Page 94 of Pack Rivals: Part Two
“All of you?”
“All of us.”
The giddiness overtakes me and I have to concentrate on my breathing. When I think I can speak again, I whisper, “Permanently?” My heart thumps with anticipation. I remember what Axel had told me in the car.
No more Pack York.
No more Pack Boston.
He’s taken back his old surname.
And so has Angel.
“Maybe,” Angel says. “It depends.”
“On what?”
He pauses, looking directly into my eyes, as five other pairs of intense alpha eyes gaze my way too. “You.”
“M-m-me?”
“You,” Axel repeats and once again I’m struck by how alike they are. How did I not spot that they were brothers? “Did you ever wonder why you found it so hard to pick between our two packs, Bea?”
I glance towards Molly.
Why did I find it so hard? Because I’m indecisive. Greedy. Freaking horny.
No, it was because I felt this electric uncontrollable pull towards all six of these men and the thought of choosing one half and not the other had felt like asking me to rip my soul in two.
I jolt at the realization, my eyes widening as I stare back at the two brothers sitting side by side.
Deep, deep in my heart I’d always harbored this wish, this longing, this desire, to have them all, to never have to make that choice.
“You don’t have to choose,” Connor says as if reading my mind.
The walls around my heart crumble that much more. They’d do that? They’d do that for me?
“No,” I say, shaking my head, “I’m flattered, I really am, but you can’t do this just because of me. I learned that the hard way with Karl. You shouldn’t compromise on who you are for another person.”
“You’re misunderstanding us, sweetheart,” Axel says. “You couldn’t choose between us because you saw something the rest of us have been stubbornly trying to ignore and deny for the last ten years. We were always meant to be a pack, Bea, one whole pack. All of us together. All seven of us.”
“Seven?” I whisper.
“Me, Angel, Connor, Silver, Nate, Hardy and you, sweetheart, you.”
I bite my lip. My head and my heart spinning so fast I have to grip the table again.
“Do you understand what we’re saying?” Silver says. “Do you understand what we’re asking?”
“Uh-huh,” I manage to say.
“You feel it, little bird,” Nate tells me. “I know you do.”
“You should see the nest,” Molly whispers to me.
“No,” I say, “no, not yet.”
I need to think about this. And I know if I see the nest, and it’s as wonderful as Molly insists it is, I’ll never be able to refuse these men. And though they may have smashed through the careful walls I’ve erected around my heart, that doesn’t fix all the damage and the hurt.
