Page 85 of The Packaged Deal

BOND HER! My mind screams.

I tilt my head down, and her lips press on mine. I open my mouth and press my tongue against hers. Her scent is in everything now. Her small hands run over my scalp, down my neck, and across my shoulders. I kiss and nip at her lips until she’s mewling in my arms. This spinning, crazy ride has no end.

I break away and spot Adrian’s molten stare. Fuck. NO! FUCK! I pry her off me and set her down and back up.

“Fuck. What was that?”

“Preheat, by my guess,” Adrian says with a mocking wink.

“Are you having fun? You have no idea what you’ve done,” I snarl.

“So tell us,” Kandi says from the doorway.

I turn, finding all three of them now in the kitchen, blocking me in. I’m trapped. My panic flares.

Adrian pushes off the counter, walks to the backdoor, and kicks it open. “Run, if you must.”

“You won’t stop me?” I snarl.

“I promised I wouldn’t.”

He had. He promised he wouldn’t before he bit me. I reach up to touch the wound on my neck. When I touch it, the connection between us gets louder, and I can almost feel him.

“You’ll come back,” Adrian says coldly. “You’ll come back or I’ll come get you and, Sven, for every day you’re gone, you will be punished.”

“Punished? Who the fuck do you think you are? How do you know I’ll come back?” I snarl at him.

“I know you’ll come back because you love me. And you love her. And you’re falling for her. Because two of us wear your mark, Alpha, and the third is begging for it. That’s how I know that no matter how far you run, you will come back.”

Adrian has advanced, crossing the room, closing the space, making every fear I’ve ever had in my life a reality.

“So go. Because you need to try. But don’t fight it for long, Sven.” Adrian dips his mouth down and licks up the side of my jaw. “I’m tired of waiting.”

I shudder as he steps back.

Apparently, this is what Adrian’s been heading for this whole time. This is what he looks like when he cracks.

There’s a war inside me, demanding I stay. Screaming, I leave. Two sides, fear and yearning. Responsibility and need. Desire and shame. My past flashes in my mind, and Adrian winces. His eyes widen.

“What was that?” He sounds uncertain.

Terror makes my mouth feel like it’s full of cotton wool. I stagger back, away from him. One, two, three steps, before I whirl and throw myself out of the backdoor and into the night.

Running. Again.

Like I always do.

But I can never run far enough to escape the past.

twenty-three

Jade

“Why did Sven just quit?” Missy, the Raptore Pack’s omega and Kandi’s best friend, is standing in our lounge screaming at my alpha. “What the fuck did you do to send my Sven running?”

Her Sven? A tiny snarl escapes from my mouth. Her alpha, the white blond one, looks over and spots me. I’d heard her rising voice minutes before and pulled on a dress. I came padding down here to find this showdown going on. Kandi is still in bed, and I’m hoping she sleeps through this.

“Fuck if I know,” Adrian nonchalantly shrugs.