Page 143 of Drown My Sorrow

Nerves bubble, but when I look up, Keagan winks at me as he passes.

Beau lifts his chin, and Shale watches from the shadows.

Their presence settles everything in me. My guardian angels. Always close.

I smile as someone approaches me.

“Hi, welcome. My name is Cassie, I’m a Psychic, and I can tell you about your future.”

I think my sister Cassie would have loved this.

PresentDay

I exhale and try to hold in the tears with a wobbly smile. The woman who is making my coffee glances at me and the pack and whispers to the person working with her.

It’s been like that everywhere we’ve gone. The news is spreading, the hate campaign. What’s happening at Alpha Labels got out, and the media has been speculating over who we are.

The woman puts two trays of coffee on the counter. I reach for one but pause, glancing down at my cane. When I look up, she’s looking at it, too, but like it’s dirty. Like I’m dirty.

I should be used to this. But it never gets easier.

I recoil, not wanting the coffee, but Kelly grabs both trays and smiles at me.

“Let's get going.”

I follow him, sticking close to his back as people follow our every movement with their eyes.

The pack is ignoring them, but I hear every whisper. They wonder if my cane is for pity, if my limp is part of some ploy. They quote articles and the snippets people have started to spread.

They call me a home-wrecking whore.

But, mostly, they call me broken, and they feel sorry for my pack because I will never be able to give them what they need.

My confidence erodes like the ocean tide crashing into a sandcastle.

We head to the museum next, and the whole idea to get me away from Holt and his constant venom is starting to backfire.

I almost forget the pack is around me, but the Daane close ranks. Shale wraps an arm over my shoulder and guides me in, pointing out the animals I have never seen before.

I don’t realise I’m crying until Ezy is wiping away my tears.

“Don’t let them see you cry. You deserve much better than this. They don’t understand, and they don’t know.”

I look up into his earnest eyes.

“The whole world thinks you’re with me out of pity. I can’t fulfill your needs. I can’t give you a decent life. How can you ignore what they are saying? How can you not hear it?”

Ezy is pulled away, and Beau takes his place, gliding towards me, all predatory and intense.

“Babe, I am so fucking sure we went through this. Didn’t we go through this?”

Keagan smiles. “We did go through this.”

I look between them both.

“Remind her,” Shale growls. “Remind her why we belong to her. No one sees anything.”

Ezy and Kelly stalk off, but I’m too busy watching Beau’s fingers walk up my sternum and pull at the neckline of the dress I’m wearing.

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