Knox? Who the hell was Knox?
“Shut up,” I heard Matthias grunt. Wait, was Matthias actually Knox? What kind of con was this?
The conversation continued, and each word made my blood run colder.
“You know everyone would have a fucking field day if they knew this. You can’t risk your life and our pack for human pussy, dude!”
Human pussy? HUMAN PUSSY? That’s what I was reduced to?
Someone growled, actually growled, and then Matthias/Knox’s voice: “She was attacked, it was my fault, okay? I couldn’t just leave her!”
I gasped, unable to stop myself. Pack? Human girl? Attacked because of him? They were talking about me. The beast attack had been his fault? And what the fuck was this pack business?
The room went completely silent.
The doorknob turned slowly, and I didn’t have time to run before it opened. A handsome man stood there, maybe mid-twenties, with black hair and green eyes. His bone structure was similar to Matthias’s, almost familiar.
“Um,” he said, looking puzzled, “can we help y-?”
He stopped mid-sentence, his nostrils flaring as he took a deep breath. His eyes went huge as they tracked over me, and I saw the exact moment he recognized... what? My scent? The marks barely hidden by my jacket?
“Fuck,” he cursed and slammed the door in my face.
What the hell?
I heard low, urgent whispers from inside, then the door flew open again. The same man grabbed my arm and yanked me inside before I could protest.
“Hey!” I yelped, trying to pull away. “What the fuck-”
He covered my mouth with his hand from behind, and suddenly I was facing three men while the fourth held me. Two of them were doing that same weird sniffing thing. Matthias or Knox or whoever the hell he was looked furious.
The man holding me was the one who’d answered the door. In front of me stood a man with dark blond hair who looked built for violence, another with red hair covered in tattoos, and Matthias himself. All of them were staring at me with expressions ranging from shock to calculation to amusement.
“Well, hello,” I said once green-eyes released my mouth, trying for bravado despite being severely outnumbered. My hand went to my pocket where my knife was.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Matthias demanded, and yeah, he was definitely furious. “Didn’t you see the note?”
“What note?” I asked, genuinely confused.
His jaw tightened. “The note I left. On the kitchen table.”
“There was no note.” My voice came out flat. “No note, no number, no ‘thanks for the sex,’ nothing. You just left. I came to figure out if you’re a fucking creep or something!”
“That’s why you followed me to my HOTEL ROOM?” His voice rose. “Where I could do anything to you? What the fuck is that logic?!”
“You already kind of did everything to me,” I fired back, anger overriding self-preservation. “Besides, I have a knife. And pepper spray.”
The redhead snorted. “Feisty. I like her.”
“You need to leave,” Matthias said coldly, his face completely different from the man who’d worshipped my body hours ago. “Now.”
“Not before you explain why you were the reason I was attacked. And what did you mean ‘human girl’?”
“Well, if she doesn’t have a good ear,” the redhead said, lifting his eyebrows with clear amusement. He was the one who’d asked where the fuck Matthias had been.
Knox glared at him with enough venom to drop a lesser man.
“All yours, Knox,” the blond one said. He was the voice that had reduced me to ‘human pussy.’ Asshole. “We’ll be in the hallway.”
