Chapter 3 3

TAMARA

Oh my God....

I was going to throw up...

The sight of my own boyfriend and my senior sister was too much for me to bear. Everything around me reduced to white noise—Jaxson's voice, the background music, the footsteps approaching from behind him.

My eyes remained glued to the bed, watching Evander scramble to cover his body with the sheets while my senior sister, Anna, continued to smoke her cigarette as though Jaxson and the others weren't staring at her naked body.

But that was supposed to be my boyfriend.

The same man who had kissed me goodbye before I left for Aurelius University.

The same man who had promised that distance would never change how he felt about me.

And now he was naked with Anna.

My own sister.

A broken sob escaped my lips before I could stop it. I tried hard to stop tears from blurring my vision, but it was a futile effort.

Anna's eyes narrowed when she noticed I was standing in the hallway.

For a moment, neither of us said anything. She simply stared at me, cigarette hanging loosely between her fingers.

Then she slowly exhaled a cloud of smoke.

“Tamara,” she said, her voice completely devoid of remorse.

My heart nearly caved in from the pain in my chest. Anna and her mother had always despised me since the day I showed up at the Gracìa mansion at the age of seven. I was too young to understand how much pain my arrival had caused, nor did I understand that it would bring me a lifetime of torment. 

Like this moment. 

“What the hell is going on here?” Jaxson growled from behind. “Evander, I thought I told you that there would be no hanky-panky in this party.”

Someone scoffed. “C'mon, you know your younger brother. He and his girlfriend are always like this.”

My mind reeled from the words I had just heard. No one looked surprised. In fact, none of them seemed particularly bothered by what they had witnessed. 

Nausea rolled in my stomach once again. Unable to bear the scene anymore, I pushed through the crowd and rushed back into my room where I emptied all the contents in my stomach in the bathroom. 

My ragged gasps filled the space as I leaned back on the marbled walls. My mind was in so much chaos that I struggled to catch my breath. 

All I could think about was that Evander was having an affair with my sister. Since when? How was this even possible?

As seconds ticked by, my wolf spiraled into self-blame and self-hatred when she remembered the gloating look in Anna's eyes. She had warned me several times that dating someone like Evander was too good to be true, but I refused to believe her. 

I thought he'd be different. I thought he was one of those rare attractive guys who would stay faithful to their girlfriend. 

Guess I was wrong. 

I closed my eyes and let the tears spill down my cheeks. I wished there was some way to get rid of this feeling of pain and humiliation immediately, but there wasn't. 

Anna had won again. She had stolen another good thing in my life and I was helpless to stop her. 

A soft sob escaped my lips at the same time a knock resounded on the door. Scrambling to my feet, I glanced at the mirror once and wiped my cheeks before heading to the door. 

Jaxson's apologetic face greeted me the moment I opened the door. He had changed into a grey wifebeater and checkered pajamas, holding a cup of hot chocolate. 

“Hey, are you alright?” He ran a hand through his wet, tousled hair. “Look, I'm so sorry for what happened. I know I promised that no one would come upstairs, but I have no idea how my younger brother snuck past me—”

“He's really your brother?”

“Yeah, he is,” he confirmed, his eyes narrowing into a suspicious look. “Why do you ask? Do you know him or something?”

I shook my head. “No...no, I don't.”

Jaxson didn't seem to completely believe me, but he didn't pursue the matter further. Instead he pushed the steaming mug into my hand and grabbed the other hand to support it. 

“Well, I just wanted to apologize,” he repeated, tucking his hands into his pockets. “I have no idea why you ran away like that, but I wanted to check on you—”

All the warmth I felt immediately vanished when I heard him. “I didn't run, I walked away,” I snapped, my voice icy. “How else do you expect a normal person to react to that disgusting sight?”

“Uh...I don't know?” he drawled, but there was an edge to his voice now. “Maybe not run away like a virgin Disney princess?”

The words ‘fuck you’ almost left my mouth, but then his words sank into me. It shouldn't have hurt at all, but after what happened to me tonight, I couldn't help but wonder if that was the reason why Evander left me. 

Was it because I was inexperienced? Had he been pretending all this while like he was fine with me being a virgin because he had my older sister to warm his bed?

Another wave of nausea hit me as I processed all these thoughts. Jaxson's anger slowly faded when he noticed the tears gathering in my eyes again. 

“Oh, fuck,” he swore harshly under his breath as realization dawned on him. “I-I'm sorry. I didn't know you were really a virgin—”

“Stop talking.”

He immediately closed his mouth. 

I moved away to drop the mug on the dresser, but then everything suddenly turned pitch black. My wolf's extraordinary vision made it seem like nothing had changed, except all I could do now was distinguish shapes. 

“W-What's happening?”

“Shit, I think the power's out,” he said. “The backup power source is down, so we'll have to wait until morning.”

My breath became short and choppy. “No...I cannot,” I said, my voice rising from fear. “I cannot sleep without lights. I need light...”

“Hey, hey...”Jaxson stepped closer, but I moved out of his reach. He didn't react to it at all and simply held out his hands. “That can be easily fixed.”

“How?”

“We have a sleepover in the living room. Just like when we were kids,” he said simply. “You did have sleepovers growing up, right?”

No, I did not. But these kinds of things were very common among normal wolves, and there was no way I was going to give him any more reason to think I was a weirdo. 

“Of course, I did.”

The lie came out so smooth he didn't even question it. “Cool. I'll see you downstairs.”

After saying that, he turned around and left. I had no idea what I was supposed to do for a sleepover, so I quickly changed into my nightwear and grabbed a pillow from the bed.

Then I started walking downstairs. “Jaxson?”

“I'm here.”

I followed the sound of his voice until I reached the foot of the stairs and saw him. He was spreading a blanket over the couch when he straightened at the sight of me. 

“We'll sleep here.” He pointed at the couch. 

“No way.”

Jaxson rolled his eyes at my immediate protest. “C'mon, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm an Alpha wolf.”

His words did not reassure me. Yes, Alpha wolves were naturally protective creatures, but they were also hot-tempered and controlling. 

When Jaxson sensed my stubborn unease, he let out a rough exhale, looking as though he was running out of patience with me.

“Tamara, it's just a sleepover,” he said. “Trust me, your wolf would feel safer sleeping beside me.”

I fell silent, running through my options. He was right, my wolf felt safer with him than anyone else and I needed to get some sleep before tomorrow's freshman orientation. 

“Fine,” I acquiesced. “Just sleep.”

He nodded, watching me climb on the couch first. I readjusted to give him some space and then he climbed after me. He wrapped a hand around my waist, pulling me against his chest. 

My breath hitched before I could stop it.

“Relax,” he rumbled, his voice deep and smooth. “Physical contact helps our wolves relax.”

I knew he was right, but that was easier said than done. My body was already melting against my will simply because he was so close to me. Then I remembered everything that had happened tonight, and my mood plummeted.

There was no way I could stay here anymore. Tonight, I would sleep here in the arms of a man who I didn't even know, but that was it. 

I would be gone by sunrise.