Joker looks down. “That’s our past.”
I drag the Beta even closer against me. “How did you leave the SEALs?”
“You mean why did we run? Why are we AWOL?”
“I was trying to be polite.”
“I’ll mark this date in the diary.”
I mock growl, and he pretends to tremble.
Yet there is something dark in Joker’s past, which he is attempting to shield. It has left Phantom with scars on his face, while the Hunter pack has been forced to run from the SEALs and hide as bounty hunters.
What happened?
Are they safe now?
Joker takes a careful breath like he is deciding to tell me something that he’s held long inside. “The reason we ran and the people who are hunting us now are connected. Phantom was always expected to go into the military by his dad, but I was a Beta. The first to become a SEAL. I was only accepted because of the influence of Phantom’s dad. I still passed the tests, however, because I pushed myself to meet levels that broke most Alphas. Still, it wasn’t enough for some of the Alphas like the Krakens, who hazed and bullied me throughout training. It was Phantom who stood up for me. He didn’t need to. He could have stood by and watched it happen. Even though we’d been friends as kids. We weren’t lovers as adults or bonded. It damaged his career. But he still protected me.”
“He’s a good Alpha,” I say, realizing how true it is.
It would have made all the difference in the world if I’d had a friend like that in my corner.
Now, I realize that finally with these Hunters I may have someone who I can rely on.
Joker’s eyes gleam with pride. “He is. I think that I’d been falling for him for years. But I can tell you the exact day that I knew I was in love with Phantom. It was devastating because I needed to hide it. I was terrified that as my best friend he would find out and hate me. But it changed everything for me. Part of our training was to have weights strapped to our feet, then we would walk at the bottom of this freezing pool until we blackedout. It was to train us out of the natural instinct to scramble to the surface.”
“That’s crazy.”
“That’s being in the SEALS.” Joker shrugs. “It went smoothly, until it came to my turn. The instructor was meant to dive in and drag each trainee to the surface. But he didn’t for me. I still don’t know if the intention was for me to dieaccidentallyas a trickto get rid of the Beta in the unit. I just remember the terrifying panic of blacking out and then coming to with Phantom’s mouth on mine, as he desperately resuscitated me at the side of the pool. He cradled me, furious and protective, as I came back from the edge of death. No doctor was called. Nobody else helped. It turns out that Phantom broke ranks and dived in to pull me out of the pool. He saved my life that day. And I fell in love.”
“He was a hero.”
“The SEALs didn’t see it that way.” Joker’s expression becomes anguished. “He had disobeyed, and I had failed the training. We were both punished and made an example of. For the next month, we had to carry an extra heavy raft together everywhere we went. Fuck those assholes, because it bonded us. I already owed him my life and so much more. I had for years. When I was close to collapsing, he would push me to keep going. We had to run six miles carrying that fucking raft bouncing on our heads and crushing our necks, but we did it because we were together. I learned that as long as I was with Phantom, I could do anything. When we were together in a unit, we became the deadliest team, only challenged by the Krakens. That’s why we were put together on four-person missions with them.”
“Maybe Phantom kept going because of you,” I reply. “Ever thought that he needed you there just as much as you needed him? You don’t risk your career and life for someone whodoesn’t matter to you. What if he has loved you just as long as you have loved him?”
Joker stares at me in shock. “Are you a mentalist as well as a magician?”
“Nope, because mentalists are dicks.”
I relax when Joker laughs.
Then Joker kisses me, petal-soft. “Phantom has saved my life on more than one occasion. He does it without thinking like he did with Bird. He has given me everything, as a Beta and as an Omega, as a friend, and as a brother-in-arms. He’ll do the same for you, if you let him. He hasburnedfor me. And he will for you.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Hunter Cabin, Blue Valley Woods
It has been over a week, and I still haven’t grown used to waking up next to the inferno of warmth that is this giant of an Alpha.
Phantom sprawls next to me. He is asleep and naked, despite the freezing chill in the air, although he is still wearing the mask that he wears even in bed. We are both burrowed underneath the coarse green blankets.
Weak morning light streams through the window, which looks out over the forest of tall hardwoods.
This is Phantom and Joker’s bedroom.
Except, Joker promised that it isourbedroom now — the pack’s.
