Chapter 11 - Sinth
She’s quiet after Chris leaves. Quieter than usual. Curled into the nest, knees drawn up, staring at the fire as if it owes her an answer.
I sit beside her without asking permission first. Close enough she knows I’m not going anywhere. Far enough that she doesn’t have to feel crowded by it.
“You don’t have to explain anything,” I say eventually. “I’m not here for that.”
“Then why are you here?” She glances up at me, her eyes meeting mine.
“Because I don’t like the idea of you sitting here alone.”
She picks at the edge of a blanket instead of answering right away, and I let the quiet stretch until she decides what to do with it.
“He kissed me.” Her voice comes out flat. “Then told me it was a mistake.”
I hesitate. “He didn’t mean that.”
“Yes, he did.” She frowns. “You didn’t see the look in his eyes; he regretted it immediately.”
There’s pain etched in her gaze.
“He rejected me…again.” She cups her face in her palms, embarrassed and furious. “What was I thinking?”
“Don’t blame yourself. It’s not your fault.”
She looks up at me again. “You’re right. It’s not. It’s his.”
I reach out and take her hand. “Look, I know Chris can be…unbearable sometimes.”
Her eyebrows knit together, forming a scowl on her face. “All the time.”
“Most of the time,” I say, negotiating.
“All the time,” she insists.
“Fine,” I succumb. “The point is…he’s really not as bad as you think he is.”
“Don’t listen to him, Chris is as bad as they come,” Wayne’s voice cuts through the fleeting silence.
We shift our attention toward the front door, and there he is, leaning against the frame.
“You’re not helping,” I say to him.
“If it involves Chris, of course I’m not helping.” He drinks from his goblet and strolls inside. “I don’t really know the full story, but whatever happened, I’m on your side, cutie.” The last statement is directed at Charlize.
Her lips curl into a small smile.
“But wait. What happened?” His eyes shift between Charlize and me, a hint of curiosity in his gaze.
“You’ve been standing there long enough,” I nod toward the door. “I thought you overheard the conversation.”
“I wasn’t eavesdropping, Sinth,” he says. “It so happens that I arrived in the nick of time to hear you make up excuses for whatever Chris did to our lovely mate.” A pause. “I wasn’t on time for the full gist though.”
“He kissed me,” Charlize blurts out. “He kissed me, and then he said it was a mistake.”
Wayne laughs and mumbles something to himself, then meets Charlize’s gaze. “Trust me, cutie, it was not a mistake, and contrary to what he might’ve made you believe, Chris Winterborne did not regret kissing you.” He sips from his goblet.
“Hold on, is it just me, or did you just take his side?” I ask, confused.
“I didn’t take his side, God, no,” he replies. “What I did was call out his hypocrisy. There’s a difference.” Sips his wine again.
“Well, still…” Charlize’s voice is low. “It hurts.”
Silence.
Wayne clears his throat. “Listen, um…I’m sorry the party turned into a mess. Wasn’t the plan. I just wanted to ease the tension, you know—give you something good. But I ended up giving you something complicated instead.”
She almost smiles at that. Almost.
“I’m grateful for the attempt, Wayne. That was thoughtful of you.”
He sits in the chair nearby. “Why do I smell a ‘but’ coming?”
She chuckles quietly, tucking her hair behind her ear.
A fleeting silence.
She continues, “After the incident with Chris, I’m reminded that all my life everyone has rejected me.”
Chris shows up seemingly out of nowhere but doesn’t announce himself. He stays near the door, arms crossed, saying nothing, watching from a distance like he isn’t sure he’s allowed closer. Nobody tells him to leave. Nobody invites him in either.
She notices his presence and locks eyes with him across the room. Neither of them says a word. She heaves a heavy sigh and returns to telling her story.
“My father blamed me for my mother’s death before I understood what blame meant. My stepmother made sure I never forgot my place in that house… somewhere below the furniture, most days.” Her voice stays controlled, the way people talk about old wounds they’ve stopped expecting anyone to care about.
I feel a strange kind of raging coursing through me.
“My brother figured out early that the fastest way to please them both was to treat me the same. I did the work of three people and got fed like I was worth less than one.”
Wayne’s jaw tightens. “Villagers ever step in?”
“Villagers thought I was cursed. Shiftless girl whose mother died bringing her into the world… easier to call me bad luck than admit my family was cruel.” She shrugs her shoulders. “You’d be surprised what you get used to.”
Chris hasn’t moved from the doorway, but the muscle in his jaw is working hard enough that I can see it from here. His fury is under control yet glaring.
Wayne has no such restraint. “Give me their names. I’ll ride out there myself and rearrange a few faces. Nothing permanent. Just enough they remember it’s a bad idea to treat a King’s fated mate like scrap.” He’s already on his feet by now.
