That she'd screwed me over to the point where I had to trade my soulto prevent myself from losing the cafe we'd dreamed about, and going through a level of financial ruin that I could never have escaped from.
It all fucking hurt.
Callum pressed lightly on my knuckle. His cold magic washed over my skin, the feel of it easing my hurt just a little.I doubted he'd used it to calm me on purpose, but it helped anyway.
We followed her to a room filled with couches. Gwen sat down on one with an identical piece of furniture directly across from it, and a pair of armchairs sitting on both sides of those. The seating arrangement formed a large rectangle.
When Jonah strode toward the empty couch, Callum and I followed. My mate sat between me and my best friend.
Though the couch was large, it wasn't quite large enough, so I was squished between Callum and the arm of it. He and Jonah were pressed together just as tightly, neither of them seeming concerned about it.
I rolled my eyes inwardly."Possessive asshole."
"I wear the title with pride."
"What's going on?" Jonah asked Gwen directly. Her gaze was flicking between the three of us, like she couldn't decide who to focus on. I supposed the three of us were probably a lot for her.
Her ex-fiance whose heart she had shattered, who had become an MMA fighter with even more muscle than he'd had before.
The sister she had betrayed, who now ran the largest chain of coffee shops in the city.
And the fae king who was known for ice, torture, and pain.
"You were supposed to come alone," Gwen finally said, looking at Jonah.
I tried not to let the words hurt me, but they did anyway.
Callum's grip on my hand tightened, and the air around us chilled.
"We're a pack. We deal with shit like this together." Jonah wasn't nearly as bothered by her words as he should've been.
He loved her.
He absolutely did.
"A fae can't be part of a pack," Gwen pointed out.
"He's my mate. That makes him pack," I said.
Mixed-breed matings, as they were called, were extremely rare for wolves. But when they did happen, the werewolves adopted the other immortal in as if they really were a part of the pack.
"If you're desperate enough to reach out for help from one of the two people whose lives you fucked up entirely when you became the Alpha, you should be thanking us for bringing Callum," Jonah said calmly.
"He says that as if I'm an accessory,"Callum drawled into my mind.
"You're the gun I'm slinging, remember?"
"I'm still not sure whether to be flattered or offended by that."
I bit lip to hide a grin.
Gwen let out a soft breath and pulled her legs up onto the couch cushions with her. "You can't tell anyone outside this room."
"Alright," Jonah agreed.
I wasn't going to give her my word. She was either going to trust us, or she wouldn't. Either way, I wasn't going to make her any promises. Like he said, she'd fucked me over too thoroughly for that.
"Simon was... abusive." She trailed off for a moment, making real, genuine eye contact with me for the first time in years. "I should've listened to you. You were right, and it was so much worse than I ever realized it could be. Mom and dad don't know, because they loved him. They blame his loss on you because of your mate, now. I'm sorry."
