"Okay, we'll start," Aiden spoke up. "We thought the bond would dissolve over time, but it seems to be intact. We could feel you from time to time."
I winced. "Sorry. I tried to keep it locked down so you wouldn't."
"It's fine," Finn said, scooting as close as possible on his end of the sofa he shared with Aiden. "We just wanted to know what happened to make you hurt that badly."
Shrugging, I tugged on a loose thread from the t-shirt. "It doesn't matter."
"It does matter. We sent you away to find a new pack. One that could take care of you." Mace stated.
"No, you threw me away because I was a burden. You got successful and didn't need an omega who dragged down your image." I still didn't look up at them, but I knew they were staring at me.
"That's . . . no. Liora, we made a mistake, but we made it trying to do the best thing for you," Aiden said. He stood up and offered me a soft blanket.
"I can't believe that. You rejected me. You hurt me." I finally dragged my head up and looked each of them in the eyes. "And I did not find a better pack."
"Wait, no pack?" Aiden tucked the blanket around me. I wanted to tear it away and throw it at him, but it was the first comfort I'd had in nearly two years.
"Oh, there was a pack," my voice sounded bitter even to me. "They were worse than you three. Far, far worse."
"We were a good pack in the beginning, weren't we?" Finn pleaded.
"Can I just get some sleep?" I asked, not wanting to discuss this with them. "I'll leave in the morning. I'll do better with keeping the bond shut down."
"No, you can't just sleep after we've traveled over six hours to get you!" Mace scowled. "What happened? Why is your nose broken?"
"Because my pack leader broke it. I ran away and they caught me. Broke my nose, hit me. I got away and hid in a truck until I got far away." I threw up my hands. "There, that's the story. Like I said, I will be out of your hair in the morning."
"You can't just leave," Finn protested. "You can barely even walk."
"I'll be better in the morning." At least, I hoped that was true.
"It's already morning," he pointed out. "We have a traveling doctor coming to check you out."
"No, that's not a good idea. Not necessary." Panic flashed through me at the thought of a male doctor seeing me naked.
Frustration filled Mace's expression and he stood up, pacing. "Liora. We want to apologize for how we ended things. It was wrong. It was cruel. We thought it was the best thing at the time, though, for everyone involved. I've already apologized for my part in it, but I think we're all very sorry."
"I never thought it was a great idea," Finn muttered.
"I'm sorry, Liora." Aiden dropped to his knees in front of me. "Don't run off, please. Let the doctor check you out, fix you up, and get your feet back under you. Stay."
"And what will Andrea think of that?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Andrea?" He frowned. "Why would she care?"
"She's living here, right? That was the plan, get rid of me, move her in."
They all fell silent, then Finn swore.
"No, baby, that was never the plan. Andrea wanted to be with us, but we were never interested."
"Right." I shook my head. "You forget I could feel your love and admiration for her when you called her up on that stage. I foolishly thought it was for me, but no, it was for some blond beta bitch."
"She helped us immensely with the project," Mace said. "Of course, we admired her. But we were never interested in her as anything more than a business partner."
"Right. So you just stayed out all night with her the night of the opening to what? Work?"
"Actually, yes." Aiden grabbed my hand in his and didn't let me pull away. "We never slept with her. We were working on finishing up a project that one of our lab assistants screwed up. It had to be done by the next day."
