The tension in the room didn’t seem to phase her a bit.
“I’m a werewolf,” Lachlan said, scrubbing a hand over the lengthy stubble on his chin. He didn’t quite have a beard, but it wasn’t just a five o’clock shadow either. Whatever it was, it fit him well. “I have the ability to move the rocks, dirt, stuff like that,” he finished his introduction with a cheeky smile right at me.
“It’s nice to meet you,” I said, my cheeks heating up from everyone’s attention being focused on me.
“We’ll be seeing a lot of each other since this nerd is my best friend.” Lachlan walked over to Kian and smacked his back.
Kian jumped before he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and shot a warning glare Lachlan’s way. “Lachlan can come on a bit strong at times, but we’ve been friends since we were kids.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to switch rooms with me?” Lachlan asked Kian in a whine.
“I like it here, thanks,” he muttered.
“Come on, please,” Lachlan begged, pouting his bottom lip out. “Thorn’s great, but our other two roommatessuck.”
“Who are you rooming with?” Trixie asked.
Thorn’s scowl deepened, and he pulled me tighter to his chest. “A nasty wolf shifter.”
“You meantwonasty wolf shifters,” Lachlan corrected him, accompanied by a click of his tongue and an eye roll. “A bratty she-wolf named Mirella and one stuck-up bastard named Grayson.”
Pain exploded in my chest at the mere mention of his name as the bond flared up, reminding me of the rejection.
I sucked in a sharp breath and clung harder onto Thorn, who ran a soothing hand up and down my spine.
Rejection wasn’t new to me. After being shoved into a village where all but one shifter wanted nothing to do with me, one guy’s rejection shouldn't hurt so much. But the bond wouldn’t let me forget the pain that followed.
“What caused you so much pain?” Damien’s voice was strained, and the temperature in the room skyrocketed again. “I’ll cause them ten times the pain they inflicted on you before killing them.”
Shadows of black loomed over him as two black horns grew from his head, along with a thick black tail that sprouted from behind him.
“How do you know she's in pain?” Thorn dropped his body temp so low that his exposed skin had frost coating it, which cooled me down before the heat could affect me.
I moved closer, pressing my cheek against the cold of his chest as the pain started to fade.
“He’s a shadow demon,” Kian squeaked the words out. “He feeds on pain, and pretty much any negative emotion.”
“Who did it?” Damien growled, and I caught sight of his sharpened teeth. He was in full demon form.
My stomach fluttered at the sight. Thorn had been angry on my behalf, but nobody else cared enough to. I’d known Damien for only a few minutes, and he seemed to care more about me than people I’d known almost my entire life.
“It’s none of your business,” Thorn said, not in a taunting way like I’d thought he’d do, but in a factual manner.
Damien’s eyes searched mine before he growled, the throaty sound rumbling through the room, and he turned and vanished into the shadows.
My heart squeezed. I didn’t like that he left. Something about it didn’t sit right with me, but I didn’t understand why. I’d just met him.
Thorn turned to me with a questioning stare. “Are you okay?”
I nodded. He could read my thoughts, so I didn’t bother with words. He knew the hesitancy I felt, and he knew about my curiosity with Damien, along with the other two men in the room with us.
“There’s too much testosterone in here.” Trixie walked my way and steered me out of the room and toward the door. “Let’s go have a girls’ lunch.”
The next thing I knew, Trixie had guided us both out of the suite and toward the stairs.
“Okay, why did I feel so much sexual tension between you and literally every single male in that room?” She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively as we started down the stairs.
Heat raced up the back of my neck and I stumbled down a couple of stairs before gripping the handrail and steadying myself. “There was not!”
