The Wrong Brother's Temptation novel Chapter 46

Chapter 46

Sienna

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That made me smile wryly and we headed to the huge table decorated for the cake cutting ceremony.

The cake was three tiers of white fondant decorated with what appeared to be hundreds of hand–piped sugar flowers in a variety of colors. And the whole thing was flanked by arrangements of white pillar candles in varying heights that cast a warm, flickering glow across the table.

Sandra was running around looking flustered, checking the position of the cake knife and adjusting the candles anxiously.

And for the first time since I met her, I felt a little sad for her. She was still desperately trying to impress the parents of the guy who was tongue deep in another girl and she had no idea.

I’d spent the entire party resenting Sandra but now she felt like just a girl trying to hold onto someone who wasn’t fully hers.

The same as me.

The realization was so uncomfortable that I almost wanted to go back to resenting her because that had been much simpler.

“You okay?” Connor murmured beside me, low enough that nobody else could hear.

“You keep asking me that.”

“You keep not being okay.”

Fair point.

“I’m fine,” I said, for what felt like the hundredth time tonight.

The Alpha and Luna arrived at the table, and Sandra straightened immediately, putting up a warm smile.

The Alpha’s gaze swept the table, taking in the decorations before landing on the space beside Sandra.

Then he looked up and found Connor and me standing right beside him.

“Where’s Aaron?” he asked nobody in particular but Sandra’s composure flickered for just a second before steadying.

“He’s attending to a last–minute call,” she said. “He should be here shortly.”

Her voice was smooth and confident like she absolutely believed that Aaron was somewhere in this house handling pack business or family matters or literally anything other than what I’d just watched him do.

My chest did something unpleasant and I looked away just whenConnor’s hand found mine at my side, our fingers interlocking in a quiet and steady grip as if to say ‘I’m here!

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15:14 Thu, Jul 23

Chapter 46

I didn’t trust myself to speak, so I just squeezed back.

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He glanced at me from the corner of his eye and I shook my head slightly mouthing “Later” and he nodded in response.

The Luna leaned toward her husband and spoke softly. “The crowd is waiting, dear.”

The Alpha nodded, picked up the cake knife, and Luna Lydia placed her hand over his.

The photographers surged forward and everyone pulled their phones out.

The knife cut smoothly through the bottom tier of the cake, and the crowd broke into an applause.

And just then Aaron appeared.

He came from the direction of the corridor, walking quickly and smoothing his hair down with one hand. He looked, for all intents and purposes, like someone who’d been delayed by an important phone call. “Sorry, I got caught up.” He smiled, and moved to stand directly to Sandra’s side.

She turned to him with relief flooding her face. He pulled her close, and pressed a brief kiss to her temple.

“What took you so long?” she asked, low enough that most people couldn’t hear.

“Business stuff,” he said. “Nothing that couldn’t have waited, but you know how it is.”

He said it so easily and so completely naturally that I would have believed him too had I not seen what I did with my own eyes.

How long had he been doing this? Had he lied to me like this ever in my life?

That last question made something cold settle in my stomach.

The Alpha and Luna were feeding each other cake now, and the cameras were going off in earnest, and the crowd was clapping, and it was all very celebratory and heartwarming.

Sandra was clapping too, beaming up at Aaron, apparently satisfied with his vague explanation.

Aaron clapped along and then reached for Sandra, pulling her into his side with one arm so they could be photographed together.

They looked like a couple, exactly what Sandra wanted them to look like: the golden Alpha son and his chosen partner, both entirely devoted to this family occasion.

Sandra’s eyes found mine across the crowd and then she gave me the look. I’d been receiving all evening from her as if to say ‘Look at what I have. Look at where I’m standing. This is mine.‘

And I just…clapped.

Because I wasn’t sure if I could tell her what I’d seen. Not in the middle of the Alpha and Luna’s cake cutting

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15:14 Thu Jul 23

Chapter 46

ceremony either way.

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Plus, I didn’t think she would believe me if I did. And Aaron….he would just drift apart from me further.

This was so messed up!

While I was wondering about my next steps, I caught movement from the corner of my eye.

I turned slightly and saw the blonde girl aka Mrs. Graham’s daughter slipping out of the corridor, fixing her hair and tidying her dress.

She had definitely redone her makeup because she looked almost unruffled if not for that giddy, excited expression on her face that she was trying hard to contain.

She made her way through the edge of the crowd toward the refreshment table, and then, after a moment, toward Mrs. Graham.

Mrs. Graham turned when her daughter appeared at her elbow, and the girl leaned in, saying something low and close.

I watched Mrs. Graham’s expression shift from concern to calculation or relief. Or both, I wasn’t sure anymore.

She looked up, her gaze scanning the room, landing briefly on Aaron and Sandra and then she whispered something back to her daughter.

The girl nodded and the mother daughter duo continued talking in an urgent, private way while occasionally glancing around to check if anybody was eavesdropping.

My eyes moved back to Aaron.

He was laughing at something someone had said, Sandra still tucked under his arm.

He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his phone with the casual ease of someone just checking the time and I saw his thumb move over the screen to type something.

I didn’t think about it consciously but my eyes just moved back to the blonde girl, desperately hoping that this wasn’t headed where I thought it was.

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