“There are many ways to hurt an omega,” I remind him. All of them, really. “I’d say we ticked a few off the list tonight.”
And it’s not something I’m proud of. Even now, the bond pushes me to go back.
She should be with us.
Not up there. With her useless, asshole father, in that crappy place where the electricity fails as often as it works.
Even her nest is here. As if we always knew she was going to be ours, even as our world went to shit.
The wood of the chair snaps beneath my hands.
“What do you suggest?” Oscar leans back in his chair, studying me.
“We could… lean into the bond, I guess. Use it to coax answers out of her.” But as I say it, my mouth twists. It feels manipulative. Wrong. As if we’re taking her vulnerabilities and using them as a weapon.
It’s the opposite of what a mate should do.
But what can we do?
We can’t move forward until we know what happened. We can’t choose her until we know, not without ripping our pack apart.
“Use the bark,” Theo says suddenly. He’s leaning forward. “If she is our mate, she’s susceptible to it. It’s the quickest way, and she won’t be able to lie her way out of it.”
“Absolutely not.” Jake slashes his hand through the air. “That’s a hard fucking pass for me. That’s not what the bark is for, and you damn well know it.”
I study Theo carefully. “You’d do that to her?”
Because if he would, he’s not the alpha I thought he was. It would make him more like his father than any of us thought.
More like…Brett.
A tic appears in his jaw. “Fine. No bark, then. But I want answers.”
“So don’t threaten her, and maybe you’ll get them. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar,” Jake points out. “You use the bark on her, and you’re going to spend the rest of your life miserable, Theo.”
“I’m already miserable.” He pushes back from the table. “If everyone is done discussing Kennedy’s precious feelings while my brother lays dead in the cold ground, I’m going to bed.”
“Theo,” Oscar says softly. “This isn’t about that, and you know it.”
But Theo waves his hand, already turning his back on us to leave. “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”
He turns back before reaching the door. “But Kennedy Traylor is not my mate. Not as far as I’m concerned.”
“Be careful.” Theo jerks at my words. “Some things you can’t take back.”
And something tells me we need to be very, very careful.
“Believe me,” he says heavily. “I know.”
Two years ago - Kennedy
Istare out of the window as Rick pulls up outside the high school. It’s tiny. “I’m definitely going to fuck up my finals.”
“You’ll catch up.” He taps his fingers against the wheel. “You always do. And don’t fuckin’ swear. The teachers won’t like it.”
I roll my eyes, still examining the school. Maybe I’ll keep up, although I doubt they offer any extra credit here. But I managed it at my last school. And the one before that. And the one before that. Frowning, I turn to him. “This is the last one, right? Until I graduate?”
I need some stability. I’m never going to get into college unless we manage to stay in one place for longer than a few months.
