Page 36 of Cost of Courting

She stares up at me. “You don’t fight fair.”

“I know, but I missed you.”

She drops her head, biting her lip. “On one condition.”

“Anything.”

“Stop trying to make it how it was. It’s never going to be like that again.”

I watch her stalk into the bathroom and turn back to Edric and Kingston with a wide grin.

“Really?” Edric asks. “Isn’t it too soon? You’re pushing her too hard.”

“Oh, yeah, it’s fast. I’m not passing this up.”

Bailey is watching from the bedroom doorway. “She’s going to kill all of you before she touches you.”

“Naw, she’s just cranky. She’ll forgive us,” Kingston says and dishes up the food he’s bought.

“Do you have a name?”

Kingston pauses and meets my eye. It’s like he’s a different alpha. One who is hard. A killer. This is who we are beneath our human masks.

“I do.”

“Excellent. Let's enjoy breakfast, then. Sit down, Bailey.”

I don’t give him an opportunity to refuse. He walks stiffly over, fighting the bark but unable to.

When Selene comes out, I pass her a plate. She walks while she eats, her eyes roving over every detail in our home. The sight of it is so familiar.

Bailey eats in sullen silence.

Edric and Kingston chat and ask the other two questions, but I watch. I watch how Bailey watches her. I see how she looks at us and him.

And I decide what the future is going to look like. An hour later, I sneak out of the house and go somewhere I won’t be overheard.

“Your son is fine, but he’s pissed off a lot of people here. And he knows me and my pack by name.”

On the other end of the line, I hear a deep rumble from an alpha I deeply respect and admire.

“Can you help him? Is it going to be a problem?”

I hesitate over the answer. “We can,” I assure him. “We can still guarantee his safety.”

“Call me if you have any problems.”

I hang up and turn back to face the house.

We have so many problems we’re getting buried under them, but it’s nothing we can’t handle.

Chapter nine

Selene

The bruises take awhile to heal, weeks of having them try to gain my favour, but I am stone. I heal fast, but he did me over real good. The Dread Pack hovers. They bring me food; they invade my house. When I come home from work, they are sitting on the porch watching. When I get up in the afternoon, they are laughing with Luna in my kitchen.

Their scents drive me wild. I feel like I’m under siege.

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