AllFreeNovel
Share Us
And then she might hate me.
Which would be inconvenient, considering I’m obsessed with her.
When the others catch me grinning, they look at me like I’m a lunatic. Well, Jonah does. Tristan is too busy looking sick, and Spencer is glowering down his nose.
“This will never work,” he bites out. “We need to bring the omega back out here and give her an overview of our expectations. She needs to know?—”
“—that she’s free to do anything she wants,” Tris interrupts, equally fierce despite the way his hand clutches at his center. “She’s under no obligation to any of us.”
Spencer blinks at him, his mouth actually falling open for half a second. “No obligation? Are you delusional or suicidal? If she were to leave or get hurt, what, exactly, do you think will happen to you?”
Sometimes, when you’re in the middle of a Thorne Brother Smackdown, you might get the distinct sense that you’re missing some crucial shit. Their family is all sorts of fucked-up, but they never talk about it beyond vague allusions and this sort of prep-school debate club bullshit.
Wouldn’t it just be easier if they punched each other?
Tristan gazes at Spencer for a long beat before gathering himself. With a roll of his shoulders, he’s back to his full pack alpha power, smothering the room with a thick layer of cool dominance.
“I know what will happen,” he answers simply, staring his brother down. “And it will be my own damn fault. None of this is her burden, least of all me. If she wants to leave, we’ll let her go. Her safety is my only priority.”
Tingles squeeze my lungs, burning deep. Fervor, I think, which is an emotion I’m wholly un-fucking-familiar with.
But keeping Serena safe? Shit. That might be my new religion.
She isn’t even in the room anymore and her perfume has soaked into the place—bright, creamy sweetness. But I don’t think that matters anymore.
Clearly, my Alpha knows perfection when he sees it. And that means there must be a hell of a lot more to her than her scent.
“We need to figure out how to court her.”
My packmates all cut me suspicious looks. Like the fact that I’m trying to be a part of their conversation is some sort of conspiracy. I roll my eyes.
“You know,” I prompt, “ask her what she likes. Doesn’t like. Who she is and why she was at the station tonight. We should, like, ask what happened.”
Spencer openly seethes. “We know what happened. She escaped an abusive situation.”
The words fall between us, landing in the middle of our stupid black kitchen with a splat.
Fuck. He’s right.
I’ve seen some grotesque shit in my life. Broken bones, gore, guys who didn’t make it out of the ring. But nothing—nothing—has ever made my stomach sink and twist and squirm like this.
Someone hurt our mate.
It doesn’t even matter when or why or how. The simple fact that it happened makes me murderous.
Jonah catches my eye. He looks every bit as sick as I feel, but dazed, too. Can’t say I blame him there. The second I get my chance to taste our omega and make her feel good, I might just check-out permanently.
Well, world, it’s been real, but I live between this omega’s thighs now.
Tristan’s broken rasp breaks into the conversation. “I’ll try to find out. But we should be prepared for what might happen when she wakes up. If she wants to leave, we can’t force her to stay.”
“Like hell we can’t,” Spencer snipes. “You bit her. You’re half-bonded to her. That means she stays, Tristan.”
Again, I feel like I need some subtitles for whatever they’re actually arguing about. But Jonah interrupts before I can ask.
“Come on, guys,” he mutters, rubbing at his slick-shiny beard. “Let’s not fight about this. She hasn’t said she wants to leave. I think that means we should be planning how we’re going to win her over right about now. This is our mate. Are we seriously not going to try here?”
Tristan stares at him, gears spinning, but Spencer scoffs. “I think courting ended when Tris’s teeth broke her skin.”
