Page 77 of Their Knotty Pack
A growl rips out of Kieran as he shoots to his feet, his own self control apparently reaching its end. Brody, still standing, grabs onto him before he can lunge for the assholes.
"We're leaving, we're leaving," one of them says placatingly. "But we're right, right? I mean, it's only been a few weeks since we saw the two of you outside the heat clinic, so for you to have found a pack so quickly…" he reaches his hand like he's going to grab Bethany's chin, and I don't think. I just react. I'm in front of him in an instant, grabbing the dickhead's wrist, and twisting it to the side, away from my omega.
"Ow! Fuck!" He cries, looking up at me as I tower over him. I have no idea what's in my expression, but he backs away immediately, and I release his wrist when he does.
"I believe you said you were just leaving." I loosen my grip on my dominance, just enough for them to see that I mean business. I can feel Kieran settle behind me, no longer out of his mind with the need to put these alphas in their place. This is my role as Pack Lead. I should have stepped in long before now.
The asshole holds his wrist in his hand as he backs away. "You just assaulted me. I'm a lawyer, you know."
"I was protecting my omegas from alphas harassing them," I correct. "Anyone will see that, especially considering Bethany's kept all the voicemails you've been leaving her." Well, I hope she has. "So unless you want me to arrest you right here and now, you. Will. Leave. Us. Alone." I punctuate each word with a step forward as they all scramble backward, and finally, leave the patio.
Our food, half-eaten on the table, now makes my stomach sour as I look down at the omega in question. "Let's….I'm going to pay and we can go home and talk about this."
The drive home is quiet and uncomfortable. As soon as we get into the house and file into the living room, we take the same seats we had only this afternoon when they asked to court us.
The words are out before anyone else can say anything. "How long have they been harassing you? Why didn't youtellme?"
Miles is silent, his eyes down in his lap. He's hurt, I can tell. She didn't tell him either.
"Iwas going to tell you," Brody says, then winces, "I mean, I only found out on Friday night, and Bethany explained that while this may not be the correct way to deal with it, she was hoping it would just…go away."
He then looks at Bethany questioningly, and she sighs before nodding. "She's asked me to share everything with you guys."
So we listen with clenched fists as Brody recounts everything Bethany told him the other day. From her pack cheating on her by taking Miles on a date, to her and Miles being scent matched.
Kieran and Damien look just as surprised as I'm sure I do.
"I'm still learning to trust you guys," Bethany jumps in, playing with the hem of her shirt. "In my heart, I know that you guys aren't like them, but my brain…I'm conditioned to respond a certain way to things, and I'm working on it."
Rage roars in my chest for my omega, but I can't let her see it. "Even if you didn't come to me as your alpha, you could have come to me as a detective."
"And say what?" She barks a sarcastic laugh. "Please help me, even though you're already swamped at work and my life is otherwise great, these voicemails hurt my feelings so please take time away from your investigation to tend to me?"
My answer is instant. "Yes."
She sits, stunned for a minute, before shaking her head. "You don't mean that. These are silly little voicemails, they aren't hurting me—"
"They aren't silly, they're harassment, and the way you paled when he brought them up tells me that theyarehurting you."
They're hurting her, and it's killing me that I didn't see it. That I didn't realize just how fucked up things were for her before she met Miles. We had put together that she had a pack before, based on her Instagram, but to meet them in person, and see how insufferable they are? How she even has a shell of a personality left is beyond me.
"Look, I'm sorry," Bethany says, looking around the room. "I should have asked for help, or told you guys. But they're just voicemails. Nothing I haven't heard from them before."
"I want to hear them." Miles says quietly, still looking down.
She shakes her head, "No, you don't—"
"If there's anything on there talking about me or my damn mate, then I deserve to know about it, Bethany." I've never heard him speak to her like that before.
"We should probably all hear them, so we know what we're dealing with," I say gently.
Lip wobbling, she pulls up her phone, opens up the cloud app, and looks up at us. "This one is from the day after you guys moved in."
She plays the voicemails, all of them laced with thinly veiled threats. When she gets to one that refers to Miles as her "boy-toy", a growl rips out of him, before he abruptly stands and stomps from the room.
"That's enough, Hunter," Brody says a little harshly, and I nod, turning to Bethany. "Can you please share those with me?"
Swallowing she nods, and after she does, I turn to my pack brothers. "Would you guys mind giving Bethany and I a moment alone?"
