Addie (Pack of Misfits #1) - Raven Kennedy Page 0,50

and watches me for a moment before turning back to Jetta. He takes a menacing step forward, and when she tries to back up, Joseph holds her in place. “You are here on my pack land as a guest. Which means you are beholden to my word and law. You will not cause harm to my pack. Is that understood?”

She grinds her jaw in stubborn anger, but bites out, “Understood.”

Hugo looks over to Mac. “Thanks, Mac.”

Mac nods and walks back to his car. “I wrote it up in the report that she fled. Don’t know if Rockhead already caught her scent. If they did, it could bring them back here to you,” he says with caution.

“I’ll deal with Rockhead. Thanks for your help.”

Mac raises a hand in a wave before getting in his car and pulling away.

“Igor, you stay here. I want your eyes peeled in case Rockhead comes sniffing around. And have the enforcers do a perimeter mark. We can try to cover up her scent at our gate, at least.”

Igor nods and looks around at the enforcers. “Everyone back to their posts,” he says, starting to issue out orders.

“Stinger and Joseph, you escort her,” Hugo says. “Addie, with me. We’ll talk in my office.”

12

Addie

I’m sitting with Jetta inside Hugo’s office alone. Shortly after we got to the building not far from the front gate, he took a phone call. Joseph and Stinger stayed outside the door keeping watch.

“You still fidget when you’re nervous, I see.”

My eyes snap up to Jetta. We’re sitting in matching leather chairs, except she’s lounging back in hers, looking as cool as cucumber, whereas my back is ramrod straight and I keep picking at a tear in the leather armrest. I force myself to stop as I smile sheepishly. “Yeah. I guess I do.”

“I remember you biting your nails down to the nubs.”

I pull back my fingers to look at my short nails. “Still do that, too,” I laugh.

“You left your old pack.”

She says it like a statement, but I can hear the questions behind it.

I nod. “Alpha Rourn issued me my fight or flight orders on the morning of my fifteenth birthday.”

Jetta curses and shakes her head. “I hated that guy.”

I hum in agreement. “We had that in common.”

“So you ended up here?”

“Yep,” I nod. “Hugo took me in. He’s a good alpha,” I tell her. “Nothing like Rourn or the others.”

“What pack is this?”

“Aberrant.”

This catches her by surprise, and her arched brows rise up. “Aberrant? As in the Pack of Misfits?”

I laugh at the nickname we’ve been given. “Yep, that’s the one.”

“And…” She leans in and sniffs me. “You’re mated?”

I grimace slightly. “Kind of. It’s..plicated.”

I can see the wheels turning behind her eyes. But before she can voice any more questions, the door opens and Hugo comes striding inside. He closes the door after him and moves to sit behind his large wooden desk. Behind him is a shelf filled with all sorts of hand-carved wooden figurines of a mishmash of different animals.

“Okay. I’m listening,” he says, sitting down.

When Jetta says nothing, I clear my throat. “I met Jetta when I was fourteen. She was living with a band of travelling rogues.”

“Family?” he asks her.

Jetta shakes her head. “Hell no. Those assholes took me from a human orphanage when I was one. Someone sniffed me out I guess. Perfect for them, because they preferred to grow their numbers with unattached shifters that they could mold and use.”

“Use for what?” Hugo asks.

“Fighting for Troupe Delirium.”

My stomach roiled, remembering the first time her rogue troupe had visited Rockhead. Their small group travelled to different packs all over the country and to other magical groups too, as a means of entertainment.

Watching rogues fight each other, sometimes in human form and sometimes in their animal form, was as barbaric as it sounded. But her troupe master had a flair for the dramatic. His shows always had an edge of theatrics. He didn’t just train them to mindlessly fight, he trained them to be dancers, acrobats, magicians—anything to set his troupe above the rest. He even made his fighters take potions before they went out. Sometimes the potions would be hallucinogenic, sometimes they’d just make it impossible for them to shift. Whatever it was, it always made for a more interesting show.

Her troupe master was smart, too—he only took in rogues who had nowhere else to go, and then promised them riches if they just signed a contract and agreed to fight for a certain number of