20
Apollo
“ H oly fuck, Wren wasn’t lying about the painting.
” Hands stuffed in my pockets while staring up at one of my favorite pieces in the front entrance of Raven , I startle at the voice that suddenly breaks the silence behind me.
I whirl around to come face to face with Scarlett, and my eyes widen at the sight of her.
Jesus, she’s so damn gorgeous . It’s almost painful to look at her.
She offers me a small smile, standing just behind me dressed in a pair of skin tight leather pants, a black crop top bedazzled with rhinestones that spell out the word sassy , with a leather jacket laying over her shoulders since she couldn’t manage to get her bad arm through the sleeve due to the sling.
“Hey.” It’s all I can manage to spit out after standing there, ogling her like a creep.
“Hey.” She says with a knowing glint in her eye. Then she turns her face upwards to peer at the painting I’d just been admiring again. It takes my breath away all over again when I look over my shoulder at it.
Her first words filter back to me, and I feel my brow furrow when I glance back at her. She drops her gaze back to mine expectantly. “Wren told you about this painting?”
She bites down on her bottom lip. “He did. Said it was your favorite. I’m… familiar with the artist.” It sounds like there’s more there to her explanation, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.
Reaching up, I scrub a hand across the back of my neck, and it pleases me a little when her eyes zero in on the skin that gets exposed on my abdomen when my shirt rides up a little.
“I’m a bit of a super-fan. Wren bought this during one of the artist’s online auctions for my birthday, and I wanted it hung up here. ”
“He told me.” She smiles like she has a secret. Confused, I narrowed my eyes on her. She shrugs. “I’m a bit of an art enthusiast myself.” She says, and surprise flickers through me.
“Seriously?” I step closer to her, and her entire body goes taut like a bow string when I get within touching distance. “See? Another sign fate meant for you to be mine. I’m a low level artist. I go by Apollo Star in the online art world.”
“Oh, yes. I have a few of your pieces saved in one of my favorites folders on my tablet. You have killer talent with charcoal. Broken Bird is my favorite piece of yours.” She sounds a bit embarrassed when she’s finished gushing, but it makes me feel damn good that she appreciates a huge part of who I am.
“That’s one of my earlier pieces before I actually officially came out. I’m impressed you still have a copy saved. I took most of my earlier work down once I established myself.” Well, impressed is an understatement. I’m damn thrilled.
She blushes, looking slightly mollified, but when she opens her mouth to respond, a razor sharp voice cuts in, interrupting whatever she’d been about to say.
“Look what the sewer washed in. Apollo, seriously, take out the fucking trash.” I wince as I turn fully to face Raven as she stalks towards us, her dark blue eyes like shards of glass trained solely on Scarlett.
Raven is the spitting image of her younger brother and just as alpha as he is. Her long white hair is pulled back in a severe pony tail that swishes as she walks, eyes narrowed on my omega like she’s ready to launch herself for an attack.
I step in her way before she can get any closer, and Wren’s hotheaded sister stops in her tracks, turning her glare on me instead.
“Enough, Raven. I’m not going to stand here while you verbally assault my omega.
Wren also won’t be happy to hear about this, either.
” I cross my arms over my chest. I’m at least a foot taller than her, but I swear she still finds a way to look down her nose at me like I’m scum beneath her shoe.
Raven’s gaze flicks around me to glower at Scarlett, but my omega stands her ground.
“It would appear that you and my brother are both fools. She’s clearly another worthless, desperate omega who wants to snag the newest bachelors in this godforsaken city.
” Her nostrils flare towards Scarlett, and then she peels her lips back in disgust. “I knew I smelled it on you. She’s already fucking bonded. She’s probably just a using whor-”
“ Raven Celeste Madden !” Wren’s harsh bark cracks through the air, slamming into all of us with the force of a Mack truck.
Scarlett gasps, but I don’t dare take my eyes off the fuming female alpha still standing toe to toe with me, looking like she wants to rip my omega limb from limb.
“Don’t you fucking dare finish that sentence.
If you do, it will be the last words you ever speak again. ”
Well, shit . Wren means business. I finally look over at him as he stalks into view, heading for the little omega behind me.
Raven snarls, the sound usually enough to make my hackles rise, but I’m too focused on keeping Scarlett safe.
Wren’s sister is too damn unpredictable.
I’ll have to watch her closely from now on.
It won’t surprise me in the least if she goes after Scarlett for this.
Especially now that her precious baby brother has put her in her place for it.
Predictably, Raven doesn’t listen. “I told you, Wren. I don’t give a fuck what delusions you are under.
She is not welcome in my vicinity.” She peels her lips back as she watches Wren step close to Scarlett.
I glance over my shoulder briefly to watch him brush his knuckles softly against her cheek, and she visibly shudders in response to his touch in a way that I know is anything but fearful.
Wren doesn’t take his attention off our omega when he speaks, “And I warned you. My omega is not up for discussion. If you can’t get on board with this and treat her with respect like she deserves, you can fucking leave.”
Surprise flickers through me at that. I’ve never, in all the years I’ve known the siblings, heard Wren speak to his sister like this.
He loves her more than anything and even feels guilty constantly about their upbringing together.
He does everything he can for her to make up for the way their father had treated her after he’d been given a son by their mother.
Raven takes a step back then, and I finally look back at her to catch the hurt flash across her face, before she shuts it down.
When Wren turns to look at her after a moment of silence, her usual mask of anger and hatred is back in place.
If I hadn’t seen the emotion flickering in her eyes just before she shuddered it away, I wouldn’t have known any different.
For the first time in his life, Wren is putting someone else above his sister. And that will probably be the catalyst that destroys her.
Possibly even Wren, too.
I expect her to shoot my insults back at him regarding Scarlett, but she just snarls low under her breath before she slips past all of us and heads out the front doors without a backwards glance. A heavy silence descends over us for several minutes before Wren turns his attention back to Scarlett.
“Come on, Sweetheart. We can talk in my office.” He holds out a hand to her, and she only hesitates for a few seconds before she places hers in his open palm. He leads her back the way he’d come, and I follow after him because I can’t resist the pull I have to my omega.
Somehow, deep down, I know that this will not be the last showdown we have with Raven regarding Scarlett.
Ain’t that fucking peachy.