Tempted By My Ex’s Brother-In-Law - Chapter 65: Chapter 65

Aria’s POV
The next morning, I was the first one to wake up.
He was lying behind me, his warm chest pressed tightly against my back, one arm wrapped around my waist.
The soreness between my legs was impossible to ignore.
I let out a silent breath, staring at the corner of the room.
That whole rule about how I wasn’t allowed on this floor was like bullshit now. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d slept in my own bed.
“What are you thinking about?” came his raspy voice beside my ear. He was awake.
I shifted a little, but he only held me tighter. Our bodies were completely tangled beneath the sheets.
“Tell me,” he insisted.
The more I got to know him, the more I realized just how possessive he really was.
“I’m thinking…how you forced me to completely betray everything I believed in,” I said quietly.
He gave a soft scoff. “That no sex rule was stupid anyway.”
I frowned. “Your first love was from Frostpine Pack too. Would you say her beliefs were stupid?”
He propped himself up and flipped me over to face him. His expression was cold in the dim light.
“Let me guess. Zane told you that again?”
I shrugged. “We had a lot of time to kill while we were on the run.”
He exhaled sharply, clearly trying to keep his temper down. “Frostpine Pack puts a lot of weight on bloodline purity. That’s why royal members—especially women—are forbidden from having sex before marriage. So they don’t end up with bastards. But you’re not royalty, Aria. You don’t need to follow that rule.”
Of course I knew that.
Honestly, I didn’t even know why my mom insisted I follow it in the first place. It’s not like anyone would’ve cared if I had been sleeping around since I was a teenager or had a kid in high school.
But still… it was a principle I’d clung to for over 20 years.
And he was the one who made me break it.
I guess what pissed me off even more than losing my virginity…was how little he seemed to care.
“Besides,” he murmured huskily in my ear, “you did enjoy the sex.”
His hand slid from my waist down between my legs, circling my clit. My back arched as I gasped for air. My body was already getting ready for another hard fuck.
“You’re so sensitive, babe. We’re perfect together,” he whispered, nibbling my earlobe. “Don’t let that stupid rule ruin something this good.”
“And what if I ask you to marry me?” I asked suddenly.
His hand froze.
Just like that, all the heat and spark in the air vanished.
“You’re asking?” he echoed, his voice dropping dangerously low.
“Yeah. You think that rule is stupid, but I don’t. So now I’m asking the guy who took my virginity to marry me.”
He actually laughed—like I’d just said something ridiculous.
“Don’t be silly,” he said lightly.
I scoffed and pushed him off, jumping out of bed. His cum from last night was still sliding down my thigh—sticky and gross. I needed a shower.
“You can ask me for anything. Except marriage,” he said from behind me, his tone like he was warning me not to get greedy.
I didn’t reply. I just headed straight into the bathroom.
The hot water helped a lot. I could finally breathe again. Think straight.
He probably wouldn’t let me go back to work anymore.
So what now? Was I supposed to just stay locked up in this gilded cage, waiting for the day he got bored of me? Or until he found some proper lady to marry?
I had no idea.
After I finished my shower, I stepped out with a towel around my hair. He wasn’t in the bedroom anymore. A few maids were tidying up the sheets.
The moment they saw me, they dropped what they were doing and bowed.
“Lady Collins,” one of them said nervously. “Alpha asked that you go to his study after you’ve freshened up.”
I nodded and started heading toward the door. But then I paused and turned back to them.
“Don’t call me ‘Lady.’ I’m not one.”
Everyone kept reminding me how lowborn I was. There was no point pretending otherwise.
The maids exchanged a nervous glance. One of them mumbled, “Y-yes… understood… my lady.”
I sighed and walked out of the room.
His study used to be off-limits to me too. But just like his bedroom, that rule had long gone out the window.
I reached the study and knocked, then opened the door and walked in.
Then I immediately froze.
I’d thought he would be alone.
But no. There were at least 20 people inside. All of them dressed in expensive suits, elegant, powerful-looking. They all turned to stare at me at once.
And I was wearing… a bathrobe. My hair was still damp.
“Sorry to interrupt,” I blurted, hastily trying to back out.
“Come in, Aria.”
Grayson was sitting right in the center of the room on a plush sofa, fully dressed, looking like a damn king.
He reached a hand out to me and held my gaze steadily.
Was he out of his fucking mind? I shook my head hard at him.
“Come,” he repeated.
Left with no choice, I sighed and quietly shut the door behind me, and walked toward him—under everyone’s shocked stares.
He pulled me straight into his. Then he just buried his face in my neck, inhaling deeply.
There were gasps all around us.
“Alpha Grayson, with all due respect, this meeting is incredibly important…” a middle-aged man said respectfully. But his eyes were glaring at me like I was some filthy rats.
“You may continue,” Grayson said lazily.
He started playing with a strand of my hair like it was the only thing he cared about.
“I’m afraid the matters of the company and pack are top secret. We can’t discuss them freely… especially with outsiders present.”
Grayson’s hand stilled.
His cold gray eyes locked on them. And he gave a strange, sharp laugh.
“Outsider?” he repeated. “That’s fucking ridiculous. Aria is someone I trust completely. Meanwhile, Jace Carter—who’s a real outsider—you had no problem sharing all your secrets with.”
Everyone stiffened in their seats.
“W-we’re so sorry, Alpha. But Mr. Carter is Lady Delilah’s husband…”
“I had him sign a prenup. He’s cut off from the company. That bastard doesn’t deserve to touch my company nor my pack. Yet I took my eyes off for 5 seconds and you all hurry to welcome him onboard…That is betrayal.”
He didn’t yell.
But his voice was sharp and dangerous.
It made my skin crawl. I was pretty sure everyone in this room felt the same way.
Grayson’s gaze shifted to one man in the room.
“Speaking of betrayal…Beta Harold.”
A man shot up from his chair, his face pale, forehead drenched in sweat.
Wait, I knew that name.
May told me he was the one who led people to the hospital and locked up my grandmother!
“Beta Harold, have you ever betrayed me?” Grayson asked coldly.
“O-of course not! I’m your Beta—I’d never—”
“Yet you went behind my back and hurt Aria’s family. Who gave you that order?”
I held my breath.
Wait—behind his back?
Did that mean he really had nothing to do with it?
Harold looked like he was about to pass out from the tension. After a long, heavy pause, he stammered, “I… I didn’t have a choice. They told me… they said their orders were the same as yours—”
“Give me a name.”
Harold’s teeth were chattering. “Lady Delilah… and your mother.”
I slapped my hand over my mouth, eyes wide with shock and fury.
Before I could fully register everything, Grayson suddenly lifted me off his lap and placed me on the couch.
In the next second, he was in front of Harold.
He seized Harold’s neck with one hand and easily lifted the six-foot man off the ground!
Everybody screamed. Harold let out a strangled cry, kicking and thrashing for air.
“Aria.”
Grayson stared at the Harold’s purple face, his eyes gleaming coldly. “What do you think we should do with him?”
I gripped the edge of the couch, half-standing. “I… I get to decide?”
“Of course. I told you. You can ask me for anything.”