Page 55 of Welcome to Bone Town

I can hear the pain in her voice. Feel the tightness of her muscles as she leans away from me, curling over her knees even while sitting in my lap. How long has she known? How long has she carried this on her own?

“Oh, love.” I pull her against my chest, wrapping her in my arms.

“What does this have to do with the necklace?” Bear asks, coming out of his stupor.

Cora sniffles and keeps her damp face against my chest. “There are stories of…” She sniffles again, and her shoulders shake.

“Lunara’s Relic,” Archer says, like he’s putting together a puzzle and just found a missing piece. “Theysay it could heal people, and there’s one obscure text that says it can induce heats. You wrote about it in your paper in the National Academies of Omega Sciences Journal.”

Cora nods. Her whimpered cries are quietly breaking my heart.

“We don’t care that you don’t have heats, honey,” Bear says, shifting close enough to touch her knee.

“But I care,” she whispers. “I want a pack. I want kids. I want to stop being on the edge of a heat all the time, stop feeling constantly uncomfortable, and instead feel all the pleasure an omega is meant to. Without it, I’m… I may as well be…”

“A beta,” Archer’s voice is hard.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Cora says, reaching for his hand, but he’s too far for her to touch. “There’s nothing wrong with being a beta. All the designations have their place and purpose. I just feel like…Idon’t.” Her last word dissolves into a sob as she buries her head against my chest.

“You do, love. Your place is with us. No matter what. With or without bonds and heats and all that shit.” I brush her hair off her shoulder and pull her closer. “But that being said, I’ll try every magic relic, doctor, temple, witch, and whatever the fuck else you want to try to get my bite on your neck and my seed to take root in your womb. If that’s what you want.” I give her a squeeze, then look around at the group. “So, we find this relic, yeah?”

“I’m in,” Bear says without hesitation. Good man.

“It’s worth looking.” Archer kicks a rock and it skitters across the floor. Seems our beta might need a little lift.Wonder if he’d let me fuck him out of his mood. Orgasms make everything better.

“B-but Roman’s r-right,” Cora says, tears wetting my bare chest. “We should be focusing on a way out.”

“Don’t back out of your own plan now, love.”

Cora looks at each of us in turn and wipes her eyes. There’s that brave hope I know. But when her attention shifts to her professor, her face falls again. Fuck, I want to hurt him for hurting her. If only that wouldn’t hurt her more.

“You don’t have to come with us,” she whispers, looking down, away from Roman’s stare.

A myriad of emotions flash across the professor’s face, his jaw tight with tension. His eyes never leave my little mate as he tries to sort through them. If he doesn’t say something soon, I really might punch him in the face despite knowing Cora wouldn’t approve. Finally, he stands up straighter, a look of determination taking over his features. “I’ll help.”

Roman’s firm tone surprises me. Maybe I won’t have to beat him up after all.

Cora gives him a look of shock tinged with hope.

“We give it three days,” Roman continues, ever the pragmatist. “We have potable water and a food source that seems plentiful, even if snake isn’t the most exciting meal. It won’t hurt to do a little exploring before we try to find a way out in earnest. Who knows, maybe the team will find us and it won’t be an issue. But after three days, we start digging our way out. With or without the necklace.”

There’s no debating his firm tone.He expects us all to follow. Since it seems like a good enough plan, I’ll let him take charge. For now.

His face softens on Cora. “I don’t want you down here too long. It can’t be healthy, and I want—” He stops himself, shifting his weight.

When he doesn’t say anything more, I stand up, pulling Cora with me.

“Okay, then.” I offer a hand to Archer to help him up, but Bear beats me to it. My effort is still rewarded by a shy little smile from Archer. Once we all figure our shit out, I think we’re gonna get along real well.

I rub my hands together, eager to do what I do best. “Let’s get searching.”

44

Seeing the look on Cora’s face, the tears streaking down her cheeks as she sobbed against Jax’s chest, cracked something in me. This new revelation about her makes me feel even worse about so many of my arrogant, preconceived beliefs. I fucking yelled at her to take her heat suppressants when we first got here. How did that reminder of her pain feel to her?

Guilt and shame rest on my shoulders like a heavy weight. I spent so many of our first days here treating her like she was nothing more than her biology, and all that time she was hurting and facing this pain alone.

Fuck, I’ve been such an asshole. Making assumptions without even getting to know her. My biases stemmed from seeing my brother’s downward spiral, not something that happened to me directly. This woman is actuallylivingher trauma on a daily basis.

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