Page 25 of The Packaged Deal
“Fuck!” he growls. “You have Addy. Be happy with that and pretend you never met me,” he hisses so just the two of us hear.
I smile up at him. “I can’t do that.”
He bares his teeth and turns on his heel. He gets three steps away when I call out a single sentence guaranteed to make him stop walking.
“The man who did this to me came to the refuge yesterday.”
Sven whirls around. So do Adrian and Kandi. Three of the most violent, toughest people I've ever met, and they want to kill for me.
Be still my cold, dead heart, I think I just came a little.
Sven sits opposite me on a chair he snagged from another room. Kandi is on my left, I'm acutely aware of that citrus scent. I want to lick it off her. Why does she look so good in black, skin-tight jeans and a singlet?
Adrian is on the other side of me with a hand on my thigh. Rivers, water, forests. He’s wild and untamed, this man, and, oh, so deep. If I could, I'd make this alpha my lollipop.
“You saw the man who did this to you?” Sven asks clearly. “When?”
“Oh, it was around midday.”
Sven purses his lips and leans back in his chair. “You’re lying.”
I grind my teeth and sit forward. Instantly, I've forgotten the peace and calm. I'm an inferno of outrage. “I am not lying. He was there.”
“Give me a description. A name. Give me a detailed account of what happened to you.”
“No,” I snap back at him.
Sven growls. It doesn’t intimidate me at all. I fold my arms over my chest and lean back, staring at him. He really is pretty but stubborn and foolish. I'm going to train him, it’s going to take some work.
“You need to tell me so I can help you.” He speaks to me like I'm four years old.
I raise an eyebrow. “I don't know you. You haven’t been here. Why should I trust you?”
Sven tilts his head back and sighs with exasperation. “You’re a pain in the ass.”
I smirk. “Yes. I am.”
“Why am I here?” Sven asks quietly. “You could have just told Kandi.”
My beta shifts beside me. I almost turn to look at her, but her thigh presses against mine, and I inhale, feeling myself calm.
“The man who hurt me thinks he owns me. My mother gave me to that pack more or less. Well, according to him. I had words to say about it and thus ended up how you found me. He’s not a good man.” Well, that’s putting it lightly.
Adrian is choking. I turn to him, and then cover his hand with mine. “They gave you to him? I hadn’t believed that information.”
Interesting. How much do they know?
“Well, he’s a very respectable alpha with a respectable pack,” I say calmly. “I can’t do better. Or so my mother kept parroting.” I wrinkle my nose and sigh heavily, watching in amusement as Sven swallows hard and shifts his weight again. His eyes drop to my legs before he tears his gaze away.
I'm being blunt because I don’t have time. When I spotted Trevor yesterday, I finally realised my time was up. I won’t go back to him. I'll be dead within the year. I need them to want me. They need to be my pack now.
“Your family said that to you?” Kandi bites out.
“Yes, of course.” I turn to her and smile, though it feels brittle. “My family is kind of crappy.”
She shakes her head and looks at Sven. “We have to help her.” It’s a demand.
“Well, I would, but she’s holding back information,” Sven growls. “And since Addy’s leaving at the end of the week, I've got a lot of things to organise.”