Screw My Childhood Sweetheart His Alpha Brother Marked Me First novel Chapter 138

A little sore but not too bad.” I looked around my new bedroom. “Where is everyone?”

“Downstairs Mason and Coby are here.”

I stiffened at the bela’s name, my shoulder muscles crying out in protest.

“Don’t do that,” Vaughn growled.

I scowled at him. “Don’t boss me around.”

He sighed, flopping to his back.

“Why are you here?” I asked softly. Just saying the words made my heart ache. This back and forth was too hard.

Vaughn turned his head towards me. “I don’t know.”

“Not good enough.”

He leaned up on his elbow, looking down at me. “I needed to be near you.”

Needed not wanted. He had a compulsion to be close to me because of the bond, but it didn’t seem as if he especially liked me.

Vaughn let out a low chuff, more animal than human. “I miss you when I stay away.”

I stared at him, searching his face for any hint of an explanation, for the truth. “Then why do you do it? You know we’d always welcome you.”

“I’m no good at any of this. It’s more than the fear of hurting you, hurting the rest of the bond. I’ve spent more time as a wolf than as a human these past years. I’m not good with other people, I don’t do relationships.”

Even though there was a part of me that screamed not to, I reached out, linking my fingers with Vaughn’s. “No one expects you to be perfect. I’m not. I’m still struggling to figure this out. All we’re asking is for you to be present. Stumble through it with the rest of us.”

I could see the battle in Vaughn’s eyes. He lowered his forehead to mine, leaving it there. “I can try.”

“That’s all I need.” I ached to close the distance between us, to touch my lips to his for the first time. I wanted to know all of him.

The door opened and we jumped apart. River froze in the entryway. “Did I, uh, interrupt something?”

He sounded adorably hopeful. I shook my head. “Sometimes this bond thing is too weird.”

River grinned and Vaughn chuckled. He leaned over and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “It’s just going to take time, right?”

I blew out a breath. “Right.”

River crossed to us and handed me a Diet Coke. “You feel up to a talk with Mason and Coby?”

I took a sip of the soda, letting the bubbles dance on my tongue. “If I say no, can I ignore that any of this is happening?”

River lowered himself to the bed. “I wish you could.”

I wanted to burrow under the covers and refuse to come out.

Chapter 138

River seemed to sense as much. He pRiverked the can out of my hand and set it on the nightstand. Kicking off his shoes, he laid back on the bed and pulled me to him.

I laid my head on his chest, listening to the beat of his heart. Of all of the guys, River had been steadfast from the beginning. I always knew where I stood with him. If the world spun out of control around me, he never faltered.

He stroked his fingers through my hair. “We take it one step at a time.”

“Right now, I feel too tired for even one step.”

Vaughn moved in behind me, his lips ghosting over my injured shoulder. “Then you stay right here.”

The contact sent a shiver through me. Vaughn’s lips were smoother than I would’ve expected. The pressure of them heartbreakingly gentle.

“Vaughn’s right. We can stay here as long as you want.”

I let out a little sigh. “Just give me a few minutes to mentally prepare.”

River continued his ministrations on my scalp. His gaze tracked over where Vaughn’s body connected with mine. He must’ve seen something in Vaughn’s expression because he shifted me so that I was more evenly distributed between them. “You won’t hurt her.”

Vaughn’s eyes narrowed on River. “Get out of my head.”

“I wasn’t in your head. I was looking at your face. You want to kiss her so badly, it’s killing you.”

I looked from Vaughn to River and back again. Vaughn’s jaw worked back and forth. “I could do it without meaning to.”

River’s eyes glowed as he let his gift flare to life. “You won’t. Trust me that I would tell you if you were in a risky head space.”

“I don’t know-”

I cut off Vaughn’s words by stretching up and closing the distance between us. As my lips met his, Vaughn didn’t move for a moment, frozen in shock. I was about to pull away when his lips melded into mine.

It was a slow, smoky heat. It seeped into me, sweeping through all of my muscle and sinew. Vaughn’s tongue stroked mine, pulling a little moan out of my lips.

His hand slipped under the hem of my tank top, stroking the skin there. I fought the urge to roll on top of him. To reach for more. But he was already giving me so much. A connection I’d lost all hope for.

“River, what’s taking so long?” Anson called as the door to the bedroom opened. “Holy hell…”

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