Page 18 of Truth or Pack

When my voice faded to a whisper, I dropped the pillow, grabbed my plate, and plopped myself on the window seat to look at the stars coming out at full force now.

I took my first bite. Someone was an excellent cook. It was the perfect blend of spices, creamy, acidic, and cheesy. My eyes rolled back and I stopped holding back. After a disappointing lunch I didn’t stop until my stomach was practically bursting; I was so full and my plate was empty.

The only thing that could make it better would be something sweet.

As if they were my own personal demons, another knock sounded before a note was passed under the door.

Curiosity always won out. I sat the plate aside and walked over to pick it up. The script was blocky and messy, but the words had me rolling my eyes.

Look, we know we fucked up. But we’re stuck together for now and Holt makes amazing cookies. Come down for a game I think we all know well.

Truth or Dare.

Are you brave enough, omega?

I dare you to join us.

My jaw dropped at the direct challenge. When pleading didn’t work, I guess they turned petty. Or at least Ash did.

This wasn’t the beta’s doing.

One of the traditions for every start of term at the university was this huge Truth or Dare game. Those brave enough broadcasted their answers on Craven Chronicles, the school’s social media site.

Everyone participated, no exceptions. If you didn’t, even the faculty would goad you until you did.

That was how my first semester I ended up doing shot roulette. Thank fuck I was the one who got water, not vodka.

Others ended up doing far crazier things. There were videos that stretched far and wide among the campus. Confessions, dangerous dares, no one was really safe. There were also more than a few ambulance trips.

It was a crazy suggestion, but for some reason I felt myself rocking toward the door as if my body was trying to convince me to go.

Maybe it was nostalgia, or the prospect of a redo, that had me changing into a new outfit and moving toward the door.

I wasn’t dressed to impress tonight in an off the shoulder sweatshirt and comfortable leggings, but it was just cozy and cute enough to feel like I wasn’t trying too hard.

Let the games begin.

Every part of me wanted to run up those stairs, throw Taryn over my shoulder and bring her back to the table to eat.

Rejection wasn't something I handled well.

Ash gave me the ‘you better not’ look and I knew that he was right. Rash was not what we needed right now. If we were going to get our mate to talk to us, my temper had to chill.

"Why is she making this so difficult?" I muttered as I set the table with a sigh. My alpha was riding my instincts hard and it was exhausting. I was in way over my head.

"Well, we can be assholes," Ash countered. “Even more-so back then. She has every right to be hurt and from the sounds of it, our friend group tortured her through college. I can’t even blame her for being so angry. She’s not being difficult.”

I let out a resigned sigh. “I know that.”

“No buts, you know that and there’s nothing else to it. We just keep trying,” he said. At least one of her alphas wasn’t a hot-head.

"True, but we did something nice and she didn't even give us a chance," I reminded him. Fuck, I sounded like a jerk just saying that out loud. We weren’t entitled to her acceptance, butI never expected finding our mate to go like this and it was wrecking me from the inside, out.

"We were never on the receiving end of all that drama in college. So, we don't really know how much she was hurt and tortured. Those bitches in school were downright vicious," Ash said with a sigh. “We just didn’t pay attention because we were safe. We were entitled dicks and now we have to make up for it.”

"I'm going to take her a plate and see if I can get her to change her mind about coming down," Mathias piped in.

"We all heard that her stomach was rumbling, she does need to eat," I told him, my alpha calming a bit now that I knew she’d get food.

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