“Yes, and you did it perfectly.”
I snorted, finally opening my eyes to take in his satisfied expression.
“Is it really time to get up?” I asked with a pout. Usually, I didn’t mind mornings, but today, I didn’t want to get out of bed.
“Henry wants to get on the road early in case we run into any trouble at the border.”
I stiffened at his words. “Does he think there will be problems?”
“He’s probably just being over-cautious,” Bear said, but a tightness in his jaw made me frown.
Maybe I’d been naïve to not worry about the border crossing, but the laws forbidding omegas from leaving Luna province had been lifted months ago.
I rolled over to grab my phone and check the time, but was distracted by multiple missed calls from my uncles.
“That’s weird.” I sorted through multiple texts demanding I call them back immediately.
“What is it?” Bear asked.
“My uncles are trying to get in touch.”
Bear growled. “What do they want?”
I shrugged. “No idea.” I bit my lip. “Well, maybe they figured out I left.”
“You didn’t tell them?”
“I didn’t see why I should. They don’t have any authority over me.”
Bear kissed my shoulder. “Are you going to call them back?”
“I kind of feel like I should?”
“Can I be here for it?” he asked. “You don’t have to have it on speaker if you don’t want to, but I don’t want you to talk with them alone.”
“That’s fine,” I said, leaning into his touch. My uncles weren’t dangerous, just assholes, but I didn’t mind my alpha being protective of me.
I sat up so my back was against the headboard and dialed Alex’s number before I could second-guess myself.
“Westin,” he said the second he answered. “Where the fuck are you?”
“Why?” I asked, taken aback by the fury in his voice.
“Because I need to fucking know!” he screamed.
I jumped, dropping my phone on the bed. It was so unlike Alex to raise his voice. His approach had always been frozen fury. Bear’s chest was vibrating beside me with a growl, and I pressed my hand to it to try and keep him quiet.
“I decided to take a trip,” I hedged. There was no reason for them to know exactly where I was.
“We did not give you fucking permission to go anywhere. You need to get back here. Don and Clarence are waiting to take you out on a date.”
“I never agreed to that,” I said, raising my voice.
“You don’t have a fucking choice,” Alex roared. “You will do what we say.”
I started trembling in response to his alpha rage. Bear grabbed the phone from me, and I thought he was going to yell at my uncle, but instead, he ended the call.
“Fucking bastard,” he snarled at the black phone screen. Then he looked at me and swore. “Come here. You’re okay.”
