Chapter 49

Xavier’s POV

I sat on the stool and picked up the brush. I glanced at my gorgeous mate lying in the hammock without a single piece of fabric covering her and wanted to paint her instead of the canvas.

But my brush refused to touch the paint. I was agitated.

How dare John play with my sister’s emotions and then blackmail my mate to cheat with him? I was upset for Alyssa. But more importantly, I was furious for Zoe. Why had she let her ex push her around like this? How long had she suffered like this?

Clearly, nothing had happened between them or he wouldn’t be blackmailing like he was. But then what leverage did he have on her?

“Xavier?”

I jerked to reality when she called my name.

“You’ve been staring at the blank canvas for five minutes now.” She softly reminded me, and my heart ached for some reason. Was it the effect of mate bond? But I hadn’t even accepted her as mine yet. I still had hope for Claire to someday return to me from wherever she had gone for whatever reasons.

“