Chapter 11 Of Blood and Brothers
“Get up!” Foster roars, then stands us both on our feet with another wave of his hand. “This kind of behavior will not be tolerated at Katmere!”
There’s a part of me that wants to make a snarky comment about all the other behavior he seems okay with tolerating at his sanctified institution, but since I’m responsible for more than a little of it, I decide to keep my mouth shut.
But I’m not okay with being slammed around by some warlock, whether he’s my headmaster or not. And so the next time he starts to wave his hand, I use my persuasion to say, “You don’t want to do that.”
He stops instantly, but his eyes narrow. “You really want to play with me like that right now, Mr. Vega?”
“I don’t want to play at all. I just want to go back to my room.”
“Good. Why don’t you do that.” He turns to Jaxon. “You can stay here for ten minutes, and then you can go back to your room, too. We’ll talk about this tomorrow, after Portal Search Party is over.”
Jaxon rolls his eyes like the little punk he is, but I just nod and head across the bonfire area to the path that will take me to Katmere. As I do, I watch as Grace crosses to Jaxon. As she puts her hands on his face. As she kisses him gently.
And just like that, something inside me breaks. Because even after he started this ridiculous fight and ignored the way she implored him to stop, she chooses him.
Even after he screamed in front of everyone that he wished I had stayed dead, she chooses him.
Even after she knows I’m not the bad guy here, she chooses him.
It hurts more than I thought it would, hurts more than I imagined possible.
I thought I was hardened to this after spending the last two weeks in her head as she fawned over my brother. In fact, I was pretty sure there was nothing she could do—nothing either of them could do—that could get under my skin after that.
Turns out I was wrong.
Here I am trying to do everything right, trying to treat my mate the best way that I know how. And she’s so busy with Jaxon that she doesn’t even notice.
Too bad I’m just figuring out now that she’s never going to notice.
More, she’s never going to choose me. Jaxon was the guy she fell in love with.
He’s the one she wants to be with. Trying to pretend otherwise—to pretend that I might have a chance with her even after she’s told me that I don’t—is pathetic.
I’ve been a lot of things in my life, but until now, pathetic was never one of them.
And, if I have my say, it will never be again.
So fuck the universe and fuck the precious mating bond everybody is willing to wait forever to find. In my mind, it’s highly overrated. And I’m done.
Done with the mating bond and whatever fucked-up magic let me actually believe she chose me, on some level at least.
Done with being stomped on by the only two people I’ve ever really given a damn about in my whole life.
I’m sure as shite done with being my little brother’s whipping boy because he thinks the universe has fucked him over.
I’m not waiting around any longer for Grace to see me. She and Jaxon can have each other.