“You were better off,” Ares states softly, looking straight ahead. “They abused you enough for those brief years. It would have only gotten worse if they’d stayed.”
I’m quiet for a long stretch, my thoughts a jumbled mess. When I feel like I can actually risk talking without breaking down, I start rummaging in the glove box just to give my hands something to do.
“Am I really that bad?” I whisper, not wanting to hear the answer. “I mean, I know I’ve got issues, and days I can hardly get out of bed. And I’m clingy. And annoying.”
“Stop. Don’t let them get in your head, Cole. You’re not a burden.”Osiris’ voice does little to settle my nerves though.
What if I drive her away too?I can’t even voice those words, afraid that doing so will give them power and make them more real.
“You won’t,” Ares declares firmly. He gives off a confident air, one that begs me to believe him and cede control. We may not have alphas like the wolves do, but Ares? He takes care of our pride as well as any alpha I’ve ever met.
“I could bite their faces off if it makes you feel better?”Ozzy offers and a small smile pulls at the corner of my mouth.
“I wouldn’t be opposed. I know everyone preaches taking the high ground, but…”
Rin snorts from outside my cracked window and I jump in my seat. “Fuck the high ground. Be petty; I sure as shit was.”
She climbs into the backseat and slams the door behind her, eyes radiating absolute fury. Truth be told? Fucking sexy on her. I doubt she could throw much of a punch, but I’d love to see her try. She spends so much time subdued, that the brief times I’m able to witness her keyed up and animated are something I could quickly become addicted to.
“What do you mean?” Ares asks as Osiris starts rubbing against her like a horny cat.
She leans over the center console and grabs the side of my neck, planting a hard kiss fueled by her anger on my lips. Pulling back just as quickly, she leans her forehead against mine. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but it was impossible not to,” she apologizes and I have a brief flash of guilt at what a scene I made while literally my only job was to stay under the radar.
“I’m sorry, I-“ but she cuts me off by pressing a finger to my lips.
“You don’t have a damn thing to apologize for,” she growls, and fuck, she may not be a shifter, but she has all the fire of one right now. “But those assholes?”
Sirens fly by, cutting her off and hurting my sensitive hearing. Why any shifter would willingly live in a place like this is absolutely beyond me.
“What did you do?” Ares asks tentatively and she smiles sheepishly.
“Well, you did say that if someone were to shoplift, it should be for something more interesting than a tube of toothpaste.” She sits back and I give up all pretense of being cool and mysterious to crawl into the backseat with her, desperately needing to be near my mate right now.
There’s so much restless energy coursing through my veins that I actuallywantto shift for the first time in ages. I typically do so out of necessity, but right now? I want to tear the world apart. That, or run, and just keep running until my past can’t catch me.
“What did you do, beautiful?” I brush a lock of chestnut hair behind her ear, just looking for an excuse to touch her.
“Fifty-fifty shot they’re going to be mad,”her voice echoes around my skull and I startle, hand stilling on the side of her face.
Did you just…?
Her eyes widen in alarm, biting her lip.“Shit, there’s another one.”
A genuine laugh slips past my lips before I capture hers. It’s cathartic in a way I can’t describe, feeling that sense of belonging. When the pack link slipped into place between the three of us, it was enough to give me a sense of stability in an otherwise chaotic life. With Rin coming in, battering her way through those walls with all of the grace of a lumberjack, it just feels complete.
I may not have the family I should have been born to, but I have the one that I found. And that means so much more because it’s not just real, it’smine.
Want to confess your sins? I promise, we’ll only punish you a little.I waggle my eyebrows, not feeling quite like myself, but able to bury my pain easier under the distraction.
She lowers her voice as if she’s afraid someone will overhear and arrest her. “I may or may not have taken a necklace and slipped it into Grace’s purse. Then reported it.” She bites her lip, waiting for my scolding, but I don’t think I could ever think of this woman as anything short of perfect.
“You’re devious,” I praise, kissing the side of her neck.
“You mean reckless,” Ares corrects, but there isn’t any heat behind it.
She hums, stretching her neck further to the side to leave it open to my ministrations. Osiris leaps into the front passenger seat, curling up on the footboard and trying to stay out of sight.
“You’re both wrong,”he purrs.“She’s absolutely perfect.”
