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“I don’t want to fucking go for a walk,” I growl, but I’m already moving, my hand curled around her wrist as I tug her after me.
“I’ll call you later,” she says to Aurora, who’s staring after us with her mouth open like she might protest. Before the lawyer can respond, we’re out on the street and I’m dragging my omega toward the nearby park, the water of a pond glimmering in the distance. If she wants to go for a walk, then that’s what we’ll do.
“Hey, Davis?” Vee pants out, practically running to keep up with my angry strides. “You think you could, I don’t know… slow down? You know I have to take like three steps for every one of yours.”
“Fuck,” I hiss out, drawing up short. Vee, not expecting my sudden lack of forward motion, plows right into my back before bouncing back a step.
“Ow.” She rubs her nose, now bright red from smashing into me. She drops her hand and glares. “Happy now?”
That glare is so fucking familiar. The exact same one she’d level at us when we were kids and we’d do stupid shit she didn’t approve of, that some of the anger in my chest loosens. The corner of my mouth kicks into a smile, but it fades quickly.
“No, beautiful. I’m not happy. I’m so fucking far from happy it’s not even on the same planet.” My hand curls around the back of her neck and tugs her closer to me, bending my head to touch a kiss to the tip of her nose, gently, not wanting to cause even a slight flare of pain. “I’m sorry about your nose. Does it still hurt?”
She blinks up at me with those pretty eyes of hers and lets out a breath. “No. I guess you kissed it better.”
That response gets a full smile from me and she giggles in response, no doubt remembering all the times I did that for her as a teenager, kissing all of her injuries better. Bruises, scrapes, hangnails, any excuse to get my lips on her skin.
But her giggle now is too short, cut off by the years between us and the betrayal she still believes took place. She steps back and my hand falls to my side. I tuck it into the pocket of my jeans to keep from reaching for her again. I tip my head toward the park. “Shall we?”
She nods and we take off again, this time at a much more sedate pace. There’s a path around the pond, and that’s the route that we take. It’s at least a half mile long and so we’ll have time to talk, not as long as I would like, but still more than she’s given us, since she’s been in town.
“You didn’t bond with Yasmin,” she says suddenly, phrasing it like a statement and not a question. Which is a relief because as much as I want to hash that out with her, tell her everything about what happened years ago. I have something a bit more pressing to find out about.
Still, I shake my head. “We didn’t.”
She bites her lip and doesn’t look at me. “The marks. The mating marks on Asher and Topher…”
I grin as I turn toward her, lifting my shirt to show her my own mark in the same place as Asher’s. “Topher’s is from Jackson. And Asher and I-” I cut off as her fingers brush over the mark, sending a shot of pure lust right to my cock. I feel an answering tug from Asher through our bond.
“You bonded each other.” There’s a thread of longing in her tone, like she wishes she had been there with us, or maybe she wishes she was a part of our bond.
Vee’s cheeks turn pink as she drops her hand, like she just realized she was fondling my bare chest in public. I don’t mind, beautiful. Not one fucking bit. I take my time lowering my shirt, noting the way her eyes linger on the hard line of my abs.
She bites her lip and looks away, heading back down the path. I trail along behind her.
“Did you really think we would bond Yasmin?”
She doesn’t look at me, lifting her cup to sip from the straw, and I momentarily get distracted by the memory of those pink lips wrapped around my cock, as strong as if it had been yesterday and not seven years ago, before I blink it away. “I did,” she mutters. “Why wouldn’t I? You very publicly announced that she was joining your pack.”
I wince at the bitter tinge in the air. I’m not sure if it’s coming from her or from me, but either way, it’s unpleasant. “It’s what our fathers’ wanted. Not what we wanted, Vee. You have to believe that.”
She side eyes me and takes another sip of her coffee. “I don’t have to believe anything.”
“Is that why you didn’t come back?” I ask, tucking my hands into my pockets so I don’t reach out to her, tuck her into my side and never let her go. “You thought we were happily bonded with another woman, with another omega, and we wouldn’t want you?” I wrinkle my nose as soon as the question is out of my mouth. Of course, that’s why she didn’t come back. We can’t even blame her for that.
Not one of us took the time to tell her what the hell was happening. We still need to do that, need to have a proper conversation about what happened seven years ago, one that doesn’t end in a shouting match or one of us leaving.
She doesn’t say anything, but the answer is obvious. That’s why she told Asher to wash up before he went home to his omega. All this time she’s thought we were a complete bonded pack.
I’m so glad he didn’t listen to her. Instead, he came home smelling faintly of honeyed nectarines and we fucked like rabbits until dawn. Not such a terrible night for me. The only thing missing was the girl walking next to me.
It’s on the tip of my tongue to explain everything, to make sure she understands what happened all those years ago.
But right now is not the time. The entire pack needs to be there for that, and I have a more pressing situation at hand. I can only hold my tongue for so long. “You’re sick.”
She looks at me out of the corner of her eye before nodding. “I am.”
“You’re dying.” My voice cracks on the word. My nose stings and my eyes prick. I have to swallow thickly to keep the tears at bay.
