Rooming With My Ex-Mate's Hockey Star Brother

SADIE

What are you supposed to do when your mate doesn’t want you?

Cry?

Beg?

Pretend you’re fine while secretly stalking every girl he talks to?

I’d love to say I picked the mature option but I didn’t.

Which is why I’m currently in lingerie, waiting in a hotel room I booked with a bottle of his favorite wine that cost me two months of my part time salary.

”Relax,” I whisper, adjusting my sheer robe.

I can do this. I have to.

After all, it isn’t every day a she-wolf tries to seduce her own mate, so there’s no backing out now. Ezra has always said I’m too prude, so this is my chance to finally make him want me after three years together with nothing to show for it except an unmarked neck.

Is it desperate? Definitely. But desperation and I have been friends for a while now, so I’m used to it.

Reaching for my phone again, I check the time and as usual, he’s late. For a split second, an annoying little voice in the back of my head whispers that maybe he forgot what today is but I shove the thought away.

Ezra is always late, whether it’s for movie night, lunch or every date I’ve planned in the last three years but I never hold it against him.

He’s busy. Being Alpha Mercer’s second son comes with responsibilities I can’t even begin to understand, and I’ve learned not to take it personally. As long as he shows up, I count the date as a success. But maybe tonight will be different. Maybe he’s planning something or for once, he remembered my birthday.

The thought makes me smile.

After tonight, once Ezra marks me, no one will question where I belong anymore. I’ll finally be his mate, his family and future.

My fingers drift to the side of my neck where his mark will be, and butterflies erupt in my stomach.

There’ll be no more whispers or more pitying looks on campus.

No more...

”She’s embarrassing him.”

”The Mercers deserve someone stronger.”

”He’s only with her because he feels sorry for her.”

”He’ll leave her.”

Tonight, I change that.

A knock sounds at the door I left slightly open. ”Sadie?”

My heart jumps into my throat.

He’s here.

I quickly lie back against the pillows, turning onto my side the way the girls in those videos always do.

One hand rests against my waist. Too much? Maybe. I move it a little and tuck a strand of hair behind my ear.

”Come in,” I call, praying my voice doesn’t crack.

The door creaks open and Ezra steps inside, relief rushing through me so fast I almost laugh.

”You made—”

The words die in my throat as someone walks in behind him, my smile disappearing.

The room suddenly feels smaller, my brain blanks and I just stare because it can’t be what I’m seeing.

Paige?

Slowly, my eyes move from Ezra to her, then back again.

Am I hallucinating? And why are they both wearing black and blue?

Ezra’s black button-down is rolled to his forearms, the sleeves matching Paige’s fitted black dress like they planned it. Her long red hair falls over one shoulder in soft waves, bright against the dark fabric. Are they matching?

My stomach twists.

She looks me up and down, a smile spreading across her face.

Wait...Why is she looking at me like that?

Oh, Goddess. I’m still wearing the lingerie.

Heat rushes to my face. I scramble upright so fast I almost fall off the bed. One arm flies across my chest while I snatch the nearest pillow with the other, crushing it against myself.

Before I can recover, a burst of laughter shatters the silence and I look up.

Paige is bent over laughing, one hand clapping against the other.

”Oh my gosh.” She lets out another laugh. ”I can’t believe this. This is priceless.”

My face burns but it’s not just the laughter. It’s the pillow clutched against my chest. It’s the lingerie I spent two weeks hiding in my wardrobe, now sitting under the brightest lights imaginable. It’s the way Paige is looking at me like I’m the funniest thing she’s ever seen.

My eyes find Ezra and he isn’t laughing. His hands stay buried in his pockets, his jaw tight, his expression...embarrassed.

Embarrassed of me?

”When you said you were bringing me here,” Paige says with another grin, her hand falling on his shoulder, ”I wasn’t expecting this much entertainment.” She gestures around the room, from the roses to the wine. ”Happy birthday, Sadie.”

Ezra brought her here. Why? Why would he do that?

My mouth opens, but nothing comes out. It’s hard enough talking to the person breaking my heart. It’s even harder when he’s standing beside the same girl who made an entire year of my life miserable. The same girl who treated me like dirt while I worked as a maid in her family’s estate. And Ezra knows. He knows all of it.

”W-What’s the meaning of this?” The question barely gets past the hundred others fighting for space in my head. ”Why is she here?”

Ezra looks me over and his expression shifts. ”The real question is why you’re dressed like that.”

”I...” My grip tightens on the pillow. ”It was... it was a surprise for you.” I look at Paige before looking back at him. ”Why would you bring her? Of all people...”

”Of all people?” she cuts in, taking a slow step toward me with her brow lifted. ”What’s that supposed to mean?”

I instinctively shrink back.

This is usually where my wolf is supposed to help by comforting me or steadying me or one of those things proper wolves are supposed to do.

But there’s nothing. Just me and my dormant wolf.

I take a shaky breath and look past Paige, straight at Ezra. ”I wasn’t talking to you.”

Please. Just this once.

”Can you ask her to leave?” I beg him with my eyes. ”I just... I want to talk to you.”

