AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Certainly not good enough for him. Or his pack.
My scent burns, along with any hope in my heart.
No matter how much I denied it to myself, for a few minutes, I really did think Damon and Cassian wanted to take me home. I believed it was finally happening.
Am I really this naive after all these years? Haven’t I learned better yet?
The queasy sensation in my stomach is so familiar, my eyes prick with tears. I know this feeling—it’s a warning. My body is ramping up, filling with adrenaline, preparing for the pain. If I don’t leave first, this pack alpha will ask me to.
And the last thing I want to do is burst into sobs when this gloriously handsome, horribly cruel man rejects me.
I move toward the door, darting around Damon and Cassian as I whisper, “I need to go.”
Cassian starts to protest, “What’s going on?”
I swallow a whine, unable to even look at him. If I do, I won’t be able to move. And I need to.
The ever-darker scent of smoking coffee grounds underscores my anxiety. Smith is furious.
I chance another glance at his face and instantly regret it. Lord, why does he have to look like this? It’s a good thing I didn’t have the nerve to glance up at him all this time. If I had seen just how gorgeous he is when he’s angry, I might have just dropped to the floor of Proper Coffee and presented.
Oh my God. What is wrong with me?
“Rems,” Cassian says again, his voice edged with alpha insistence. “What happened?”
I shift on my bare feet, trying to ignore the slippery slick gathered at the top of my thighs. “I just need to go,” I blurt, humming with the desire to flee and hide.
Cassian lumbers over to me, reaching out to touch my cheek again. His face drops into a fearsome scowl, but pure pain streaks through his eyes while he mutters one word that absolutely breaks my heart.
“Already?”
He doesn’t seem angry. He seems like a man who’s been having the best dream and was just told it’s time to wake up. Resigned but not ready. Wistful for something he’s still in but knows he’s going to miss immensely.
Like he had feared this moment since he saw me again.
Like, maybe, he actually does want me to stay.
Damon chimes in, his voice closer than before. “Of course you can leave, sweetness. I’ll drive you home right now. But I think we all want to know why you’re in such a rush all of a sudden.” He appears at Cassian’s shoulder, pinning me with those light blue eyes, so full of hope and worry. “Please?”
I stare up into their faces—Cass’s craggy with heart-wrenching longing, and Damon’s full of hopeful eagerness. The twin scents of hazelnut and autumn spice wash over me, banishing a bit of my panic.
They steady me while I wipe at my face, sniffing and gesturing at Smith. “He’s my boss,” I say again. “And he’s?—”
Horrible, abusive, scary…
I hear approaching footsteps, but Smith stops a few feet from the others. Fire snaps in his dark eyes while he barks, low, “Enough, omega.”
If I weren’t so totally overwhelmed, I might have the energy to be properly insulted. Some heat flares in my own eyes when I find the nerve to stare back at him, my spine straighter.
“Yes, Sir.”
Before any of them can give me another command, I do what my instincts are clamoring for and make my escape.
chapter
seventeen
Damn.