“You’d fight my stepmother?” Her brows arch.
“Well, not directly,” he says. “But there’s tons of women in my Pack that can put her in place.”
She chuckles. Real, unguarded.
Even Chris’s jaw loosens slightly at the sound. He covers it fast, but not fast enough that I miss it.
“But seriously though, I’ll send some of my men down there to rough them up a bit. Those kinds of people might try to bother you again later,” Wayne says.
Charlize cocks her head to the side. “I don’t think so. They have always wanted to get rid of me and now that I’m gone, I doubt they’d ever try to find me again. Besides, news travels really slowly to my village. It’s so backwater that we didn’t even hear that you were looking for a mate.”
“Oh, that makes sense,” I say.
Wayne mutters something to himself, but he doesn’t say anything anymore.
The talk gets easier after that, lighter, until Wayne—never one to leave well enough alone—brings up the kiss.
“For the record,” he says, far too casually, “I kissed her first. Before Chris. Just so everyone’s clear.”
Her cheeks flush, her eyes dropping to the floor. Chris’s head turns toward Wayne fast, something dangerous behind those pale eyes.
“Don’t look at me like that. It happened. She kissed back too. And I wasn’t a dick about it afterward.” Wayne shrugs off the glare aimed at him.
Chris’s expression hardens, hinting that Wayne’s words had poked the bear.
“Did you really have to say that?” I rub my eyes.
“Say what?” He looks at me. “That we kissed or that I wasn’t a dick about it afterward?”
“Why’re you back here anyway?” Wayne pokes some more. “Finally grow a conscience and want to apologize?”
Chris doesn’t say anything else.
I don’t say anything either, though something uncomfortable stirs in my own chest anyway. Jealousy, probably, though I don’t much like the word or what it says about how far gone I already am for a woman I’ve known less than two weeks.
I watch her face instead, flushed, flustered, caught between two men who’ve both apparently crossed a line I haven’t come near.
We leave not long after. The three of us file into the corridor while she settles back into her nest, and I make it almost to the end of the hall before I stop walking.
“Hey, um…you two carry on. I think I forgot something,” I say, already turning back before either of them asks what.
Wayne raises an eyebrow but doesn’t push it. Chris doesn’t even glance back.
I knock again, softer this time. When she opens the door, there’s real surprise on her face, followed by a smile—small, but real, the first one she’s given me all night.
“Hey,” she says, eyes sparkling with something I’m yet to name.
“Hey.”
“What’re you doing back here?”
I hesitate. “Honestly, I’m not sure.”
She opens the door wider and gestures for me to come in.
“Thank you.” I step inside and the door swings shut behind me on its own weight.
She stares at me, still standing by the door.
I turn to face her squarely. “I guess I wanted to see you smile again before the night ended.”
“Strange thing to come back for.” Her voice is soft and sweet.
“Maybe. But I don’t really care.”
She looks at me for a long moment, something soft and uncertain crossing her face. I close the distance slowly, giving her every chance to step back.
She doesn’t take it.
My hands settle on her waist, and I pull her to myself. Her breath catches, but she doesn’t take her eyes off me. I lower my head, sealing her lips in a fervent kiss.
It’s gentle at first, careful, more question than demand. She leans into it, her hand finding my chest, and whatever’s been coiled tight in me since I first caught her scent starts loosening.
The kiss deepens—slow and unhurried. Tongues in mouths. I caress her jaw, tilt her closer, and the small sound she makes against my mouth undoes the rest of my restraint.
Her fingers curl into my shirt while I pull her flush against me, and the slow pace starts fraying at the edges. Heat is building low and steady where there was only warmth a moment ago.
I push her against the door, my lips devouring hers as her hands rub her skin under my shirt. The kiss is so good, so intense that it has me hooked.
The wine she had earlier still lingers on her tongue, and I can taste it. She moans in my mouth, her hand traveling down my pants.
Breathless, I deepen the kiss as she gently strokes the print of my erection. My hands settle on her generous curves and begin to squeeze deliciously, basking in the sound of her moans.
“Sinth…” She breaks the kiss before I lose control, breathless, forehead against mine.
I swallow hard, my pulse racing.
“I think we should um…” she whispers, pursing her swollen lips.
“Yeah, of course.” I step back.
She meets my gaze, smiling.
“Now I can sleep fine.” I lean in and kiss her forehead. “Goodnight, Charlize.”
“Goodnight, Sinth.”
I linger a little longer before leaving her room, unsatisfied. But content. She’s such a good kisser; I can’t wait for the day I taste and claim every part of her gorgeous body.
The thought of that alone hardens my cock in my pants.