Rooming With My Ex-Mate's Hockey Star Brother

TREY

Vanilla and orange blossoms fill the living room as Sadie guides me through the Trial material.

We’re three hours in, and I still can’t figure out how she’s functioning. She submitted her project today, went straight to Quiz Bowl, came back here, and now she’s tutoring me like she hasn’t already used up a week’s worth of brainpower.

I exhale and sink farther into the couch, mentally checking out halfway through her explanation. I can handle five straight hours on ice without a single complaint, but this feels like someone’s driving needles into my balls.

Rubbing the back of my neck, I ask, ”Why’d you think of me for the collab?”

If she takes the bait, I get a break before she starts force-feeding me pack history again.

Thankfully, she looks up from her spot on the floor. ”I thought of the hockey team. Quiz Bowl is collaborating with the hockey team. Don’t make this a you-and-me thing.”

”Mmmm.”

Cold little brat.

She pulled the you still owe me card, got exactly what she wanted, and now I’ve been discarded. Never mind that I’m the one who agreed to the whole thing and still has to talk to the team on her behalf.

The girl has ice where her heart should be.

”Can we get back to the pack history section now?” she asks, drawing in a deep breath that lifts her chest with it.

Naturally, my attention drops. I’m only a man, and there are limits to what can reasonably be expected of me when her dress molds to her tits like that, outlining every full curve. I let myself stare for a few seconds—because I’m respectful like that—but it’s long enough to start wondering how quickly I could strip the damn thing off her. My hands practically ache to find out whether her tits would fill them as perfectly as I imagine they would, and just like that, every date she’s spent the last hour forcing into my brain disappears.

Completely erased by perky breasts.

I’m still admiring the view when the sound of my name slowly cuts through my thoughts.

”Trey?”

I blink and drag my gaze back to her face, where a scowl is already taking shape.

”Were you even listening?”

”Not really.”

Her brows pinch together. ”What could possibly be more important than this?”

”I was checking you out.”

Her mouth drops open. A flush appears at the tips of her ears, then travels down her neck before climbing into her cheeks. Then she leans away from me and clamps a hand over her chest.

”You—what?” she splutters. ”What did you just say?”

I lean closer. ”Want me to say it again?”

”Trey Mercer.” She fires my full name at me in the toughest voice she can manage, jabbing one finger in my direction. ”How is everything that comes out of your mouth so vulgar?”

She’s so flustered it’s hard not to enjoy this.

I shrug. ”I only said what I was thinking. You want me to start lying to you?”

”That’s—that’s not the point.” Her accusing finger drops as she follows my gaze to her chest. ”You were looking at me indecently.”

”I was looking at you because you’re beautiful.”

She blinks those big, bright eyes at me once, then again, and the outrage on her face starts to slip. For someone who’s spent the last three hours correcting me without hesitation, she has no idea what to do with a compliment.

”You don’t hear that often, do you?” I ask. ”You’re about two seconds from combusting.”

She rolls her eyes while her fingers continue fidgeting with the corner of the book. ”Bold of you to assume that.”

”Well, Ezra clearly didn’t tell you.” My mouth twitches when her fingers go still. ”Otherwise, one compliment from me wouldn’t have you blushing this hard.”

”I’m not blushing.”

”You’re bright red.”

”Fine, he didn’t,” she blurts.

I press my lips together, barely holding back a laugh.

”Focus on this.” She slaps the book between us. ”We don’t have time to waste. The first qualifier is in a month, and the final is in two.”

”We’ve spent three straight hours on this shit.” I stretch one leg out in front of me. ”A five-minute break won’t kill us. You can use it to tell me what else Ezra was lacking as a mate.”

Her embarrassment gives way to irritation. ”I thought you didn’t like talking about your brother.”

”I’m not talking about him. I’m talking about your past relationship. It’s unfortunate that he happens to be the guy you had it with.”

She levels me with a look and I shrug.

”Besides, our father wants us to bond.”

”And you think asking me to list his insufficiencies is the best way to accomplish that?”

”Fancy words, fancy words.” I wave for her to continue. ”But yeah. How insufficient are we talking?”

She lets out a deep breath, her expression darkening. ”For one, he never bothered to ask me about anything, which might’ve been a good thing now that I know his brother takes every answer as an invitation to ask ten more questions.” She shoves the book closer to me. ”We continue.”

She looks ready to introduce my face to the book if I argue, so I accept my fate and turn my attention back to the material while she reads out a few lines.

”This doesn’t make sense,” I cut in after a while. ”The other book I read said only members of an Alpha’s cabinet can impeach him.”

”That’s the usual method.” She nods. ”Most books don’t include the other one because it’s so rare. It’s called bloodline impeachment.”

I frown. ”Bloodline?”

”For this to make sense, I need to explain the whole structure.” Sadie turns to face me. ”Not everyone with Alpha blood becomes the Alpha. Take your future children. They’ll all inherit your bloodline, but only one of them will become your heir. The rest will eventually start families of their own, their children will do the same, and the bloodline will continue branching out. Some branches will remain in the pack, while others might move away and establish themselves elsewhere.”

I gesture for her to keep going.

”Technically, any descendant of the previous Alpha can call for your dad’s impeachment. The difficult part is getting seventy-five percent of his cabinet to support it.” She pauses. ”Nobody has succeeded since 1928. An Alpha usually notices when someone in his own pack is plotting against him.”

I drag a hand across my forehead. ”But it could happen?”