Page 123 of The Rust in Her Hair

I press my palms flat against my thighs.

"So I've been thinking about what you said last night." I look at Nico. "That my parents might already know where I am, and that my father could walk in here and burn your lives down."

"I shouldn't have put it like that," Nico immediately says. "I was much harsher than I should have been."

"No. You were right." I hold his eyes, making sure he knows I mean it. "So…I think it would help…if…I…called them."

Mack cuts me a pained look, and says, "Darlin'."

"Let her finish." Adrian tips his chin at me. "Go on, omega."

I take a breath and make myself lay it all out. The way my father would. Because that's the only way any of them will hear this as a plan and not panic.

"I've been thinking about why my parents are still looking for me," I say, keeping my voice even. "And the fact is, as long as there's a chance I can come home unmated, I'm still worth something to them."

A thread of heat slips through my bond with Nico before he reins it back in. The alpha is clearly not happy with me being seen as someone else’s property.

Why does that make me feel good?

I swallow down some of my nerves, then keep going. "They know that they can still trade me to a wealthy alpha if I’m still…pure." My face warms, very aware that my new sister-in-law is pressed against my side. "But if I’m mated, then they’re outside the thirty days and I’m a lost investment, but their fortune is safe. I think that's all this is," I say simply. "They just want to know if I'm still worth something to them."

Owen leans forward, elbows on his knees. "Okay," he says like he's waiting for me to get to my point.

I take a deep breath, then throw it out there. "I think I should call and tell them I'm safe. Tell them I'm already mated and I’m not coming back, so there's no need to keep looking for me."

Nico goes completely still, and Adrian’s been shaking his head since the word call.

"Hell no." Mack's out of the loveseat, practically dropping his mug on the coffee table. The black liquid sloshes, running down the side and onto the wood. "Not a chance in hell you’re talking to those assholes."

"I don’t think that’s a good idea, Lyra," Adrian says.

"It's a phone call,” I say, both confused and touched by their intense reactions. "I'm not volunteering to go move back to their house. I'm making a call."

Mack turns to Nico, jaw tight. "You gonna say somethin', or you just gonna let her imagination run wild?"

Nico doesn't answer right away. He's still by the wall, arms crossed, and when he finally speaks his voice is incredibly calm.

"I don't like the idea of being the kind of alpha who keeps his omega from talking to her own family." He looks at me, then at Mack and Adrian. "That's a line I won't cross. My mother would skin me for it."

"This is different," Adrian says quickly. "Her family isn't⁠—"

Nico lifts one hand, and the room goes quiet.

He lets the silence sit for a moment, then he lowers it.

"I won't stop you from calling them." His dark eyes turn to me. "That's your decision, not mine, but I want you to think very clearly about this." He waits for me to nod, so he knows I’m listening. "What makes you so sure a phone call will be enough for them? If you tell them you're mated," he tilts his head, "what happens when they want proof?"

Shit. I didn’t think of that.

"He's right." Owen looks down at me, and there's an apology already sitting in his hazel eyes. "I could see them asking for that. Wanting to see the bite for themselves before they believe a word of it." He leans down, talking so softly. "Going anywhere near your family is not a good idea. I've seen enough of them to know that."

I look down at my hands.

They're all watching me, all of them desperate to talk me out of it, and I know they're doing it because they love me. That's the part that undoes me. Nobody has ever tried to keep me from being hurt before.

"I know you don't want me near them," I say as I look up at Owen first, then around the room. "But you saved me. All of you. Then you gave me a life I didn’t know was possible."

Owen reaches over and slips his hand around mine.