10. Chloe
CHAPTER 10
CHLOE
Titus was dressed in a shirt and jeans that he somehow managed to look designer, even though I was pretty sure that I remember him throwing it in the shopping cart when we’d been out at Target.
One of my classmates just said that she wanted to have his babies.
If I could hear it then Titus could definitely hear it.
Why? Just why?
Now that I was paying attention, the other omegas didn’t look like they were in danger as much as they just low-key wanted to throw themselves at him. Literally throw themselves bodily at him.
Opening my sexual anatomy book, I walked past Titus like I didn’t even see him. In my peripheral vision, I noted how his jaw tensed. His longer stride easily matched mine as he followed me out of the class.
As soon as we were alone, I dropped the act and glared at Titus. “What do you want?”
“Your last text was concerning.”
Which was the last text? Was it the stuff about Emmanuel ?
“That guy, Emmanuel… if I hadn’t said anything, how likely would it be for you to put him into your pack?”
“I mean Emmanuel? Well, he seems like a nice guy. He’s pretty cute…” Titus just shrugged.
Something within me sank at the realization.
Why was Titus so oblivious?
I wanted to quit this stupid interviewing thing, but did he literally have no idea that he was about to bond with an alpha like that? Was he so ready to walk into the loving arms of a backstabbing jerk?
Alpha bonds were no joke. He’d be able to sense those other guy’s emotions in his mind all the time… for the rest of his life. I had no idea why these alphas weren’t taking mental health into consideration. I couldn’t imagine how having a bond with someone with anger issues would impact your happiness.
“Yeah, all the other guys that you sent my way… some of them have been just clueless, or straight up dumb. But Emmanuel? I think that he’s a psychopath. No, I mean literally. There’s something about him that is definitely off. Like he hides it well, but I think that he could be legitimately evil.”
“I don’t care about Emmanuel. If you say he’s shit, he’s shit. I’m not going to bond with him.”
I hadn’t noticed the tension that had built up in the pit of my stomach until it was suddenly gone. I hadn’t noticed how anxious I’d felt about Titus bonding an asshole until just now.
Titus frowned when he noticed me sighing. “Was Emmanuel really being psychotic? Do you want me to get him to apologize?”
I shook my head, trying to dislodge the mental image of Emmanuel’s pathetic attempt at saying sorry if he was ever forced to apologize to anyone. He just seemed like the kind of guy who was so convinced that he was right that he would need to consult a written list of different ways to apologize for hurting people. There was no way that he was simply human enough to feel regular emotions and produce the words that sounded even close to empathic. I wasn’t up to hearing his bastardized and cheap imitation of sounding like a decent human. It seemed like more effort than it was worth. I didn’t have the mental energy to deal with that right now.
“So what’s going on with Kain?” Titus crossed his arms as he stared at me with an expression he’d photocopied from Father.
“Uhh…” damn. Titus was not supposed to pick up on that. What happened to him being oblivious? “Why would anything be going on with Kain?”
I did not want my family involved in my relationships before I even figured out what I wanted with these guys. I hadn’t even met the entire pack. I didn’t even know all their names.
“Hey,” Titus grabbed my shoulders, watching me closely. The look in his eyes was burning, promising vengeance and swift retribution. “Your text said that he’s okay. You literally had nothing nice to say about a single one of the alphas that I sent your way. Is he blackmailing you? Tell me what’s going on.”
Damn, Titus thought that I was actually in danger or something. Well, I couldn’t let him think that Kain was using me… but I was kinda hoping to still be able to pawn my scent matches off on him once they started to annoy me.
“Alright, I’ll tell you what’s up with him. But can you please promise me that you won’t tell anyone? I mean no one. Not even our parents.”
“Okay?” Titus clenched his jaw. He had to be grinding his teeth—and he knew better than to mess with his teeth after wearing braces for three years when he was in middle school.
Why did he say it as a question? I did not mean it as a question.
“Promise me, or I’m not saying a word.” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Okay, fine. I promise. What is it?”
“So Kain ended up being my scent match.”
“Oh my God! Chloe,” Titus pulled me in for an enthusiastic hug. “That’s great!”
“No!” I pulled out of the hug, shaking my head. Did no one ever listen to me? “This is the worst thing that could have happened to me.”
“Okay… not great then.” Titus frowned, as he tried to wrap his head around the very simple fact that I did not want scent matches. “Are they just not your type? Do you just dislike them or something?”
“I don’t know, I haven’t even met any of the pack besides Kain, and he’s not bad.” I crossed my arms across my chest and raised my chin. Just because my brother was stupidly taller than me and older than me did not mean that his points were any more important than mine. He wasn’t going to talk me out of my priorities.
“So, what’s the problem?”
“I don’t want a scent match right now. There are just other things that are more important to me.” I knew that the most important thing for my future happiness was not dick. I needed to focus on my academics in order to get my dream job.
Titus just stared at me.
I glared right back at him. “What?”
“What do you mean, what? What’s more important to you than having a pack? Not just a pack, one with your scent match?”
“What is even the point of a pack of alphas if they aren’t going to listen to me!” I rubbed my forehead, trying to soothe away the headache caused by my brother’s nonsense. “Just the thing that I’ve been saying for months. I want to finish my college classes. I want to get my degree. ”
“You do?” Titus said slowly, in a tone that suggested that I was crazy. “Why do you even want a degree? What are you going to do with it?”
“I’m going to get a respectable job, in a nice quiet office, with no one to bother me. I just want to be left alone to be a productive member of society in peace.”
“But they’re your scent match,” Titus repeated himself as if the words meant something different the second time around.
“I don’t know if I want a scent match,” I grumbled. “Our parents aren’t scent matches, and they are all perfectly happy.”
Titus just stared at me, as if I was the crazy one.
“The one brother that I met was actually a pretty decent guy. He’d be a solid addition to your own pack.” Whatever. I wasn’t actually sure if I wanted to give them up, but it was still a win for the guys if they got to hook up with Titus.
“Yeah, no little sis. I am not so hard up for alphas that I’m going to steal your scent matches in order to make a decent pack.”
Well there went my back up plan. My get-rid-of-the-scent-matches quick plan was completely trashed in the course of one short conversation.
Titus was really leaving me no choice but to spend time with sexy men that were falling over themselves to please me. When was I supposed to do that? Who had time for desperate and gorgeous alphas? It was like no one other than me was taking my academics seriously.
None of this was fair.