right again; I was a good fighter, but I wasn’t invincible. Eventually I’d end up gang raped or dead.
I sighed and pushed myself up, rubbing some warmth back into my arms. I still had no blankets and although it was hot and stuffy most of the time, my arms and bare stomach got cold enough at night, I regretted giving Charlie my leather jacket.
I groaned as Shannon sashayed towards me. I might have helped her, but she was Connor’s fuck buddy—or she had been, and I hated her for it. No matter how much he pissed me off with his overbearing attitude, I still didn’t want to think about her wrapped around him. I sighed. “What do you want?”
She stopped and planted a hand firmly on one hip. Her vest top was white and clean and she had on a pair of tight jeans and trainers. “Now, now, runt, I’ve been asked to babysit you until you go to Connor to be marked.”
I rolled my eyes. “He’s such a dick, sometimes.”
Shannon smirked. “He is. But you could do worse than joining his pack.”
I raised my brows. “If that’s the case, why aren’t you marked by him? “
She studied her nails and shrugged her toned shoulders. “I don’t want just his pack mark on my skin. Join the pack if you want, but Connor is mine, so back the fuck off, then you and me will get along just fine.” She leaned in a little, but I was too tired to find her attitude intimidating. Instead, I slowly smirked, remembering the time I’d smashed my fist into her face on our last day of school. I’d never found out why she’d not shown any signs of that attack, though I’d still ended up with some geeky teacher sending me to the headmistress’s office. I shook off that distant memory and stared at Shannon. Surely, she hadn’t got herself chucked in here so she could be near him? Had she? That would be really desperate. And insane. I opened my mouth to ask, but she spoke first.
“I want the ultimate mark of power and that’s his claiming mark. He’s a Prime. Do you have any idea how rare that is? If I have his mark, I can’t be forced to become some pack whore. Any other pack mark means I could be available to anyone who fancies a fuck.”
I quirked a brow at her. “Hey, I get it. It’s why I don’t want to be forced into a pack, but I don’t know, it might be easier to defend against a pack member than the crazies in gen pop.” I frowned. “But you’re Connor’s…” I struggled to find a less crass term than I wanted to use. “...friend.” Or you were, I added silently to myself. “Surely he wouldn’t allow anything like that to happen to you in his pack?” The same was probably true for me.
She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth. “Well, you sure think it might happen to you.”
“Yeah, well, not really, but I don’t really know him anymore, not like you do.” It was a justification of my confused thoughts, but really I was scared to give Connor any more power over my heart than he already had. It didn’t even seem real that he was alive. Overwhelming relief made me blink hard and fast to clear my vision, and breathe slowly to relieve the tightness in my chest. It had been hitting me in waves since yesterday.
“How long have you been here?”
“Jeez, I’m not sure, every day blurs into one beautiful dream here.” Sarcasm dripped from Shannon’s words.
I huffed a chuckle. “It does, so how long are you willing to wait for Connor to mark you as his?” I kept my voice curious.
She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter now.”
“Sure, it does.” And it did, at least to me. I hated that she had gotten to be with him, even though I hadn’t decided quite what to do with my own feelings about him. Even if he was true to his word and it was over between them, seeing them together wasn’t going to help me sort out my head, or my heart.
“No, runt, it doesn’t matter, because now you’re here, no matter what I threaten, he only has eyes for you.” She curled her lips into a pouty smile and fluffed her hair. “Unless I can persuade him the view is still sweeter this way. Now come on, your bodyguard is waiting for you.” She flounced back