Page 152 of Bliss & Her Idols

Inside, I’m dying.

Cricket scrambles off Torin’s knee.

“That’s not true, right?” Cricket looks at Torin in despair. “Please, tell me…”

Torin can’t hold Cricket’s gaze, ducking his head. “The most important thing is to save Jin. Maybe it was only a threat, and Mena won’t really do it. I barely know her. Growing up, she was more like an intimidating stranger. She’s almost twenty years older than me. She was always away on business or holed up in her study. I only saw her, when I’d been sent to be disciplined, and even then, it was more common for the twins to punish me.I bet that she couldn’t tell you a single real thing about me. Huh, I wonder if she even knows what color my eyes are.”

“You’re gambling with your life,” I breathe. “You’re just as reckless as Jin is.”

Torin cocks his head, giving a sharp grin. “Why do you think we were drawn to each other? I’m just better at pulling off my rolls of the dice.”

“And if you don’t?” Cricket balls his fists.

“I’ve made my peace with being locked up, if it means saving the Idols. If we get through this, I’ll explain how I’ve been planning to rescue the Idols since I was a kid. I’m happy that I’ve been able to have this time with you. I’ve finally got to experience what a pack should feel like. This Pack Bonds show, however, is as public a way as I could think of to claim all of you. If I am sent to the Alpha Center, then at least you’ll have public backing to free me. Mena won’t be able to quietly get rid of me.”

I rush forward, grabbing Torin’s hand.

The thought of him locked behind the barbed wire of the concrete Alpha Center because of this mission makes my knees almost buckle.

I tighten my hold on his hand like that way he will never be taken from me. “It’d be the biggest campaign you’ve ever seen. Your sister wouldn’t know what hit her.”

“I’d get every Jin fan around the world on side. You’d have a pack fighting for you, along with everyone who is watching this program and who has ever listened to your songs. It would be anarmy.” Cricket’s expression is grim. “You have no idea the power of fans or a hacker like me.”

“Hacker?” Torin questions, although some of the tension has bled from him.

Cricket and I will fight for this man.

Plus, he doesn’t know just how many resources we actually have on our side.

Torin isn’t alone any more. We’re going to show him that.

Cricket exchanges a glance with me.

I nod.

Torin has shared a vulnerable, painful side to himself.

He’s been prepared to give up everything for Jin to be rescued and have a chance to live with Cricket and me.

Isn’t it the purest love to suffer without an expectation to end up with your pack? Torin is a possessive Alpha. It must have been agony, knowing that his endgame was to still end up alone.

How can I not trust him with my secrets now?

“Have you heard of the infamous Knot Crusher?” Cricket’s eyes twinkle with pride.

Torin huffs. “Of course. Who hasn’t? That genius kicks the asses of pretty much every corrupt knothead who I hate. Plus, he’s funny. When that hacker changed Immortal’s album cover, it was…” Torin trails off, narrowing his eyes at Cricket. “Oh, tell me that it’s not you?”

Cricket puffs out his chest, leaning forward to cage Torin on the chair with a swaggering confidence that’s fucking hot. “It’s me.”

It’s easy to forget what a different person Cricket is as soon as he’s talking about the online world, rather than the real one.

Torin stares up at Cricket, crossing his legs hurriedly. “You’re not intending to crushmyknot, are you? CBT may be one of my kinks, but I prefer my balls being squeezed to my knot being crushed.”

“I only go after bad Alphas.” Cricket brushes his lips over Torin’s. The Alpha’s eyelashes flutter. “And you’regood.”

Torin moans like he can’t stop himself.

I file that reaction away.

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