Basil’s bright voice catches in the wind, followed by Killian’s deep laugh.
“I can’t force you to stay,” I say. “But you have no supplies, no direction, and no real shoes.” I glance at her muddy sandals. “Do you really want to wander the woods all alone?”
There’s a flash of something intense in Beth’s eyes, but it quickly dims and she hangs her head. “I guess not,” she says to her feet.
Relief washes over me as I wrap my hand around her wrist. She feels so teeny in my grasp, my fingers overlapping one another. We walk slowly, making our way back to the rest of our pack.
I’m so glad she didn’t insist on running. Because I couldn’t have let her go.
While Killian is willing to meet with her family to ask for her hand, I want to murder the whole lot of them for losing something so precious in the first place.
That Evening
Beth
We’ve been walkingfor hours. I’m tired and kind of scared. I want to be carried, but I also don’t want to be touched…and I’m pretty sure Killian doesn’t want to touch me either.
Basil immediately noticed the cut on Tristan’s arm. The burly alpha simply said that I had stabbed him, then laughed. But Killian and Basil didn’t find it funny at all. I expected them to lash out for hurting their packmate, but they both looked at me with a mixture of disappointment and quiet anger.
Well, maybe not anger. But they clearly weren’t happy.
Killian gave me a stern lecture on being kind to my packmates, then we started walking again.
Tristan seemed more pissed that he couldn’t sit and eat than anything else. He growled loudly, scrunching his face up with rage when Basil packed lunch up. At first, I thought they were punishing me by withholding food, but then Basil shocked me by offering me the rest of his lunch. I refused, not wanting to takeanything more from him than I already have, but I did wish I had eaten that orange this morning.
“Omega.” Killian’s long fingers wrap around my wrist, pulling me to stop. Basil and Tristan keep walking, picking up their pace as they push through a long wall of pine trees. And suddenly I’m all alone with the big blond alpha.
My fear spikes and I tense.
I should have run off when we passed the river. I had a small opening, where all three alphas weren’t either right on my ass or watching me, but I didn’t take it.So stupid.
“I know you’re probably feeling a lot of things right now.” Killian closes the space between us.
My knees jerk with the desire to back up, but I stay put. There’s nowhere to go, and without a weapon, I’d just be a moving target.
“You’ve been through so much.” The alpha’s gaze lingers on the bruises along the side of my face. “And you’re probably scared. After all, we are strangers,” he says as if I didn’t already know this. “But,” his expression turns deadly serious. Jaw set and shoulders back. My stomach twists as I wait for his rage to unleash. “You can’t attack your packmates,” he says in a shockingly calm, but firm, tone. “I know you didn’t mean to hurt Tristan, but I can’t have you lash out like that again.”
I had to shove back the urge to tell him he wasn’t my damn alpha, but then he’d definitely smack me, and I didn’t want to push my luck. I stare up at the alpha, biting my tongue.
Idid meanto stab the asshole. Hell, I was hoping tokillhim. I was aiming for the alpha's throat, but he was too damn tall and I missed my mark.
“While I don’t mind you taking your fear out on me or my alphas,” Killian’s voice slips into a deep and serious whisper, “I can’t have you hurting Jeremy.” Pure intensity radiates off hispowerful body, pushing into the air all around me. Whiskey-soaked cherries.
Damn, he smells good.
“Do you understand?” He leans down, bringing his face inches from me, waiting patiently for me to answer.
“Yes, sir.” I drop my gaze, trying to look small and defenseless, but Killian grips my chin, forcing me to look up at him. It’s a small movement, but one that screams dominance.
“No one will ever hurt you again.” He searches my eyes, before brushing the pad of his thumb over my bottom lip. It feels weirdly good. “We will kill to protect you, Beth,” he says, soft and sweet, before caressing the bruise along the side of my face. He looks lost in thought as he examines each one of the ugly marks on my face. “The man that did this deserves to die a slow and painful death,” he says in a slow rumble. “He should be gutted and disgraced so his whole family can see what kind of man he is.”
The image flashes in my mind, and I let out a short, bitter laugh. “My family doesn’t give a shit what my father does. He’d—” I cut myself off, horrified that I said that much. I cover my mouth with my hands, praying Killian didn’t hear me.
You never talk bad about your family to others.
Or at least that’s what my mom always says.
Killian tilts his head, tension building in the faint wrinkles around his eyes. “Yourfatherdid this?” His mouth falls open slightly as he stares at me. There’s so much dominance and power radiating off of him. Whiskey and cherries. Strength and control.
