Because I Want To - Grace R. Duncan Page 0,36

week, and Adam was going batshit insane.

He sighed and took a sip of his tea as he waited for Algebra class to start.

“Problem? Well… more problems?” Ethan asked.

Adam scowled. “What else is new?”

Ethan shook his head. “It’s your own fault.”

“Don’t you think I know that?” Adam was already in a bad mood. As much as he appreciated Ethan sticking with him, he didn’t need to be reminded that he was the one who caused all this.

“I think maybe you forget.”

“How could I?” Adam asked, quietly. “I just can’t seem to figure out how to approach him, what to say.”

“You could start with ‘I’m sorry,’ you know.”

Adam was getting irritated. Even if Ethan was right, it felt a little like he was rubbing salt in the wound. “Yeah, easier said than done. Doesn’t the thought even bother you a little? The fear of pairing? Of—”

“Is that really the biggest issue?” Ethan asked.

Adam couldn’t reply right away. Was it? “Not really. But it’s one part of it. There’s no way he’d be happy being together as a couple and not pairing.”

“Have you asked him that?”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake. There are some advantages to knowing someone for so long,” Adam said, scowling again.

Ethan inclined his head. “I’ll give you that.” He frowned and glanced around the room, though everyone around them seemed too focused on their textbooks. Ethan turned his back to Adam, then pulled his dark hair up. Right there, on the middle of his neck, was an unmistakable pair bite.

Adam’s eyes widened. “You paired?”

“Yes,” Ethan said when he turned back around. “Saturday night, I finally let Evan do it. We weren’t even sure it would work, but it did. We’re a pair now. I think our mom about had an aneurysm, but there’s nothing she or Dad could do about it since it’s done. We weren’t going to tell her, but she spotted the mark.” He shrugged a shoulder. “I was going to tell her it was Parker, but I kinda blurted out that it was Evan. It’s probably for the best, though, that I didn’t lie. If Evan’s the only one that gets worked up when I go into heat, it’d be pretty damned obvious he’s my alpha. And then we’d have a big fat lie on top of the pairing. I think her freak-out was more the idea that Evan and I were having sex, though I’m not sure how she could miss it after all these years. Who did she think was helping me through my heat?”

“Maybe she just thought he was, like, making sure you ate and stuff?”

Ethan shook his head. “I don’t know. Maybe. I’ll give her this, though….” He glanced at his brother. “Her first question after she calmed down was whether or not we were using birth control. Then she asked why. When we told her we loved each other, she seemed to just take that in stride. I don’t get that. We’re twins, for fuck’s sake, but maybe she already knew we had a closer bond than normal brothers?” He frowned. “I really, really thought she’d, like, separate us or something, but she just blinked, then glanced at Dad, then told us we’d better continue to use birth control.”

“Wow. She’s aware it could fail, though, right?”

“Of course.” Ethan blew out a breath. “I’m going to talk to her about our genetics. We’re certainly not going to try to have a kid, but I don’t think I need the extra stress if something happens.”

“Think she’ll freak about that?”

Ethan nodded, looking rueful. “Probably. But I think she’d understand. She’s an omega herself. And unless there’s something really ugly in our genetics, I don’t think she’d expect me to get an abortion.” He paused as if to think it through. “I can’t help but think that if we can pair, then we’ll be okay. There’s still so much we don’t understand about pairing and omegas. Like, why some people are compatible, some are really compatible, and some just… aren’t at all—like how some family members are affected by pheromones but others aren’t.”

“True.” Adam frowned. “So… you paired.”

“Yeah. And I think if you do it, you’ll understand it’s not the scary thing you think it is.”

“The pairing itself isn’t what scares me, though, Ethan.”

“Yeah, it’s the trapping thing. You know… Evan told me he overheard Matt and Parker talking the other day about what happened. Why didn’t you tell Matt why you’re so worried?”

Adam frowned. “Well, in part because he didn’t really give me a chance to