Paige lets out an amused scoff, a smile still plastered on her face.

”You’re actually so adorable and stupid.” She reaches into her handbag and pulls out her phone. ”The clown makeup really suits you.” She lifts the phone with a grin. ”Come on, Sadie. Give me a pose.”

My heart drops.

One picture. That’s all she needs. She runs the biggest gossip page on campus, and I’ve spent three years making sure I never ended up on it.

Before I can think twice, I shove the pillow aside and scramble off the bed. Two quick steps put me within reach, and I slap the phone out of her hand. It flies across the room, hitting the hardwood with a crack before skidding to a stop.

”Does this seriously still entertain you?” I snap. ”We’re adults, Paige. You’ve had years to find something better to do than humiliate me.”

Her smile disappears as her gaze follows the phone across the floor, stopping on the web of cracks covering the screen.

Before I can say another word, something slams into my shoulders. I stumble backward, my foot catches the edge of the bed, and I’m on the floor before I can stop myself. Pain shoots through my wrist as I throw out my hand to break the fall.

”What the hell were you thinking?” I look up and Ezra is already standing in front of Paige, protecting her. ”You broke her phone.”

He doesn’t ask if I’m okay. He shoved me to the ground and I landed hard enough to hurt my wrist.

”Ezra...” My voice trembles. ”She was trying to take pictures of me.”

”That doesn’t give you the right to touch her.” His expression hardens. ”Have you completely lost your mind?”

If it were anyone else, maybe it wouldn’t hurt this much. But it’s her. The one person he knows has tormented me.

”You promised me...”

”I promised you nothing.” He cuts me off. ”Can you even afford to replace her phone? Can you?”

Before I can answer, Paige steps around him.

”It’s fine.” She brushes a hand over his arm, gently moving him aside. ”I’ll handle this.”

She stops in front of me. Then she smiles.

I hate that smile. It always comes right before she does something cruel.

I’d met other Lycans before but they weren’t like Paige. Unfortunately, she is the one who taught me what it felt like to be beneath one.

”I’d replace your phone if I could,” I say, forcing the words out. ”But you don’t have any right—”

Her palm crashes across my cheek. My head jerks to the side, my cheek burning and when I look back at her, she’s flexing her fingers.

I swing back on instinct but she catches my wrist before my hand gets anywhere near her face.

I yank free and try again. Big mistake.

She’s at least six feet tall, faster than me, stronger than me... and she shoves me back with one hand like I’m barely an inconvenience.

”Ezra.” She holds out her hand. ”Pass me the wine.”

My head snaps toward the bedside table. ”No!”

I scramble to my feet, ignoring the pain shooting through my wrist. I’m almost there. Almost, when a sharp kick slams into my stomach.

Air rushes out of my lungs. I double over with a strangled cough before collapsing onto my knees, one arm wrapped around my stomach.

And somehow...

Somehow, the only thing I can think about is the wine. Twenty-five hundred dollars. Two months of my salary.

”No...” I shake my head. ”Please don’t.”

Maybe this is my fault. I should’ve kept my mouth shut. I shouldn’t have fought back. I shouldn’t have spent three years trying to make someone love me after he told me he didn’t. My wolf should’ve shown up. Just once. Just now.

The cork pops, the sound echoing through the room.

I close my eyes, bracing myself but it’s not enough as the cold wine splashes across my shoulder first.

I gasp.

Another stream follows and it soaks my hair, my robe and my hands pressed against the floor. The sweet smell fills the room as the wine runs down my face, my neck, my clothes.

Two months of saving. Weeks of planning. And every stupid little hope I poured into tonight trickles onto the floor with it.

Paige doesn’t stop until the bottle is empty. Then she throws it and hits my stomach before rolling away.

I curl tighter into myself.

”I bet you spent your entire money on that,” she sneers. ”Fake wine for a fake wolf.” She looks over at Ezra. ”Tell her what you came here to say.”

Even after she kicks me one last time in the back, pain shooting up my spine and forcing a choked sound out of me, I can’t move.

Ezra walks over and stops beside me before lowering into a crouch.

I stare up through strands of wine-soaked hair.

”Tonight’s the end of whatever this is,” he says. ”You don’t have to keep trying anymore. Paige and I are together.”

The words punch the air out of my lungs.

”Ezra...” His name barely makes it past my lips.

”I was honest with you from day one.” His face doesn’t change. ”I didn’t love you then, and I don’t love you now. My dad just wouldn’t let me reject my fated mate unless there was someone else. Someone better.” His eyes shift to Paige. ”Now there is.”

Something inside me caves in.

I waited three years. Three years for him to choose me. All this time, he was looking for someone else. I memorized his schedule, skipped lectures to get notes for him, knew his coffee order, every little thing that mattered to him, hoping one day he’d notice everything I’d done for him.

Ezra gets to his feet, looking down at me the way you’d look at spilled coffee.

”I, Ezra Mercer, reject you, Sadie Rhodes, as my mate.”

Agony rips through me. It feels like invisible hands reach inside my chest and rips my heart apart and a scream tears out of my throat.