Page 64 of Into the Fire: Before
Seeing them there felt like a reward for being brave enough to step outside the apartment, fordaringto continue on with my life even though my pulse was shallow and my omega begged me for the safety of home.
Computerswerestupid.
Ugly and stupid.
Why the hell did our entire world revolve around these ugly, stupid things?
“Sonuvabiiiitch,” I muttered as I struggled to get the design program to read my mind and do what I wanted it to do.
Lin chuckled from behind his own laptop. “I’m going to tell her you said that,” he said as he typed a few words and clicked his mouse.
I eyed him over the top of my laptop. Jennie had given me free rein to create a digital version of my design idea forconsideration(as she’d insisted four times) for more store merch. So I’d, of course, downloaded the software I’d seen recommended for digital art. I hadn’t known then that one needed a damn doctorate to work the damn thing.
Eager for a distraction from my frustration, I leaned my chin on my palm to the side of my computer. “I don’t know anything about your family. Any of your families, actually.”
He’d been working at home for the most part since the break-in, which meant I got to witness him with his Work Glasses on. One thing to make a damsel feel less awful about being a damsel? Hot alphas in wire-rimmed glasses.
Lin never paused his work, typing and scrolling and skimming on his computer. His posture didn’t change. But I had the sense that he was happy I was engaging. The slightest wave of smooth blackberry and honey that filtered through the room.
“My home pack still lives out in Fort Matamir,” he said. “My mom, beta, and my three dads—two alphas and a beta.”
“Only child?”
“Two sisters, Xia and Yaling. Both betas. One kid for each dad, essentially. My mom was made in China, born in Matamir, as she’s fond of saying. My bio dad is French Canadian.”
I closed my computer, folded my arms on top of it, and rested my chin on my arms. “What do they do?”
He mirrored me, which for some reason absolutely tickled me to see this normally posh alpha hunched over and staring at me from his folded arms. “Mom’s a middle school principal. My dad works in banking. And my pack dads, Nicholas and Luca, own a photography studio.”
“Was your mom your principal?”
“Luckily, no,” he said with a smile. “She didn’t go back to work till my youngest sister started school, so I was in high school by then.”
I hummed, smiling. “Small favors. Bet your mom would’ve been harder on you than any other students.”
“Without a doubt,” Lin agreed. “Of course, I was an exemplary student and teacher’s pet, so it wouldn’t have mattered.”
“Pppssh,yeah, right,” I said.
“I was!”
Standing up and heading for the kitchen, I called out over my shoulder, “I’m going to call your mom one of these days and get the real dirt on you.”
Lin laughed, sitting up and leaning back in his chair. “The girls werealwaysbigger trouble-makers than me. Oldest child syndrome—I was the behaved one.” He squinted at me, where I stood next to the toaster oven. “What’re you doing?”
“Making fish sticks.” I closed the door and set the temperature.
His head tilted adorably to the side like a pup who’d heard a new sound for the first time, then his eyes went to the clock on the wall. “It’s 9:20 in the morning.”
“They’re crispy and salty and delicious,” I replied before lifting myself to sit on the counter, waiting for my breakfast. “Just like hash browns. If we can eathash brownsfor breakfast, why can’t we eat fish sticks?”
“You know what, you’re right,” Lin said as he stood to join me in the kitchen area. He dropped a quick kiss at my temple before leaning against the island across from me.
“You sound close to your family,” I said after a moment, returning to the previous conversation. “Why’d you move away?”
Lin didn’t answer immediately. His hands were in his pockets, thumbs hooked to the outside, and his head dropped with a sigh as he thought.
“You know Caine and I go way back?” he finally said, looking up. I nodded. He’d told us as much our first night meeting. “We were apart for some time after high school. And when we reconnected, he needed a fresh start. Brooks and I were happy to try out somewhere new, and we found Farendale. Not so far from home we can’t ever see the family, but far enough that Caine got the distance he needed.”
