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I see Ford’s hand twitch at his side, like he’s trying like hell to keep himself in check, to keep from reaching for her as she turns on her heel and strides to the door.
“Vee,” Jackson’s voice ripples out, thick with his alpha bark. “Sit down.”
Shock strikes hard and fast. Jackson never uses his bark. Ever. That he just used it on Vee shows how desperate he is, how desperate this situation is. He needs her to listen, needs her to hear us out. If this is the only way to get her to do it, he’s willing to become the bad guy in her eyes. Even more so than he already is.
All four of us look at him with wide eyes, but his gray gaze stays fixed firmly on Vee where she’s frozen with one hand reaching toward the door handle. “Sit down, baby girl,” he says again, this time much softer and with no bark behind the words.
She turns, hands fisted at her sides, tears shimmering along her lashes. I flinch back at the sight of them, at the pain on her face. Her body moves jerkily as she drops to the floor and crosses her legs. The moisture in her eyes spills over, leaving tracks on her cheeks.
“Happy?” she whispers. “I’m down here on the floor. Below you. Is that what you wanted, Jackson? To just really emphasize how little you think of me? How worthless I am? How little you think of me you would use a fucking alpha bark on me?”
My gaze flicks between the two of them. The need to say something to refute what she said hangs heavy on my tongue, but I’m not the one who did this to her. Jackson is. He needs to be the one to fix it.
He seems to realize the mistake he just made, how much worse he made everything, because he drops to his knees in front of her, hands reaching, but not touching. “Fuck, Vee. I’m sorry. I didn’t- you can’t leave. We have to talk about this.”
“Why?” She’s back to staring at the floor.
“Because you belong with us, sweetheart,” I murmur, dropping next to Jackson, leaning my shoulder against his in support. “You belong with us.”
She shakes her head, fingers biting into her knees. “No, I don’t. I did at one time, but not anymore. I-I found a new pack.”
Rule 10: When cornered by the men that broke your heart, lie your ass off.
Okay, so I lied. So sue me.
I need to get out of here. Being around all five of them at once, after seven years, is sensory overload. It’s not fair that they’re all so freaking handsome, that my heart still lurches toward them in my chest, like it’s eager to once again be in their collective hands.
When I’d first stepped into this room, I’d latched on to the sight of Ford and Asher, the two members of the pack I hadn’t seen yet. Well, I suppose Ford had latched onto me, invading my space, making my brain fuzzy with the maple bacon scent. I’d wanted to give in to him, to wrap my arms around him. The pleading in his voice when he’d said he needed to scent me spoke to me, made me want to give him everything.
I think if the conversation had gone differently, if they hadn’t immediately started blaming me for all the shit that’s gone down, telling me I’m a coward who ran away, when I didn’t have a choice, I might have actually wavered. I might have given them what they wanted, a calm adult conversation. But I won’t stick around to have them beat me down with guilt.
Or at least I wouldn’t have if Jackson hadn’t just used his bark on me to keep me from leaving.
I’m feeling a little salty. More than a little salty. I’m fucking devastated. He promised me years ago, he would never use his bark on me, never force me to do something against my will like that.
Yet here he is, doing just that, taking away my choice.
Just like another alpha did seven years ago. I push that thought away. I know this isn’t like what happened back then. But this hurts even worse. The alpha before… I didn’t know him. And I loved Jackson with everything I was.
So I lied to them.
My lie lands with the weight of a thousand bricks or six broken hearts. They don’t have to know that I’ve been alone since they left me, that I’ll always be alone. The few times I’ve tried to date, or fuck or anything, my omega protested. Hard. To the point where I felt sick, my body shutting down with aches and chills and nausea. Like I suddenly contracted the flu.
I can’t be with another pack.
But I can’t be with this pack either.
So alone it is.
Forever.
For all their talk of me belonging, of them wanting me now, it can’t happen. They have an omega. Their pack is complete. They don’t need me. They probably don’t even really want me. This is all nostalgia and a fair amount of guilt. Realizing that their actions seven years ago had a negative effect on me.
“You did what?” Ford grinds out, and I don’t look at him. If I do, I’ll break. Take it back and tell them I’ve been absolutely miserable without them, that I need them. That I feel like a partial person when they aren’t with me. I can’t do that, can’t open myself up to the pain it will cause me when they eventually tell me they made a mistake. They don’t need me. Just like they didn’t all those years ago. So I keep my gaze focused on the floor, not looking at any of them when I say, “it took a long time. Years. But I found a pack. One that wants me-”
“We want you,” Ash says quietly, but no less resolved for the softness of his tone.
I keep talking, like he didn’t say anything, even though my heart clenches at the words. “They’ve offered me a place with them. I was going to take it. To bond with them, but then my grandma died. As soon as I’m done here. I’m going back to them.”
