Open,I mentally urged the door.Please want me,I mentally urged my unseen Alphas.Please let this go well,I begged the universe.
My mind kept racing, prayer after prayer sent out to anyone who had ears.
When the door finally started swinging inward, my heartbeat stuttered.
All I saw were outlines at first, the light at their backs spilling out to war with the light outside. One by one, they stepped onto the porch, coming into stark relief.
The air thickened around me, pressing against the material encasing my body. I stopped moving, rooting to the ground. I blinked up at the men, my scent matches, and the clear visor barring me from the outside made me angry—as if it wasn’t clear at all and it was keeping me from seeing the details of these men. The nurse and tech had to each take my elbow, guiding me forward, or else I might have become a permanent fixture in DemonX’s yard.
Every inch nearer helped me focus on a new detail.
Auburn hair glinting bronze.
Thick, warm-hued lips.
Startling blue eyes.
Silver streaking dark locks.
Black inked across biceps.
Jagged scars peeking out from hidden places.
So tall.
So many muscles.
So…angry looking.
My breath hitched as thrill tainted by anxiety twisted my gut.Would they welcome me, or chew me alive?My pulse pounded. Maybe Iwasa little scared.
We stopped at the bottom of the steps. The tech started talking. I heard my name spoken, but I couldn’t focus on the rest of his words. He mounted the risers, holding out the tablet. The man with shaggy brown hair took it.
“Lucy. What a fucking fragile name,” he commented dryly as he signed the screen.
I zoned out, feeling like spoiled meat on a supermarket shelf.
The other Alphas didn’t comment. They just signed, one by one, accepting their package.Package, that word echoed in my brain. I shook my head a little, coming down to Earth.
“—so it should be in your email,” the nurse was saying, “from my supervisor. Lucy needs to follow the acclimation process, or she’ll have long-term issues living here. Once the suit light turns green, she can take that off and begin the daily medicines Eros provided. That regiment will last three months, and then she’ll just need a rescue inhaler and nutritional support.”
“Sounds like she should have stayed in Seattle.” The Alpha with bottle black hair shrugged. My gaze traveled down his face, past his sharp jaw, down to the pecs pressing against his cotton tee.
Xander. That was Xander.
I focused, trying to remember the videos and photographs that I’d poured over at Eros. Kane, incredibly dark eyes, light hair, the most tattoos. Nitro, the redhead, hazel eyes, a manic look in his eyes. Fallon, storm grey eyes and silver streaks through naturally black hair. Asher, the electric blue eyes, shaggy ash brown hair, crooked smile.
The Alphas stayed quiet for a while. They listened, or acted like they were listening, as the nurse and tech rattled off more information.
Finally, when the Eros employees ran out of words, Xander’s voice came to life once more.
“Now that you’ve told us everything we already knew,” he spoke slowly, gaze darkening with each syllable, “I’ll remind you, and by all means remind your superiors,” he said the word superiors with venom, “that this is a trial period only.”
I was aware that DemonX had a contract clause that required them to at least meet and live with potential matches for a while. Hearing him say it, though, confirmed my worst fear—this pack didn’t want me.
Other things were said. Polite goodbyes followed. The tech handed the man with auburn hair my medicine bag, then he walked back to the vehicle and grabbed my suitcase, rolling it to the edge of the house steps. The nurse placed the second suit on a lower step when none of the men seemed to want to take it from her, then she patted my shoulder in the way people do when they pity you but can’t afford to get involved. The male tech just left without a backward glance, not a single kind, parting gesture. I didn’t move as I heard the van doors open and shut. I didn’t move as I heard the whine of the gate and the crunch of gravel under tires.
I blinked up at the men, frozen in place for a second time.
