Page 62 of Plus-Size Sold Mate
“How very Alpha of you.”
He pauses, giving her an incredulous look before he laughs. It leaves him unfiltered, and his entire face lights up in surprised humor. “Shut up.”
Even when I don’t mean to, I find myself staring at him.
“You should really consider kicking your buddies out of town, you know,” Isaac muses while lounging comfortably. “All of our women are breaking their necks to take second glances at them.”
Luke snorts to himself. “You sound a little insecure.”
He receives an unimpressed glare in response. “I’m perfectly secure, but when they start walking around looking likeliteral tanks with military experience, it makes a guy question himself.”
Eve waves the notion off. “Just let Dominic open his mouth, and they’ll change their minds real quick.”
They easily break into laughter again, with Luke taking special joy in his friend being read so easily, and it’s hard to miss just how different this side of him is.
Here, he’s not just the Alpha or a protective mate. With his siblings, he gets to be a brother without any other pressure on his shoulders. Instead, he can be normal, and regardless of being the oldest, he isn’t safe from being teased or argued with.
Something about the way they interact with each other is so natural and lived-in, and while I knew he was close with them before, it feels different to witness it for myself in such a relaxed setting.
They talk as easily as anything, and when Isaac reaches for the last pastry, Luke smacks his hand away. A moment later, he slides it in his direction anyway with an amused smirk.
He cares deeply about them, and it’s so obvious in the way he listens to them, how he responds to them thoughtfully, even when they’re just messing around.
While I watch them, something unfamiliar makes my chest tighten, knowing I’ve never had anything like this. Without any siblings that I know of, I’ve only ever been at it alone. I never had friends who could fill that place either.
There’s something painfully beautiful in this loud yet affectionate dynamic, and after a moment, Eve glances at me with a small smile.
Then, she gets up and offers me a hand before guiding me up from my seat and looping her arm through mine. She pullsme in the direction of the patio door. “See? He’s not always a grumpy tyrant.”
“I’m not a tyrant,” Luke calls, waiting a beat before he follows.
Isaac pushes past him with a boyish laugh. “When food is involved? You definitely are.”
Unable to help it, I hum my amusement while I’m whisked out of the house and led to the back deck overlooking the yard and into the surrounding woods.
The lounging continues outside for a while, with Eve and me sitting in the sun while Isaac ropes Luke into throwing a football between them. He falls into it like a standard routine, looking every part the older brother.
As much as I want to pretend I’m completely unbothered by the sight, it’s getting harder to hate him.
Between the way he makes them completely safe and comfortable enough to joke around harmlessly like it’s second nature, and how gentle he has been with me, I don’t know how much longer I can keep these walls up.
He’s trying, and given how dedicated he is to everyone in his life, I can tell he just wants to hold it all together. I have the feeling that has been the case for a long time.
After a natural lull in conversation, Isaac murmurs to Luke as he tosses the ball, “There’s still some talk happening…after the festival.”
Even if the conversation is meant to be between them, they’re not far enough away for the words to slip past me. My shoulders stiffen.
I catch as Luke’s expression shifts. “What kind of talk?”
“The usual,” Isaac responds carefully. “Some think their fears are vindicated, the others think the opposite.”
“That she saved them,” Eve interjects.
“Yeah. But you know how it is. Fear sticks a little longer than gratitude.”
Luke’s jaw tightens, and he pulls in a slow breath. “I told them that’s over.”
“And most listened,” Isaac says, attempting to reassure him. “But not all.”
