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Her small hands grip mine tightly. She stares at me, eyes exploring my expression. Trying to make sure I’m telling her the truth.
“But I wanted it,” she whispers. “I came for him.”
“You had a physical response. That’s all,” I say. “That doesn’t mean you wanted Grayson. It doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. I know that’s true. We all do.”
Her eyes tear as she looks at me, then at Memphis and Denver behind me. Then, she crumples into my arms, finally letting the tears fall. I clutch her roughly against me and realize that I’m crying, too. Crying for the innocent girl Brooklyn was. Crying for the way that nobody took care of her. Both our tears land together on the collar of my T-shirt.
I swear that nobody will ever stand by while Brooklyn’s hurt ever again. I’ll take care of her myself, in whatever capacity she’ll let me.
Over Brooklyn’s shoulder, I look to the other Alphas, imploring them to stand with me. No way she’s going back to those monsters, who just want to cage and breed her for the rest of her life. Denver and Memphis better be with me on this.
But if they won’t help me, I’ll do it alone.
TWENTY-SEVEN
—
M E M P H I S
Brooklyn needs some time before she’s able to calm down. Sharing what happened with us was hard on her, but I think it’s clear that starting to forgive herself was harder. She’s spent over a year shouldering the blame for what that bastard, worm of a man did to her. It’ll take time before she internalizes Camden’s words. Hopefully, with our support, she’ll get there sooner than later.
Eventually, she settles down for a nap in the tent, wearing Camden’s shirt and socks, Denver’s flannel pants, and my bracelet. When I check in on her, I find that she’s pulled my blanket and a few of Denver’s sweaters in with her, too. Clearly, she feels comforted enough by our scents that she’s using them to nest. I wonder if she even realizes it.
Camden has managed to get a small fire started with the few pieces of wood Brooklyn found. He’s heating a kettle of water over it when I sit down close to him. His stitches should be safe to come out, soon, I notice. The gash on his head looks less angry now. The redness has subsided, and the swelling is all but gone. If he keeps taking such rigorous care of it his scarring should be minimal, but I think he might look even more roguish with a gnarly scar adding to his boyish charm like.
I almost comment on it, but we have much more important things to talk about right now.
“I figure we could all use some hot tea,” he says, and I nod in agreement. Hearing what Brooklyn survived has hit us all hard. It made my blood run cold, learning how deeply she was betrayed by the people she should have been able to trust. No wonder she was cautious around us—she knows too well that not all Alphas are good guys. We had to prove to her that we deserved her trust.
Camden pours me a mug of tea. We sip quietly until Denver strides out of the woods around our clearing. He sits next to me, dropping his pack at his feet. “I checked the snares,” he says. “Nothing.”
I exchange a glance with Camden. We both knew when he left that no rabbits had hopped in during the past two hours. Denver just needed an excuse to take a walk and get his frustrations out. And I get it. Denver likes being in control, and he’s just lost it in two huge ways.
First, there was Camden and me ignoring his orders to stay away from Brooklyn. Frankly, I don’t give a shit if Denver’s mad at us for disobeying. I know we were right to do it—she wouldn’t have opened up to us if we hadn’t.
Worse than that, Denver’s feelings about Brooklyn have clearly spiraled out of his control. He was convinced he could resist her—he has been since the moment we realized we lost the suppressants.
He loves her. He might not have admitted it to himself yet, but I can see it clearly—probably because I feel the same way. So does Camden. She blindsided us all with her wild spirit and deep well of inner strength.
Sure, there’s a small part of me that still wishes I could have Brooklyn all to myself. That she’d be mine and mine alone. But a bigger part of me knows that the four of us are better together. The balance is right—we feel like a pack. Already, I feel like I know what the other Alphas are thinking just by looking at their expressions. I respect Denver’s leadership and intelligence, and Camden’s humor and straightforwardness offsets my quietness.
Plus, I know Brooklyn has formed an attachment to us. I could never ask her to choose between us. She’s spent so long being alone and unloved. She deserves to have the three of us taking care of her.
Now, I just have to get the other guys on board.
I clear my throat, and Denver and Camden glance over in surprise. Clearly, they didn’t expect me to be the one to start this conversation.
“I want Brooklyn,” I declare. “I have feelings for her. And I know you both do, too.”
Camden nods easily. I shoot a pointed look at Denver, and his jaw clenches. But he doesn’t deny it.
“So I think we can all agree there’s no way in hell she’s going back to the Castles,” I say. “So what now?”
“We get her out of here and take her somewhere safe,” Camden suggests. “All my sisters have houses on the East Coast. We could stay with any of them.”
“That’ll just put your sisters in danger,” Denver points out. “The minute Roger Castle realizes what we’ve done, we’ll have made a very powerful enemy. He won’t just settle for getting her back—he’ll want revenge on anyone involved.”
“We can protect her,” Camden says.
