AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ellie
I’d barely turned around to face the man calling my name when Ezra had Bear pinned to the diner wall. His forearm pressed into the omega’s throat to the point his face turned a sickly blue.
“Ezra!” I shouted as Dean and Atlas tried to pry my mate from killing the man. “Stop.”
“Please. I’m not here to try and convince her to take me back. I’m not even with that pack anymore.”
Bear’s words had my steps faltering as I rushed toward Ezra.
“What?” I demanded. Something in my tone had Ezra easing up and turning toward me. His blue eyes bored into me and I gave a nod, telling him I want him to back off without words.
Not that I could have formed them if I wanted to.
“I have so much to show you, to warn you of,” Bear said quickly. He was rushing everything out in case he was forcibly shut up again.
“Not here. I fucking work here,” Ezra growled out. I’d never seen my alpha so angry. “Gabe can handle things for a bit.”
“Come on,” Collin said. “The storefront is still empty.” He pulled Ezra along with him while Atlas and Dean put me between them. Not one of us turned around to see if Bear was following.
Honestly, I didn’t trust myself to.
Out of all of the Forrest pack, his betrayal had hurt me the most. I’d never questioned the fact we weren’t fated mates. I was fine choosing a pack that complemented me well. And Bear and I had connected on so many levels. It honestly made the decision easy for me.
Until they’d rejected me for Morgan.
The walk to the storefront was only a few minutes but it felt like it lasted for hours. Bear’s presence hovered over me and nerves made my feet feel as if they were full of lead.
“We can leave right now,” Dean promised me in a voice he didn’t bother to muffle.
“No, I need to hear this. He wouldn’t be stupid enough to come here and still beg to talk to me if it wasn’t important. He said that he came to warn me,” I reminded him.
“That the Forrest pack are backstabbing pricks?” Atlas deadpanned, earning a chuckle from the rest of us.
We all fanned out around the room, leaning against the walls and giving Bear the floor. He shifted uncomfortably on his feet as he waited. The spotlight was on him and the room was eerily silent.
“You wanted to talk. Then talk,” Ezra finally demanded. Bear jumped at the bite in his voice. Even I was startled. Ezra was a strong, opinionated alpha, but I’d never considered him harsh before. I guess that was what happened when someone fucked with his omega.
“Trevor and Jason didn’t take the negative attention they started receiving well. It started small, people making posts about how we all did you wrong, which I don’t disagree with. But it escalated into full on hate campaigns.”
“Forgive us if we have no sympathy for you,” Atlas snarked. His muscles bulged as he crossed his arms. One look around at my guys and I realized just why he was so nervous. Every one of them was hostile on my behalf. It was so strange to have someone having my back like this. Sure, I had my siblings, but outside of them there had never been anyone ready to go to war for me.
“Well, they think they can win Ellie back.” Bear’s words hung in the air until a chorus of growls echoed in the room. He gave a dry smile. “Hence why I came to warn you. I have proof.”
He pulled up a video on his phone and held it out to Ezra. He’d become the current unofficial leader of our pack and Bear was doing everything he could to respect that.
Ezra moved back to my side and pressed play. The video was clearly taken in secret, the angle barely above the table line.
Trevor and Morgan were sitting close, his arm lazily draped behind her back. Jason sat on her other side, his fingers toying with hers. I expected the sight of it to make me jealous but instead, I just felt indifferent. It was crazy to think that I’d almost spent my life with these men. They were as deep as a puddle, no real emotional depth. I’d have truly spent my life in misery or left altogether.
“We can spin this in our favor,” Morgan was saying. Her eyes were narrowed as if she were mulling over a genius plan. “We tip off the paparazzi and we go find the stuffy omega and her newfound pack. You beg her for forgiveness, she’s naive enough to let you back in. She told me how she believed in this and the effort put in. So, you put on a show and she buys it, hook, line, and sinker.” She let out a judgmental laugh that had my blood boiling.
“She’s such a cunt,” I bit out. “As if me caring about getting to know a pack and not just fucking them right away made me somehow unintelligent.”
“So, we just hook up with Ellie and you just watch?” Trevor scoffed. It was a valid point, her plan sounded ridiculous.
“I’ll come play the victim, of course,” she said. “Oh, poor me. I was betrayed by the Forrest pack and deserved so much better.”
She put a hand to her forehead and twisted her face into a sad, broken mask.
