Page 20 of Shades of Scars

“I don’t need your protection. I just need you to leave me the fuck alone. Do you understand me? I cannot be what you want me to be. I rejec-”

“No!” All four of us shout in perfect unison, cutting her off before she can say the word that’ll surely damn us all. Lark and Apollo are now on their feet with me, but Caito has remained seated, though he looks about two seconds away from hurling himself across the table at her. Everything is spiraling out of control and I can’t fucking handle it.

An angry fire is burning in the depths of her beautiful, dark hazel eyes, but I can see the other emotions she’s trying to hide behind the cracks in her careful, stony facade. I can see the regret and agony and turmoil. Fuck, I can even feel it myself. I know exactly what she is feeling. Know it as intimately as I know my own demons and struggles

“Don’t.” I warn in a much calmer tone than I’m currently feeling. Her attention shifts focus to me, and I make sure to let all of my anger bleed out of my eyes when I look back at her. I allow myself to open up, and let her get a glimpse into the man I am behind my own facade. “Don’t make that decision for all of us. You don’t get to decide you are unworthy of us because of the demons that haunt your past. We get to choose if we want you, even though you might feel you’re already broken.”

My words may seem harsh, but I am desperate to get my point across to her. Her lips quiver while she looks back at me, tears glistening in her eyes. I can see her cracking, little by little. I know it’s not wise to push her like this. It could very well lead to our ruin, but I have to fucking try. I can’t just let her slip through my fingers. I’ve been waiting a fucking lifetime for my omega. So have my pack brothers.

We’re all in agreement at least in this.

“You can run away from this all you want, Dream Girl, but I’m here to stay. Wherever you go, I will follow. And I’ll kill any motherfucker that gets in my way.” Lark speaks up then, drawing her teary-eyed gaze away from me. Another crack stands out in stark relief, and she shudders.

“I was all in the moment your scent hit my nose. Wren’s right. You don’t get to take the choice to love you away from me. Your demons are my demons now, love.” Apollo’s deep tone carries out across the kitchen with conviction, and I watch her sway in her seat with the impact of his words against the gradually crumbling walls encasing her heart. I can see that steely resolve of hers wavering with each of our truths spoken like decrees of law.

“Your secrets will one day be mine,mo chroí. The others will have to kill me before I let them take away my vengeance against the walking dead man responsible for scaring this perfect skin of yours.” Caito finally leans back in his chair, some of the aggression leaking out of him as we all watch her lose the battle against us.

“You don’t understand. They will hurt you. I can’t…” She trails off, a single tear finally slipping free from the corner of her eye, and it fucking breaks something inside of me. Caito’s wrong. He’ll have to get through me before I let him draw first blood on whoever instilled such fear in our perfect little omega.

“In time, you will learn that there’s nothing we won’t do to ensure your safety and happiness, Sweetheart. I don’t need a scent match to tell me I’d gladly give everything to make you mine. Most think Caito falls the hardest, but that’s a lie. You aremine. Nothing and no one will get in my way when it’s time to claim what’s mine.” Caito snorts at my declaration, but he doesn’t interrupt me while I swear my allegiance to my perfect fucking omega.

Call us crazy, but none of us are going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Fate—the fickle bitch—has finally given us the omega we’ve all been yearning for, and none of us are going to fuck it up. I’ll gladly spend a lifetime more proving that she is worthy of me. Ofus.

Her face falls into her hands then and she starts to cry. Her entire body begins to shake with the force of her sobs. I want to wrap her up in my arms and hold her tight, but she’s injured, and I’m not sure she’d want that. She needs space to work through all of these wild emotions.

My pack brothers are on the same page.

Dinner goes cold while she cries. Ten minutes go by before she finally lifts her face to peer around at all of us. Her cheeks and nose are cherry red, and her eyes are puffy from all the shed tears.

When she finally speaks, the sorrow is still heavy in her voice, but she finds humor in this situation, anyway. “Gods, I’ve let your dinner get cold.” She hiccups on a sob, as if she really is devastated by this announcement.

Lark’s the one to soothe her worries. “Don’t worry about it, Dream Girl. These guys are used to eating cold food. Our lives are very busy.” He assures her, and she blinks over at him with her lips parted like she’s stunned.

“There’s so much I don’t know about any of you…” She mutters under her breath, reaching for her water glass so shecan finish the rest of it. I settle back in my seat, Lark and Apollo following suit before the both of them start in on their food. She watches them eat, but neither of them complain as they finish their plates in record time. I barely even notice the crunch of glass beneath my—thankfully—booted feet.

When her gaze bounces back and forth between me and Caito, we finally pick up our forks, if only to appease her. She fiddles with the ends of her hair with the fingers on her good arm until we’re also done with our plates.

Eventually, she blows out a breath, and we all zero in on her. It’s clear she has something she needs to say. “I can’t… tell you about them. N-not yet. Maybe not ever. There are things that I can’t give you. There is a reason they have left me alone all this time. If they find out I’ve met my scent matched alphas, they’ll come for me.”

She starts off so unsure, but by the end, there’s a stony conviction back in her tone.

“It doesn’t matter, Sweetheart. They are never going to lay another hand on you again against your will.” I lean back in my chair, wishing for the rest of my whiskey now that some of the tension has died down.

“I personally hope they come for you.” Caito shrugs, and Apollo growls over at him like he wishes he could rip his spine from his body.

“Not fucking helpful, asshole.” He mutters as he drums charcoal stained fingers against the table top.

Caito shrugs, having heard him anyway. “Let them come for her. I’ll fucking gut them of their entrails and smear them all over the streets of this godforsaken city. A message to the entire world that no one fucks with Pack Madden’s omega and gets away with it.” He makes the threat sound so posh and refined with his lilting accent.

Scarlett chokes on a shocked gasp, but I’m not sure if it’s from the threat itself or the way Caito bares his teeth in a snarl that barely resembles a smile. “Who even are you guys?” She mutters this under her breath, but we hear her, regardless.

“We’re the fucking Kings of Devils, Sweetheart. Better get used to it.”

12

Scarlett

“Do all four of you really need to be in here for this?” Kars, the beta doctor the guys insisted I see instead of my primary care doctor, openly scowls at the four hunks of pure alpha that’s squeezed into the small exam room with me. Caito looks at the poor man like he’d like to remove his arms from his body and beat him to death with them.

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