
Shaking my head, I tried to dispel all thoughts of the three brothers from my head. I crawled under the covers, determined to sleep whatever pitiful hours I had remaining before they decided to haul me out. If they were planning on torturing me, it would be easier to endure the horrors if I weren’t sleep-deprived as well.
Despite my initial worry about Rowan’s scent interrupting my rest, sleep came quickly. In fact, I might’ve hallucinated it, but it seemed like his scent helped calm my mind more than I would like to admit.
***
I didn’t get to sleep more than two hours before I was woken up by Cassian. We both looked equally upset with each other. Somehow, he had managed to unlock the door without me realizing. Even with a master key, I had completely missed the jingling sounds it would no doubt make.
"Have you slept enough yet?" He demanded. "It’s time to get up."
"And if I said no?" I yawned behind my hand, blinking my tired eyes open. "Would you let me go back to sleep?"
"Of course not," Cassian pulled a disgusted face, and he loomed over me imperiously. "Don’t think that you’re in any position to make requests just because you seduced my brothers."
When I didn’t show any signs of moving from my very comfortable spot, he raised his leg as though he was about to kick me clean off. Just then, Rowan appeared by the door. Surprisingly enough, Cassian’s leg paused in the middle of the air, unmoving as he met his older brother’s eye.
Rowan casually walked into the room. His hands slipped under my body, and without a word, lifted me clean off the mattress. Startled, I wrapped my hands around his neck as a reflex.
Instantly, a wave of his minty scent filled my senses. Just because I was wrapped in it the entire night didn’t seem to be a reason enough to dull my sense of smell when it came to his natural scent. If anything, I seemed to be noticing it even more than before.
He looked down on me, and I gulped when I noticed a small twitch in the corner of his lips. I felt my cheeks burn instantly. I quickly loosened my arms around him.
Rowan’s voice was low, still tainted with the huskiness of sleep when he spoke.
"Feeling awake now?"
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