“All right. Ava, you know the house better than I do. We had it cleaned, and everything is ready for you. But if you need anything at all, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
“Thank you, Emma,” Bryce says politely. “Do you know when and where we’re supposed to meet?”
“Garrett was supposed to be here, but he got detained by something. I believe he,” she pauses and smiles. “Never mind. He’s here now.”
“That tracks. I was surprised you were here without him,” Ava says with a smirk.
The front door opens, and I feel the alpha before I actually see him. Even if I hadn’t known he was an alpha, I would know from the power he exudes. He closes the door, and his eyes instantly land on his mate. I watch in fascination as his face softens for just a moment. Emma walks over to him, and he wraps an armaround her and pulls her close. Then his eyes sharpen as he looks up at the rest of us. I stiffen when his eyes land on me. He assesses me but doesn’t say anything. When he turns back, he puts his hand out to Bryce. “Welcome.”
“Thanks, Garrett.”
“When do you want to meet?”
His eyes scan our group. “We’ll let you get settled. We will meet tonight in the main pack house. We can eat dinner first.”
“Sounds good,” Bryce says easily.
Garrett turns to me, and I meet his gaze. “You won’t be able to come inside the pack house.” His eyes are hard, and they don’t soften.
“I understand,” I tell him, not wanting to be the sole focus of his predatory attention. There’s something about him that is downright terrifying.
“I do realize that I requested your presence and then am asking you not to be present in the dining hall,” he continues. “But that’s the way it has to be. When it’s time to meet, we will do so here in this home. Only those who need to know have been told that you’re here, and we’d like to keep it that way both for our safety and yours.”
His words make my face burn, and I wish I could disappear. But I stand tall and don’t look away from him. “I think she gets it,” Hunter says in a low voice next to me.
Garrett turns his sharp gaze on Hunter, and his assessing eyes miss nothing. “You know, I think we’re all good,” Ava says, drawing Garrett’s attention back to her. “I don’t think we’ll be hungry anyway; we’ll be ready for your meeting when you are.”
I can feel the tension in the room, and I don’t miss Bryce stepping slightly closer to Ava as he meets Garrett’s gaze head-on. Emma puts her hand on Garrett’s arm. “How about we just bring food here and eat?”
“That would be good,” Bryce says, settling it for our group.
“Okay. We’ll be back in a few hours,” Emma says with a gentle smile. When she turns back to her mate, I don’t miss the way his eyes drop to her stomach for just a moment. Maybe I imagine the way his jaw tightens, but I don’t think so.
As soon as they leave, Ava turns to me, but I really don’t want to talk about it. “Which room’s mine?” I ask, keeping my voice and face carefully blank.
“Let’s go see,” Bryce says easily.
Bryce and Ava take the biggest room, leaving Hunter and me the smaller ones. Thankfully, they leave me alone after that. I close the door and feel like I can finally take a full breath. I drop onto the bed and wish not for the first time that I wasn’t what I am. I capture that thought before it can go any further; it’s dangerous to go down that path. I spent too many years on that path; it did nothing but leave me depressed and hopeless. I glance down at my wrist. I never acted on it, but I thought about it so many times. Only knowing that I would heal fast kept me from trying to harm myself. I stand up and pace the room, feeling restless. I wish I could go for a run, but that’s not going to happen while we’re here.I really hope we’re not here long.
I kill time in my room for a few hours. There’s a knock at my door, and I really hope it’s not Ava. I don’t want to see the sympathy in her eyes right now. I debate ignoring it, but she’ll just keep knocking. I open the door. “You’re not Ava.”
Hunter smirks. “Thank goodness for that.”
When he doesn’t say anything, I drop my hand to my waist. “Was there something you needed?”
He reaches into the pocket of his pants, pulls out something, and hands it to me. I blink at the blood bag and feel my face drain of color. My eyes meet his. “I forgot.” I can’t believe I forgot to bring blood bags.
He shrugs. “I didn’t.” I swallow because that could have been so bad. A day, maybe two or even more, without blood wouldhave been so bad. He ducks his head the slightest bit, so he can meet my gaze. “Hey, it’s not a big deal.”
“Itisa big deal,” I whisper-shout because I know Bryce will be able to hear our conversation, and the last thing I need is another alpha in my space. “I could have put everyone here in this pack at risk.”
“No, you wouldn’t have. We would have figured it out.”
I stare at him. “We would have figured it out?! I don’t think they keep blood bags on hand here!” My voice is still a whisper, but it’s as loud as it can be and still be considered a whisper.
“It’s not something we have to worry about because I brought the blood bags.”
I don’t meet his gaze. “Did you put them in the fridge?”
