What the fuck is wrong with me? Kissing this man, this beta, is the last thing I should be thinking about, considering he’s one of the men who threw me in this cage.
I have every reason to despise him. To distrust him, but…
You are safe.His words reverberate in my head, and something tells me I can trust him.
“Are you all right, Auryn?” he asks, his voice low, smooth. I don’t miss the way his gaze flashes to my mouth before he glances up at me.
“The fuck?” Emmett growls, but he doesn’t move from his spot. The strange spell is broken as I nod.
“Yes,” I say. “Just…get it over with. Please.”
Olly nods as he grabs his needle, and I tense.
“Eyes on me,” he says. Emmett is right behind him now, catching my attention.
I defy his gaze and stare directly at Olly. That seems to piss him off, and pissing him off makes me feel good.
It shouldn’t, but I can’t help that it does.
“Tell me your favorite color,” he says, that smooth, warm voice like velvet on my skin.
“Green,” I say without thinking. “But likedarkgreen. Green like the plants in the forest.”
Forest. I hadn’t spent much time there, not like I wished I could have. Freedom barely lasted, and the thought makes me frown.
“Blue,” Olly says as I feel a prick. “Dark blue, like the ocean.”
I glance at Emmett who looks like he’s in pain, and stupidly I ask him.
“What about you, brute?”
The relief in his gaze is not lost on me when he says, “Orange.”
Olly scoffs. “All alphas love the colors of fire. Because all they can think about is—”
“Heat.” I finish his sentence.
Emmett grunts. “It’s also the color of the fuckingsun.You know, the thing that keeps us alive?”
“The sun is actuallywhite, Emmett. It only appears yellow or orange due to atmospheric scattering that filters out blue and violet light.”
“Fucking nerd,” Emmett scoffs, and then I feel the temporary relief as the pinching stops, but it’s replaced soon enough by another pinch. I swallow, keeping my eyes trained on them.
Olly and Emmett.
“Favorite food?” Olly asks, that smooth voice making me feel more relaxed.
Suddenly, my stomach plummets.
“I don’t know,” I say honestly.
“You have to know what you like to eat,” Emmett says.
I shake my head.
“I love bacon,” Emmett says gruffly. “Salty, crispy, greasy fucking bacon.”
“You would,” Olly bites, and I laugh again. Olly smiles at me.
