Chapter 20
chapter
twenty
“How could anyone ever hate you?”Damon asks, his smile flirtatious. “Impossible. You should definitely come home with us so we can prove how much we all want you there.”
Her wobbly lips try to flick into a smile, but she doesn’t quite manage it. God. That’s somehow worse than no smile at all.
I know what she’s doing. Remi is trying her best to play with him, even if she doesn’t want to. Trying to please him, even if it means her own feelings have to go by the wayside.
He doesn’t understand. And I’m really fucking glad—because the way Remi’s feeling right now? I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy, let alone my best friend.
Her butterfly blue eyes blink up at me, full of pain and doubt. I remember this exact look on a smaller version of her face.
The Remi in my memory is younger and more frail—but every bit as scared and heartbroken. She used to sit at the top of the stairs on Sunday afternoons, watching other kids go with their foster families or visit relatives while she was left alone.
Smith would come get me. I spent all week waiting for those three-hour visits. And every time, as I got to the door and looked back at her, I suddenly didn’t want to go anymore.
Seeing the same look on her face now is enough to rip my beating heart from my chest.
I feel sick. Shattered. And so insanely protective.
My eyes lock onto hers, pouring my emotion into her. The ferocity coiling inside of me gives my murmur a slight growly edge. “Remi, I couldn’t say this before, but I can say it now; come home with me.”
Her breath catches, hitching as her fill. “I want to,” she tells me. “More than anything. But I can’t Cassian. Not if—not if he’s there.”
Damon weaves his fingers into her hair and rubs his temple over hers to scent-mark her. She sniffs. A dainty little sound that would usually make me smile, but right now it’s another arrow to the gut.
“What did he do, sweetness?” D asks, his voice smooth and coaxing.
I wish I had his finesse, but I just… don’t. Especially not now, when I’m torn between wanting to knot Remi so I can purr for her from the inside and hunting my stepbrother down to murder him.
Remi looks up at Damon for a long second, biting her lip, until she suddenly drops her eyes to the floor. “It’s nothing like that. He was just… demanding.”
I can’t keep a hold of my growl that time. It slips out, the sound low and menacing. “Remi.”
She trembles, and I instantly regret my temper. With an apologetic face, I reach over and smooth her hair over her shoulder. The wide, fearful set of her eyes abates slightly, but her voice is still breathless.
“I don’t want you guys to fight over me,” she murmurs. “It makes me feel… wrong. Like I’m a failure as an omega. I should be bringing you all together, and instead I—I?—”
“You,” Damon says, more firm than I’ve ever heard him, “Did nothing, sweetness. Nothing wrong at all.”
Some shuffling sound in the hallway distracts Remi for a moment. She chews her lip, eyes widening. “You guys aren’t supposed to be here. There’s a rule. If someone reports me, I could be evicted.”
Damon sends me a look—a cock of his brow that suggests getting her evicted is one surefire way to get to take her home with us. I glower back, and he shrugs, rolling his eyes in a look that says, You come up with a better plan, then.
I fold my hands around Remi’s head. “We’ll go if you need us to, butterfly. But we’ll be back.”
Damon nods, stepping up to cage her between our chests. “Do you want us to bring Smith next time?”
She tries to smile. “If you want to, sure!”
She always was a terrible liar.