Page 133 of Rest In Knotty Pieces

“Well, what’s it going to be? Are you going on a road trip, or are we hanging out here?”

“I should call them to come get you,” Pix whispers, and his fingers slide into my hair and grip it close to the scalp, yanking my head back. I allow it because the pain feels good.

“We both know you won’t want that,” I say dismissively. “That would mean that you would have to talk to them, admit your feelings, beg them after they threw you away. Admit you want to go home. You have too much pride to come crawling back and claim what’s yours.”

I lean back on the bed, raising an eyebrow. My words hurt him, but he has followed me down, leaning over me, my hair still wrapped around his fingers. He’s so close I can taste his breath, feel the heat of his body looming over mine.

“Pix,” I moan.

He scowls. “Don’t play this game with me, Raven. I can play it better. I’m meaner and colder.”

“No, you think you are, but you had family, a chosen family. You can be cold. Not like me. I’ve got nothing to lose.”

“You have a pack,” he says slowly.

“They aren’t mine. Not yet, maybe not ever. They can still be yours, though. I would have given them to you. Be happy with them,” I say honestly. “I want to see you smile. You’re pretty when you smile, Daega..”

He raises his eyebrows. “Do they know that?”

“Of course not.” I bite my words off, frustrated with his suspicion. He backs off, letting me go, and it feels like he’s opened a door and let the winter cold in. “Would it make it easier if I begged you? If I made all the promises not to hurt anyone you care about? Would you like me to hand over my weapons and let you tie me up?”

Pix moves closer and gestures for me to stand up. “Spread them.”

I huff. “Really?” I ask, but I spread my arms and legs, watching as he pats me down. My whole body tingles. When he’s satisfied, he pulls out the phone I stole and takes it into the bathroom and drops it in the toilet.

“Mikhail from the bar two towns away is going to be really upset when he realises where his phone is now living.”

“Mikhail can bite me.”

A surge of possessive rage floods me, and it startles me so hard it actually takes a moment to suppress it.Fuck, okay. We are not okay with Pix being with anyone but us. Good to know.

“Why me?” he asks, and it takes me a few seconds to gather my thoughts.

“Because,” I look at him, dropping all the coy smiles and show him how deadly serious I am. “You left. When they all stayed, you listened to him, and you left. You’re smart, and you have a distinct instinct towards self-preservation. They don’t, they are all fucked up with omega scents and the urge to protect. I need someone who wants to live protecting this secret.”

“What secret?” he snarls out.

“Uh-uh, I can’t show you until you agree and we head there.”

He cocks his head to the side and smiles, the utter sexiness of it takes my breath away, but I steel myself against it. His ability to charm the knickers off anything with a pulse is well known, but it’s all a mask.

Why is he wearing a mask for me? It’s almost offensive.

“All right, Miss Omega. Let’s go.”

“Excellent, though I’m going to correct you, I’m not an omega, I’m a beta.”

His eyebrows hit his hairline, and he leans in and sniffs, then does it again. “What the fuck?”

“Yeah, I’m magic.” I wink at him and wander out of the hotel room with him in tow. I should be happy. But his hostility is a variable I didn’t account for. I feel like I’ve lost something valuable.

He doesn’t laugh or smile or respond to my teasing.

“I’ll be back,” he says in the hotel reception to an omega with a dark bob who drops the tablet she was holding and glares at me.

“I don’t like this,” she snarls.

Meg. This is Meg. One of Pix’s chosen family. I can’t kill her. Damn. If she keeps looking at me like I’m the interloper I will take her the fuck out. Pix is mine.