Page 41 of A Pack of Mistletoe
Harlan moves first, crouching down to eye level. He gently urges Logan aside, then takes my face in both of his large, warm hands.
“You are more than your ability to bear pups, Starlight,” he says quietly but with fierce conviction. “Any man who looks at you and only sees someone to have children is blind. Understand?”
The others nod solemnly.
A single tear escapes. Harlan leans forward and kisses it away. I close my eyes, memorizing the feel of his lips on my skin.
“Scent or no scent, Rosie. Beta or omega,” Kai says, voice thick with emotion. “I’ve always known I wanted you. That’s not changing.”
I turn toward him. The honesty in his eyes steals my breath.
“I want you,” he says again, “no matter what comes.”
My heart trips, then soars. “Are—are you sure?”
“Since we were seven,” he says, lips twitching, “when you sucker-punched my brother for dropping a frog down your shirt.”
A shaky laugh escapes me between hiccups and tears.
“I want to be yours,” I tell him softly, because it’s the only truth that matters.
His smile could light the room.
“Candy,” Evander asks gently, “how long were you on those meds?”
“Two years. ,” I confess. “Since I escaped from my parents.”
The wordescapedlands like a thunderclap.
“What do you mean, escaped?” Harlan’s voice is calm, but his eyes are molten with barely contained rage.
I take a deep breath. It’s a lot, on top of everything, but it’s time.
I turn to Kai. “Remember the Christmas party? Two years ago?”
He frowns. “I came to see you. You were there?”
“I was,” I whisper. “I saw you outside on the terrace. You didn’t notice me, but I scented you—roasted chestnuts. It was the first time I’d ever scented anyone. It overwhelmed me. I got dizzy and thought I was sick. I left before you could see me. I designated that night.The doctor said it was a scent sensitive designation trigger. That I was always an omega but suppressed it somehow. But when I found my mate,” our eyes meet and his are wide, “I couldn’t suppress it anymore.”
“I—” Kai’s voice cracks. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t know,” I whisper. “Not really. Not until the doctor explained it today. But even if I had known, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you.”
“Why?”
“Because my mother found me first. She scented me before I could even leave the terrace. She’s an omega too. She knew instantly. I tried to run, but they locked me in the basement guest suite.”
The memory makes my chest tighten painfully. The smell of bleach, the locked door, the guards. I force myself to breathe through the panic the way Logan taught me.
“They wanted to sell me to the Blackbear Pack. My brother bribed one of the guards and got me out weeks later.”
Tears stream freely now. Kai pulls me fully into his lap, and I bury my face in his shoulder. I sob until my body gives out, the sound echoing through the small house.
Harlan rubs soothing lines up and down my back until my crying fades into hiccups.
When I finally look up, every alpha’s face mirrors the devastation in my own heart.
“I’ll kill them,” Evander growls—sweet, sunny Evander.
