Profound Devotion

Chapter 28

July 31st
Monaia

Mere hours had passed, and the four of us were now packed tightly within the guest bedroom I had been residing within. I sent out hope that Cassius would sense the other girls and stay away for now, yet I wanted him near me almost as much.

"I already told Byron not to expect me tonight." Seraphina let out a girlish giggle while twisting the strands of Jamie's sleekened hair into a woven braid down her back.

My sister insisted that, in order for us to succeed tonight, we would have to return to our adolescent years. That would also explain why Syrene was haphazardly painting my nails while we listened to Jamie's fortuitous gossip of Lance as if they'd only just become mated.

"I wish I could find my mate already." Syrene sighed dreamily, waving around the polish brush between her fingers.

"I don't know." Jamie scrunched her nose and pursed her lips. "I kind of miss not sharing a home with a guy. It smelt better before." She hissed as Sera yanked on her braid.

We all knew she was exaggerating—she wouldn't be able to smell anything past her mate's scent, anyway.

"What about you, Naia? Excited to finally meet your mate?"

I swallowed and lowered my eyes to the wrinkled blanket beneath me. If it felt good to open up to Raian, was it time to come clean to the others as well?

"Actually," I cleared my throat, darting my tongue across my lower lip as Syrene finished off my nails, "I've already met him."

Seraphina squealed as she tied off the ends of Jamie's hair. "Oh, please tell me it's that smoking hot warrior you were cozying up to." She wiggled her eyebrows, dodging the bleached white pillow I'd targeted to hit her face from across the room.

"I already told you no." I scolded, though a smile broke through as she rolled her eyes and huffed the stray strands of hair from in front of her vision. "You...don't know him. He's from a different pack."

Jamie spun on her rear and popped some of the salted chips into her mouth. "When are we going to meet him?"

I shifted, mimicking her stance on her knees and waving my hands in the air to dry the vibrant colored polish.

"You're not." My voice was softer than I'd wanted, but it got my point across nonetheless. "He rejected me."

My elder sister shot forward, no longer concerned with the bowl of chips in her own lap and spilling it across the sheets. "What? When?"

"About seven months ago."

The three of them ushered me with apologies and words of sympathy. "What an asshole." Jamie scowled, chomping louder on the chips as if it would calm her distaste. "It's a good thing we don't know him."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Sera pouted, dusting off the crumbs that landed in her lap. "You've kept it bottled up for so long. I wouldn't have left had I known—" I cut her off with a firm shake of my head.

"No. You deserve to live your life without having to worry about me." I refused to be the one holding my family back. "Besides, you have your own mate to worry about. I'll be fine."

Her lower lip stuck out, and she gathered me into a bone-crushing hug across the mattress. Syrene gasped and caught the still open bottle of polish before it managed to spill everywhere, muttering under her breath as she finally twisted the top back on.

It took a lot of strength to pry my sister's arms off me, even more mentally to change the topic to something other than the selfish man that had the nerve to reject me.