away.
I clear my throat, realizing I still haven’t answered Stinger. “Uhh, nothing. I’ve just always called him Rick Dick.”
“Good name for him.”
“I thought so.”
Stinger parks outside a building meant just for the enforcers near the front gate. He turns the car off and looks at me. “Just remember, you’re safe here, and we’ve got your back. Just tell us whatever you can, and we can handle the rest.”
I nod, appreciating his reassurance, and open the door. “Okay.”
Talking about my past and about Sid isn’t exactly something I like doing, but I do it. All of the gathered enforcers and Alpha Hugo listen with patience, asking questions every so often and taking notes. When I’m done, I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.
Hugo walks me out. “You did real good, kid.”
“Thanks,” I reply. “And thank you. For taking me in. For helping me.”
“You don’t need to thank me,” he replies, walking with me to Stinger’s car. “I want you to start thinking about what you wanna do here.”
“What do you mean?”
“Everyone chips in. We have plenty of jobs around the compound if you want to work here, or you can get a job in town. Pick something you like. Or at least something you don’t hate.”
“I’ve never had a job I got to choose because I liked it,” I admit. “Can I think about it and decide?”
“Yep.”
“If I choose to work off the compound, who do I turn my paycheck into?”
He frowns as he opens the door for me. “If you want to help chip in to the pack finances, you’re welcome to do that, but it’s not mandatory.”
I look at him incredulously. “You give people the option?”
“Of course. What I don’t give people the option of is being lazy. Which is why I insist you work, wherever that work may be.”
I respect that. “No problem. I’ll figure it out soon.”
“Good. Oh, and you’ll need to meet with Igor to set up your eight-week self-defense training. That’s also mandatory.”
“Get my ass beat by Igor for eight weeks. Got it.”
Oddly enough, I’m actually looking forward to it.
20
Luca
She’s avoiding me.
It’s been a couple of days since her heatwave ended, and every time I see Reese around, she quickly darts away and heads in the other direction. It’s frustrating the shit out of me.
Have a lovely day—that’s what she said to me after I had the best sex of my life. Like it was some forgettable Sunday morning brunch. And then, after she left me in the cabin like her ass was on fire, I saw her barely an hour later, in Stinger’s car, laughing with him.
I saw red. I wanted to shift right then, chase down the bastard, and gouge his mouth so he wouldn’t be able to ever smile at her again.
The intensity of my jealousy caught me off guard.
Ever since I had to suppress my own mate-call that wanted to answer hers, my animal has sulked inside of me, pissy and wound up tight. He’s been pushing me to go find her, to be near her, but she’s quick to run away and be evasive, just like her rat.
I wanted to sneak into her room at night and force her to talk to me. I even tried to last night, but her roommate caught me hovering outside the door. I don’t know much about that female, but she seems like the type you don’t want to fuck with. All she had to do was open the door and arch a brow at me, and I turned around and left really quick.
I’m so frustrated at the whole situation I’m not sure what to do. I know that it was her hormones pushing her towards me, but I’d hoped that after her wave finally broke, we could’ve started hanging out and getting to know each other better. No such luck. Mousey just keeps hiding from me.
A smirk curls over my lips as I remember her adorable indignation every time I called her that. But then my smirk morphs when I start thinking about her other looks. Like the way she looked when I drove my cock in and out of her, or when I thrusted my tongue into her mouth, or— Nope. I can’t think about all of that, because then I’ll just be hard for hours on end, and my animal will start pushing me to go find her again.
With a sigh, I get dressed and pull open my bedroom door...and stop dead in my tracks.
Toby, Lulu, Regina,