Addie (Pack of Misfits #1) - Raven Kennedy Page 0,34
entire motel is pretty run down, but I can’t fault Hugo for taking me here. The other hotels in town are always filled with human tourists, and just in case something were to go wrong with me, well, it’s better that it happen in a place like this away from eyes that have enough money to ask questions. The people who stay in places like this know enough to look the other way. It’s a side effect of down-on-your-luck survival.
“I’m this way,” I tell Mario, feeling slightly nervous as he walks me. My mate bond is also giving me angry twinges deep in my chest at being with a male that isn’t my mate. I scratch the spot, urging it to go away.
“What are you doing here, anyway?” I ask. “I thought you lived in town.”
“Oh. Umm…”
I glance over at him, my curiosity piquing, but before he can answer, we round the corner of the building, and something suddenly knocks against my throat and my body is slammed hard into the wall.
The back of my head cracks against the hard stucco, making me see stars. When I blink away the fuzziness, I see Mario and another guy in front of me. Mario has his forearm pressed against my windpipe and an ugly gleam in his eye. Okay, so he’s definitely not a cutie patootie who’s too nice for me, then. I read that one totally wrong.
I try to knee him in his groin, but the other guy kicks my kneecap before I can, sending sparks of pain through me, and Mario shoves his hips against mine to stop me from being able to move again. He loosens his hold on my throat just enough for me to take in a breath, and I gulp down oxygen as quickly as I can, trying to breathe through the pain. I try to scream to draw attention too, but Mario shoves his hand over my mouth before I can get enough sound out.
“Aderyn Locke,” the other guy sneers.
My wide eyes move over to the voice, and with a jolt, I recognize him instantly. Drag, one of the shifters from Pack Rockhead, and one of my biggest childhood tormentors.
He grabs both of my wrists and wrenches them painfully to the side. He’s huge—big enough to compare to Hugo, but where Hugo is naturally brawny and strong, Drag just looks like he’s had a case of too many beers. He’s bald, and the top of his head shines like a bowling ball. I watch as his pupils immediately dilate from the heatwave pheromones I’m still giving off. They’re not nearly as strong right now while my heat is in limbo, but it’s only a matter of time before it gets stronger again. I definitely do not want to be around Drag when that happens.
“So, you’re the bitch that got our guys arrested,” Drag says, making me frown in confusion. “Should’ve fuckin’ known.”
Mario nods. “Yep, I made sure she was the right bank teller. It’s her.”
I try to curse him out, but his sweaty palm is still covering my mouth.
Drag chuckles darkly. “Course it was you,” he says to me. “You always were a little cunt.”
Anger, embarrassment, and indignation swirls inside of me. So, Mario singled me out at the gamer club because of what happened at the bank robbery, and not because he liked me? Well, that’s just…disappointing. Talk about a blow to the ego. And apparently, he’s working for Pack Rockhead. My ex-pack and all around nemesis. Awesome.
Mario didn’t just happen to be here at the motel. He must’ve tracked me somehow and approached me as soon as he saw I was alone, and then lured me out, distracting me enough that I didn’t sense Drag before I was attacked.
“You cost us a lot of money,” Drag sneers. “And you got our humans arrested.”
Well, that’s interesting. I’ve never heard of Pack Rockhead hiring humans to do work for them before. Hugo will need to know about this. But if I have any hope of telling him, then I need to get away from Drag and Mario.
Luckily, when I joined Pack Aberrant, Hugo made it mandatory to train in self-defense. Even though it was difficult and I gave my fair share of grumbles and complaints, I’m thankful that he did it. As a scrawny teenage girl who felt like she didn’t belong, self-defense training was how I first bonded to Hugo and a few other of my packmates.