“Oh, well then you don’t have to talk if it hurts! The last thing I’d want is for you to be in pain. But are you sure you’re fine? It—it looks like all these hurt,” she says, gesturing to all my injuries.
My shoulders shrug.
They’re really not that bad.
I’ve had far worse, and no one else cared.
It’s strange how much she seems to care about me. I like it. A lot.
“We should get going,” Rowan murmurs softly.
Mirabelle pouts before nodding, stepping away from me.
A panicked snarl leaves my chest. Are they going to take her away from me again?
She freezes, glancing between me and Rowan.
“It’s okay, big guy,” she says. “I know it’s probably hard to trust people after what you’ve been through, but we can trust Rowan.”
I shoot a suspicious glare at him, my jaw clenching.
“I’m not going to hurt Mirabelle, I promise,” Rowan says. “And I’ll do my best not to hurt you, if I can help it, but I need you to work with me, okay?”
The silence growing between us is thick.
“Please, Rage?” She asks softly.
I give a reluctant, jerky nod of my head.
The beta doesn’t seem to show any sign he’s going to hurt her.
I still don’t like the way he watches her every move, though. It reminds me of how I look at her.
“Good,” Rowan says with a sigh of relief. “Okay, here’s theplan. I’m asking you to get into the transport cage so I can take you back to the stables. There’s a new dog. He’ll probably introduce himself to you.”
Mira spins on her heel, her hands on her hips.
“Can we just call them the fighters? I don’t like the way everyone calls them dogs. It’s not right.”
Rowan stops in his tracks, blinking down at her.
All the muscles in my body coil up, waiting to strike. If the beta has a single thought of hurting or punishing her, this little truce we have? Gone.
But to my surprise, his expression softens. He reaches up and scratches the back of his neck.
“Yeah, you’re right, Sugar. Sorry ‘bout that. I guess it was just habit.”
“Well, time to get a new habit,” Mirabelle huffs. “Thank you.”
Something like pride warms my chest as I watch the little omega make her demands.
“Well then,” Rowan continues. “You’ll meet the new fighter. Does that all sound good? You gonna give me any trouble during transport?”
I take a beat to watch him for any signs of deception.
When I don’t find any, I shake my head.
“Good,” he breathes out. “I’m going to be your new trainer, too. I don’t want to hurt you to get you to listen to me when that happens, either. It’ll be with the other fighters. You’ve gotta work together with them since you all are training for a group fight.”
