Chapter 378
Chapter 378:
“My little troublemaker?” I managed to say, though my voice sounded like a stranger’s.
The way she leaned in, her warm breath brushing against my ear — it made me shiver. “You’ve been working too hard, Alpha,” she murmured, her voice soft and impossibly seductive. “Let me take care of you p>
I was lost. Completely and utterly lost.
From the moment our lips met, coherent thought abandoned me entirely. She kissed me as though she were staking a claim, and I let her. God, how I wanted her to. My hands found her waist almost instantly, and I held on as though she were the only thing keeping me afloat in the middle of a storm.
C𝗵𝗶n𝘦ѕе 𝘯𝗼𝘷e𝗹𝘴 t𝗋a𝗻𝘴𝘭𝘢t𝘦𝖽 оn
“Let her take control,” Ace growled in my head, his tone saturated with pride and longing. “She is our queen, and we are her king. Just look at her — she is perfect. Absolutely perfect p>
And she was.
Her touch, her kisses, the way she moved — she swept through everything in her path. I thought I knew every part of her, every desire. But that night was different. It was wilder. Bolder.
By the time we were both breathless and tangled together, the world had narrowed to just the two of us. She rested against my chest, her heartbeat steady and strong, and for the first time all day, I felt at peace.
“This is ours,” Ace said quietly in my mind.
“She is ours,” he added, and there was something close to reverence in his voice.
But then Jasmine spoke, and I already knew what she was going to say before a single word left her lips.
“You’re up to something,” I told her, amusement and suspicion weaving through my voice.
Jasmine tilted her head to look at me, her eyes glinting with mischief. “Can’t I simply enjoy my husband without an ulterior motive p>
I raised an eyebrow. “You can. But I know you, Jasmine. Tell me p>
And then she said his name. “Aiden p>
The peace I had felt just moments before shattered, replaced by the familiar dread that settled over me every time I heard my brother’s name. Jasmine didn’t know him the way I did. She hadn’t seen the chaos he was capable of, nor the danger he could become.
“Jasmine,” I began, but she stopped me, pressing her hand gently against my chest.
“Just hear me out first,” she said carefully. “I know you don’t trust him. I know you see him as a threat. But he is still your brother, Ryder. Your family p>
Her words struck harder than I wanted to admit.
My brother. My family.
I wanted to tell her she was wrong — that Aiden was nothing like me, that he could never be trusted. But the words felt hollow, because no matter how much I tried to push it down, he was my twin brother.
Still, my instincts as Alpha warred against my identity as a brother. “He is nothing like me,” I said at last, my voice tight. “He is unpredictable. Dangerous p>