Semua Bab The Alpha's Broken Pet: Bab 111 - Bab 120

JustinSeeing Marissa and her damn boyfriend sent an irrational heat flaring through my chest.I didn’t understand why. I couldn't understand it. But there it was—that burn. The way my ribs tightened when she laughed and looked up at him. That easy, open smile curling her lips made an ugly jealousy twist in my gut.The guy stood like he was her knight or something, always in her space. Close enough that one shift and they’d be touching.It was stupid. I knew it was stupid. I had a fiancée. A future. A duty. I had no damn right to feel anything. But logic didn’t matter. Not when I remembered the way she’d touched me. Two nights ago, she’d reached for me like I was something more. Her hands on my face. Her body pressed against mine. Her mouth—The ache in my chest from the healer’s silver knives, the clawing pain that kept me up at night, had all gone quiet under her touch.No one else had managed that. No ritual, no spell, no salve. Just her.So yeah, seeing her grin like that at someo

MarissaI heard Justin call my name just as I was heading past the other side of the lounge, downstairs near the exit. My heart gave a little jump of satisfaction. This was no accident. I had planned this. I saw him leaving with Wendy earlier, quickly put the pieces together, and decided to take the same route out. I saw my chance, and I took it."You must be bored out of your mind if you’re ditching your pathetic excuse of a boyfriend to stalk me," Justin said. His voice was a low murmur beside me as he fell into step, a smirk playing on his lips.I turned my head just enough to give him a pointed look. "What if I am? What are you going to do about it?""Many things," he winked.I rolled my eyes, walking past him and pushing the door open to step out into the night. The air was humid. The dim glow from the streetlamps barely cut through the darkness of the parking lot, which stretched ahead, mostly deserted save for a few scattered cars.Justin’s footsteps followed close behind me."

MarissaI stared at my phone, rereading Justin’s message for the third time. A stupid smile tugged at my lips before I could stop it.I was giddy. Over a text. From an engaged man.God, I was an idiot.Just thinking about what might happen if we were alone sent a feverish warmth racing through my body, tingles unfurling beneath my skin. I shut it down quickly. I refused to be some starry-eyed fool, fantasizing about a man who was literally planning a wedding with someone else.Besides, his sister was coming along. That was enough to kill the thrill. I tossed my phone onto the table and leaned back, fully aware I was getting ahead of myself.Justine would be relentless. She’d watch me with those expectant eyes, waiting for any hint that she could win me over. The thought alone was exhausting.I stretched out on the bed, my mind drifting to Hector’s reaction when I told him the truth—when I admitted that Justin and I were mates.He’d looked at me like I’d just announced his favorite mov

MarissaJustin's text buzzed on my phone. I ignored it and tried to focus on his sister, who was animatedly recounting one of her international gigs. She was engaging enough, but it didn’t stop me from feeling the weight of my phone like it was burning through my palm.Another buzz. I glanced down.Justin: Imagine if it were just me and you right now. No one else.I locked the screen and forced a smile, nodding politely at Justine’s latest punchline.Another buzz.Justin: You’d be a lot less focused on this conversation. Imagine us in the car… doing naughty stuff. Just the way you like it.I ignored it again, silently cursing him for teasing me like this while his sister sat three feet away.Justin: Oh, better still—imagine me sitting beside you. My hand on your thigh…I instinctively squeezed my legs together.Justin: You’re squirming, aren’t you? Trying to keep a straight face…A laugh escaped me, right as Justine said something vaguely funny. She didn’t seem to notice the heat simm

MarissaMy fingers hovered over my iPad as I sat restlessly on my table. My attention was fixed on Justin’s office door. He had come in not long ago, yet something about him felt off.I glanced through the glass partition. He wasn’t typing, making calls, or reviewing reports. He just sat there, staring blankly at the wall. I’d spent enough time watching this man to know when something was wrong.And now that I knew the truth that he couldn’t feel our bond the way I did, it all made a strange sort of sense.I wasn’t second-guessing myself anymore. The confusion had cleared, even if the ache in my chest hadn’t. I’d spent the whole night heartbroken, lying awake with too many thoughts and not enough answers.Eventually, I turned to research, looking for proof that I wasn’t losing my mind. Bonds could be one-sided. Rare, but real.Now that I knew the truth, I held a strange kind of power. Not over Justin exactly, but over the way I told our story. I had to be careful. If I rushed it, if I