She shrugs again, trying to brush it off. “It’s not important. It was just some random guy.”
“Tansy,” I say gently, not letting it go. “Tell me.”
She hesitates, then frowns like she’s pulling the memory apart. “He was young. I think in his twenties.” Her eyes flicker up, then they widen slightly. “Zack,” she says, like she just remembered. “His name was Zack.”
The name burns itself into my head. My body is wound tight with the urge to hunt him down and make him regret ever putting his hands on her. It takes everything I have not to let that rage bleed into my face.
“What did he look like?” I ask, keeping my voice cool and collected.
Tansy looks at me like I just asked the most ridiculous question. “Why? Are you going to beat him up?”
I let out an easy laugh, not wanting to scare her again. “I want to contact the Morder. Warn them.”
Tansy’s eyes go wide, and she nods like that makes sense. “I don’t really remember what he looked like.” Her eyes drift over the counter in front of her. “Bleach blond hair.” She frowns like she’s trying to picture him. “And a scar over one eye.” She lifts her hand, touching the side of her temple. “It went through his eyebrow. I think.” Herhand falls, and she lets out a heavy sigh. “I don’t know. Everything was kind of a blur.”
I smile at her, so proud that she remembered so much, especially considering how drugged she was. “That’s okay," I say, before glancing down at her breakfast. “Would you like some granola to go with that?”
Tansy blinks, caught off guard. “Um. Yes, please.” She picks up her bowl, then stops. She slowly looks up at me, those big brown eyes sparkling, “Do you want to sit with me?”
My smile grows. “Of course.”
And for the first time since I walked into the pantry, her smile reaches her eyes.
Breakfast
Tansy
I finishmy last bite of yogurt, then set the bowl aside, feeling very full and a little giddy.This alpha is dangerously charming.He’s spent the last hour telling me all about his pack, how they all met and fell in love.
It’s been a surprisingly sweet story so far. Not an aggressive meeting of three alphas, but more like a meet-cute at a coffee shop.
“Me, Cass, and Grason have been together ever since,” Warren says, reaching into the nearly empty bag of granola and fishing out the last cluster. He pops it into his mouth like it’s candy.
I watch him chew, amused, fully aware I’ve just witnessed him eat almost the entire bag by himself.
“The three of us have been together for eighteen years now,” he says. “Two years with Beck.”
“Eighteen years?” I blink at him. “That’s a long time fora pack of alphas to be together without a beta or an omega to regulate them.”
He nods, a small smile tugging at his mouth, like he’s replaying old memories. “I think it helped that Cass was thirty when we got together. I was twenty-three, but Grason was nineteen.” He lets out a quick laugh. “That boy was wild back in the day.”
“Grason was wild?” I smile widely, trying to picture the three of them, young and untamed. “He seems so calm,” I say, disbelief clear in my voice. “And…kind of nerdy.”
Warren’s mouth twitches. “Nowhe is.”
I wait, eyebrows raised, and he chuckles under his breath. “Gray didn’t really settle until Beck joined our pack,” he says. “I think Beck drained most of Grason’s excess energy.”
“That makes sense,” I say slowly, picturing them together. Grason’s quiet strength. Beck’s sharp attention. “He really cares about him.”
“He does,” Warren agrees without hesitation. “We all do. Beck changed our dynamic in the best way.” The way he says it, so sure, makes my chest warm again.
“My parents don’t have a beta,” I say quietly. “My fathers didn’t like the idea of sharing their omega with someone they deemed…” I pause, not wanting to tell him what my parents really think of betas. “They don’t have a beta in their pack,” I finish, deciding that’s the best way to put it.
Warren’s brows lift. “That’s unusual,” he says after a moment. He rests his forearms on the table, hands folding together. “Every pack I know wouldn’t be able to function without a beta.”
I watch his hands as he talks. They’re so big and strong.
“You need all three dynamics to make it work,” Warrengoes on. “An alpha leads, an omega anchors, but a beta holds everyone together.”
