Archaic (Reverse Harem 2)

He’s ready.

And so am I.

“Please be safe,” Toshi says. “Come back. Okay?”

He takes a step forward but resists the urge I know he has to reach out for me. It’s getting easier to read everyone around me, and I’m not sure why. I don’t know if it’s because my senses are heightening. Strengthening. Or if it is because I’m getting to know them better.

They all deserve better than me.

A knock comes at my hotel door before the knob turns. In scurries Penny, and she curls up on my bed. Her eyes take me in, and she wiggles her eyebrows, and for the first time since Egypt, I allow a giggle to slip.

“Looking good, hot stuff. I won’t be shocked if the alphas try to pounce anyway,” she says.

“If they do, I’ll kill them,” Sebastian says.

“Ready?”

I look over at him and nod as I made my way to the door.

“Clarissa.”

Toshi reaches out for my arm and grasps it. I stop in my tracks as Sebastian bristles. I turn my head toward him and take in his beautiful green and yellow gaze. In any other world, and at any other time, it would’ve melted me. Like our moments in Japan and our exploration of the countryside.

But that was a different time, and I’m not the same woman I was before.

I’m not even the same woman I was yesterday.

“I know,” I say coolly. “I’ll be careful.”

Then I’m released into the care of Sebastian as we head for our destination.

“How will they know I’m your mate?” I ask. “Is there something we sho

uld engage in before we go?”

Sebastian and I walk into the elevator, and I watch as the doors close in front of us.

“Don’t worry. It’s already been taken care of,” he says.

And I furrow my brow in confusion as the elevator roars to life.

Chapter 19

~ Sebastian

“W hat does that mean ?” Clarissa asks. “What’s been taken care of?”

“Do you ever stop asking questions?”

“Let’s get one thing straight,” she says. “You might have to treat me as your mate in front of them, but I’m not. And you won’t speak to me that way as long as we’re not around them. Got it?”

“You really don’t know how to not be a pain in the ass, do you?”

“At least you have the balls to say it out loud now,” she says.

“All you have to do is act enamored with me. That’s it. Think you can do that?”

“Didn’t realize this was going to require an Oscar performance.”