Page 31 of Dodging Bullets

I launched off of Llew’s lap and straight at Max. You could tell he was military-trained, because he caught me easily, his reflexes ensuring he quickly plucked me out of the air and into his arms.

When Rio grumbled about it being his idea too, I reached across and pulled him into the hug. This was what happiness felt like. I might not have chosen them purposefully, but I wouldn’t change them for the world. The people at the Homestead might have believed that being an Omega was Melize’s curse, but right now, it felt like she’d given me a gift.

I was going to hold onto it tightly with both hands.

Seventeen

Llew

Being inside the car was making me feel claustrophobic. My Alpha snarled and whined grumpily, but I held onto control. It helped that they’d put Polly right beside me, her small hand wrapped in mine, her happiness beating down the bond between us, pushing back the panic. She’d looked over at me with worried eyes once, but I’d given her a tight smile. Then she’d cuddled into my side, wrapping her body as far around me as she could while remaining buckled in.

It also helped that August had been convinced to take the day off from work, and he was on her other side, filling the cab with his warm, sweet scent, and I could feel its calming effects on my limbs.

“How long since you’ve been to the zoo?” Polly asked me, her excitement contagious.

I squeezed her fingers gently. “Not since I was a boy on a school trip. Though I was with Rio and Maxie then, too.”

“Max tried to climb in with the kangaroos, so we got sent back to the bus before we even got to the lions,” Rio grumbled.

Grinning, Max looked over his shoulder at me. “I still reckon I could have petted it. It was a real chill dude.”

August raised an eyebrow. “You guys have been a Pack that long?”

I tensed beneath Polly’s hand, but she sent another wave of reassurance to me. She’d become accustomed to the bond so quickly. She left it wide open, maybe because no one had taught her to close it, and I wasn’t in a hurry to do so. I loved that I could feel every fleeting emotion. I wanted to know her inside and out.

It was Max who answered. “I met Rio in the third grade, when he was placed with his foster parents down the street from me. We were the same age, so my parents thought we’d enjoy each other’s company. I think his foster parents just wanted to ensure he stayed out of trouble. They were elderly, and honestly, should have given up fostering kids ten years earlier, but I was glad they didn’t. You were one of the last, though, right?”

Rio nodded. “I was more than enough trouble by myself, and instead of making sure I stayed out of trouble, you got me in even more mischief.”

I chuckled, because it was true. Young Max had been wild and adventurous. He had two parents who doted on him, and that adorable face, which made authority figures believe butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth.

Max’s laugh echoed around the cab of the SUV, and it was its own balm. Such a happy, carefree sound that I didn’t hear nearly enough anymore. “Then Llew moved to town in the fifth grade, and we connected in a way that’s hard to explain. Even though none of us had come into our designations yet, we justfit.I was happiest when I was with them, and I like to think they felt the same.”

I remembered the day perfectly. I was this huge kid already—there wasn’t much doubt in people’s minds I would be Alpha. But my dad had been a pacifist, telling me that it was better to solve arguments with empathy and words, rather than fists. Ihad a girly name that some brave, but stupid kids had decided to use to put me in my place on my first day. John Herman had me backed into my locker, taunting me that I had to have a vagina, because what boy was named Ellen? I’d been doing the “turn the other cheek” thing when he swung a punch at the back of my head like a coward.

Rio had crash-tackled him to the floor, Max joining the fray, before I’d even realized what happened. I’d just stood there while these kids, half my size, pounded on John Herman and his friends until teachers broke it up. We’d all been sent to the principal’s office, and then I’d been sent home from school.

When my mom had found out what happened, she’d made an extra large batch of tiddly oggies to share with them. Because while my dad hadn’t approved of violence, my mom wasn’t above some bloody comeuppance, especially when it came to someone hurting me.

“Tiddly oggies?”

I hadn’t realized I was talking out loud. “Little pastries filled with cheese, onions and potatoes. My parents were Welsh.”

Max and Rio both groaned. “Fuck, I loved your mom’s oggies,” Max whined.

Rio snorted. “Pretty sure we were only friends with you for that first month on the off chance your mom sent more of them.” He grinned in the rearview mirror, meeting my eyes. “You grew on us after that.”

The history I had with these men meant more than a broken bond. We were brothers. Closer than brothers. We were three parts to a whole. “We bonded young, and designated within a year of each other. It felt like we were meant to be together, and when Max designated Beta, we moved out of home.”

“The raging testosterone between just the two of you in our teen years was enough to choke a rhino. You needed balance.” He’d always said as much; there hadn’t been any jealousy whenhe hadn’t designated Alpha. Max was just Max. Confident in himself and his place in the world. He’d become our center. The unfortunate recipient for all our overprotectiveness, and later, the glue that held us all together.

I could feel the questions in August’s gaze. How had we gone from that to what we were now?

Maybe that was selfishly something I adored about Polly’s naivety. She couldn’t tell how fucked up we were. She had no touchstone for what a healthy Pack looked like.

But August did, and he knew we’d been irreparably damaged, even if he didn’t know how.

Luckily, I was saved from the possibility of more questions by our arrival at the zoo. Polly bounced in place excitedly. We piled out of the car, and she kept a firm hold on my hand. I didn’t know if I was her security blanket or she was mine, but either way, I had no intention of letting her go. Max went up and bought our tickets, while Rio hovered around August and Polly protectively. I watched the way he eyed both of them.

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