“Come out, come out, Joon,” the alpha taunted softly. “Let's talk.”
I thought about tiptoeing back to my nest and pretending like I was never there. I didn't need his attitude or to listen to some fucking lecture. But… I couldn't deny that I was at least a little curious about what he had to say for himself. My feet moved down the squeaky wooden steps—finding Marcus leaning against the island’s white marble countertop with a mug in hand.
Obviously, I thought to myself with an internalized eyeroll. When did I ever see Marcus anywhere thatwasn'this room or the kitchen?
The alpha towered over me, even after forfeiting a few good inches with his poor posture. His chef jacket was on but left unbuttoned over a basic white T-shirt, reminding me that it wouldn't be long until he was leaving for the day, too.
At least whatever lashing I was in for would be brief.
I stood in the doorway where the beautifully stained hardwood melted into white penny tile with my arms crossed, waiting for him to say whatever he wanted to get off his chest.
Not even I was deluded enough to hope for an apology.
“It's not polite to eavesdrop on people,” the alpha said. He didn't even have the decency to look at me while he was telling me off, his eyes on his phone screen as he spoke, thumb tracking along as he scrolled.
It only pissed me off more, like I was somehow beneath his notice even when he was disciplining me.
“It's also not polite to talk about people when they aren't there,” I shot back, my petulant tone making my nose wrinkle a little.
I'd wanted to sound self-assured and a little annoyed… but somewhere along the way it'd turned into something that sounded an awful lot like whining.
Annoying.
He didn't seem phased, a single shoulder raising in a lazy shrug. “We were talking about pack business.” The clarification was a dig as much as it was anything else, the secondary meaning clear.
And as you aren'tpack, you weren't invited.
Anger filled me, both because he was right—I couldn't bring myself to think aboutwhythat was, much less discuss it—and because Marcus' lack of attention was pushing my buttons in a way that meant I could barely reason with myself.
If Cameo's special talent was being at the center of this pack, Marcus' was pissing me the fuck off.
"I live here," I snapped.
“For now, sure,” Marcus said coolly, his tone pressing against the irritated vein throbbing in my neck. “But you've made it clear you don't want to bond, Joon. We're talking about forever, children, a family. And you obviously don't want that, so?—”
“Says who?” I snapped.
Finally, that got the alpha's attention. He blinked, looking up at me in surprise. “You're telling me that you want to have a kid with us?Right now?”
“Maybe,” I said, my jaw working as my resolve faltered, just a little. “It's not like you've ever tried to talk about it with me. How am I supposed to make a decision that I've never been invited to consider?”
“Let me get this straight.” The alpha left his coffee cup on the island behind him, moving in my direction. I stood nice andtall with my back straight, despite Marcus' best effort to make me cower as he leaned down into my space. Or maybe people leaning away was just what happened when you were taller and nearly as wide as a goddamn fridge. “You'd trust us enough to have a baby with us, but not enough to form a bond?”
“I…” I started, licking my lips as I looked into his mossy eyes, feeling small.
Was I considering it?
Sure, the idea wasn't terrible. I'd always loved children, and it wasn't even that I didn't want some kind of commitment with the pack.
I just… needed to be one hundred percent sure before we bonded. Sure that this was going to be my home forever.
Sure that I wouldn’t have to getanotherugly tattoo to hide my mistakes.
Breaking a bond was agonizing, a fate worse than death. Both in the moments when it broke, the physical pain was enough to blur your vision and steal the breath from your lungs, but in the time after, too. In having to adapt from constant companionship to the overwhelming echo of nothing.
It was the worst thing that could ever happen to someone. And I wouldn't let it happen to me.
Not again.
