Page 89 of Ice Devil

“Nah, thanks. Not very hungry.”

“How about a leggy brunette?”

Samantha was also the one determined to force Sloane to remain in my mind. My glare was harsh. “Just stop.”

“I will not. At least not until I find a way of knocking some sense into you. What is it with every male in this family? You’re the most hardheaded people in the world. Get your head out of your ass. You can’t disguise true love or the fact that she’s your mate.”

“Bullshit.” How in the hell had she figured that out? Maybe women were much more intelligent and intuitive than men. Nothing I would admit in public.

She wagged her finger at me. “Every time Sloane is mentioned, you break into a sweat. That’s exactly what happened with Ford. You can either embrace your wolf or spend the rest of your life old and miserable.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence. I so needed that.”

“Anything for my stubborn as shit brother.” With a wrinkle of her entire face indicating her disgust with me, she grabbed her purse and keys and headed to the door.

“You cursed!” Another laugh erupted, only one with a deep ache.

The ground beneath me rumbled from the approaching storm and I suddenly had the desire to run wild and free. In my wolf form.

Maybe later. For now, I had work to do.

I headed into the back room where the server was, the desk I used already cluttered with everything I thought I’d need to ensure a smooth and easy transition over to the new software. Thankfully, Pops had listened to me; the old program was from twenty years before and had no support.

Laughing, I sat down at my desk, touching the spacebar on the keyboard. Forty percent to go. That’s what happened with abysmal internet speed from living out in the boonies.

I sat back in the chair, propping my feet on the edge of my desk. With my arms behind my head, I closed my eyes. Wouldn’t you know it? My thoughts drifted to her. The charlatan. The femme fatale—at least according to multiple people on the internet. I didn’t even know what that meant, but I liked the sound of it.

The hurt had been real, so raw and so agonizing that I’d barely been able to function two nights later. I’d been the reason for the game loss, but I was still highly content to blame her.

She’d been playing me all along. And I’d fallen for it. Gah, I was an idiot, but never again.

Footsteps drew my attention and by the sound of them, female. Which meant my sister hadn’t wanted to leave without chiding me one more time. She was famous for requiring the last word. The sad thing was that usually she was right.

But not this time.

As soon as she entered the room, I laughed and placed my hands across my face. When she didn’t say anything, I dropped my arms without looking at her. “What part of my life did you come back to chastise me about now?”

“Hello, Beck.”

The instant I heard the soft notes of her voice, the seductive tone that wrapped around her sultry voice created a powerful need. Very slowly I opened my eyes, turning my head as I pulled my feet off the desk.

Sloane. More beautiful than ever.

I’d been insistent on never wanting to see her again, so finding her standing only a few feet away from me was daunting as fuck.

“What are you doing here?” The words were harsh because she deserved them.

“Your sister said you were back here.”

I huffed and sat up, trying to keep from experiencing the same feelings I’d had before. With her, I’d been free floating, enjoying the moment, which wasn’t like me no matter how I’d seemed to people when off the ice. Sloane had awakened so many emotions and feelings that the sting of them being stepped on reminded me of being punched with a bag of oranges.

You couldn’t see the injury, but the agony lingered for a long time.

“Yeah, well, she had no right.”

The woman was one of the strongest and sassiest I’d ever met and on this stormy day, she didn’t seem anything like herself. So the fuck what. If she was suffering, which I doubted she was, she deserved to feel the same burn.

Fuck her.