Addie (Pack of Misfits #1) - Raven Kennedy Page 0,30
or alone to ride it out.”
“I didn’t know it was gonna hit me so fast,” I say, feeling embarrassment color my cheeks.
“And now you have three assholes for mates,” he points out, jerking a thumb over his shoulder at them.
The guys are smart enough not to comment.
“Yeah. Hindsight.”
He sighs. “I can’t bring you back to the compound with you still riding your wave. The males won’t be able to control themselves. Plus, the Rockhead Pack representatives are coming to meet with me today about our recent issues. I won’t risk them seeing or scenting you.”
My head whips up to look at him and fear grabs me. “Shit. They’re coming to our compound?”
He nods gravely, and I can see the sympathy in his eyes. Hugo is like a father to me. He’s the only person I’ve ever told about my childhood and my family, so he knows the implications of me being in the proximity of anyone from Pack Rockhead.
All three of the guys must pick up on my fear, because they go still. Damn mate bond. “What’s going on, Addie?” Penn asks.
I ignore him and chew on my fingernail. “Okay. I’ll stay at a motel tonight.”
“I don’t know, Addie. I don’t like you staying alone outside of pack land,” Hugo says with a frown.
I open my mouth to tell him that I’ll be fine, but Penn butts in. “No, you should stay here, with us. Your mates.”
I curl my lip in disgust and shift around Hugo to see him. “Oh, now you want to call me your mate? What happened to severing the bond?”
Hugo rears back and whirls around to face them again. “Wait…let me get this straight,” he says, his voice low and threatening as he curls his lip at them. “The three of you peanut pricks took advantage of my pack member during her heatwave, answered her mate-call, and then threatened to sever the bond as soon as she got out of your bed? Is that what you’re fuckin’ telling me?”
Lafe swallows and Penn grows visibly paler. Even Herrick manages to look contrite.
“Get in the car, kid,” Hugo tells me in a deathly quiet tone, his dark gaze still locked on the guys. “I need to have a little chat with these boys, here.”
I turn away to follow my alpha’s instructions. Just as I open the door to his Jeep, I hear Hugo’s furious voice. “So, you’re a trio of hotshot preds, thinking you can look down on my girl because you’ve got canines and hairy dicks?”
I don’t hear the rest, because I close the door behind me after I slide into the Jeep. I stare straight ahead and try to push down the awful feeling of separation that’s already brimming inside of me.
I’m barely ten feet away, but my animal is going nuts. The bond may be brand new, but they’re my mates, so being apart from them is physically painful. Newly bonded shifters aren’t supposed to separate. Aside from that, I’m still riding my heatwave. Since I’ve been sated all night and for part of the morning, I’ll get a reprieve, but that could last anywhere from a couple of hours, to a couple of days. There’s no way of knowing, and then it will hit me all over again. Hopefully, it won’t be as strong as my first wave was.
A minute later, Hugo stalks to the Jeep, gets in, and peels out onto the street. I don’t look out the window for a last glance at the guys. I just keep my face pointed straight forward, avoiding them completely.
It’s not until the house is out of sight that Hugo speaks up. “How bad is it, kid?”
I didn’t even realize I was curling over onto myself, trying to stave off the separation pain that’s stabbing into my chest. I force myself to sit back, breathing out between my teeth. “I’m fine.”
He snorts. “Like hell you are. If they weren’t such assholes, I’d tell you to stay with them.”
“One thing about being a misfit. You know when you’re not wanted.”
He says nothing, but he tightens his grip on the steering wheel. I change the subject, hoping to distract myself from the pain. “So. Pack Rockhead. Do you think they’ll try anything?”
“Don’t know. They won’t outright challenge us, though. It’s not their style. Not even when you defected and joined us. They prefer to do that shady, sneaky shit. Still, I don’t want you anywhere near them. It’s bad enough that you see them in town sometimes.”