“If you’re not currently buried in this cemetery, then you can’t call me by your brother’s pet name for me,” I say. “What’s so important that you have to keep me in the rain?”
“How did he fucking handle you?” he asks, staring at me as if I’m a puzzle for him to solve.
“As I’m an omega and not a pet, the answer is that I can’t be tamed,” I sigh. Waving my hand impatiently for him to continue, I lean into the misplaced royalty the club insists on calling me. “My relationship with your brother isn’t something I’m going to discuss with you. What do you want?”
Devon growls at me, and guns are drawn as people begin to see who’s speaking to me. It’s nice to have weapons pulled for my safety instead of to threaten me for a change.
“I’m not doing anything!” he yells, annoyed. “It does seem that your ‘little queen’ is a fucking whore though. Ransom is requesting to transfer to your club. He says there’s a claim he needs to settle with her.”
My heart flip flops at his words, and I whisper a silent apology to Wilder and Storm. It seems I manage to fuck thingsup, even when the intent is simply to ensure I won’t freeze to death. Next time, I’ll just make the concession to become a frozen omega.
This doesn’t feel fair to them.
A knife flies in Devon’s direction, and he leans back to avoid it.
“Did he say what the claim is?” Wilder asks. I didn’t hear him come over here, and I decide the bells are definitely happening. Fuck, my blood pressure is so high, I can feel the rushing of my pulse in my ears. “Also, why isn’t he speaking to me instead? Does he have to hide behind his president?”
“He’s currently tying up some loose ends,” Devon explains.
It’s then that I hear the sound of a motorcycle driving away and I can feel tears begin to threaten to fall. It almost feels like when Lore, Wilder, and Storm drove away from me on the highway, but Ransom isn’t my scent match.
“Shit,” I whisper, the word guttural and almost unrecognizable.
“In my experience, running away from your scent match isn’t a good life choice,” Storm says.
“He’s not my scent match,” I say, sucking in a breath. “I’m just not sure what this means. It feels like my heart is being ripped out again.”
Devon studies me before dropping his head back to swallow back a scream.
“You’re one of the most complicated people I’ve ever fucking met,” he complains, his eyes dropping back to me. “How the fuck do you manage to get into these situations?”
“Just lucky, I suppose.”
My voice is raspy and fucked from unspent emotions. I think I may finally be hitting my wall, and Devon’s shoulders drop in defeat as he recognizes it.
“He’s not leaving you,” he finally says. “Ransom went to do something for me. Wilder, do you accept the transfer?”
“Yeah,” Wilder grunts. “I don’t have much of a choice at the moment.”
“I’m—”
“Don’t do that, Marie. I didn’t mean anything by it. If he’s yours, then we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” he says. “I’m not going to fight this transfer, because it won’t do anything but hurt you, which I refuse to do.”
“Marie, you don’t understand anything about this world,” Devon says. “Here’s some unsolicited advice and an invitation. Come to Galesburg and stay at my clubhouse. We have actual houses for families, and I’ll make sure the guys are on their best behavior.”
“So no wild parties where you indiscriminately fuck women?” I snort.
“That’s not far off from the truth, so don’t lie to her,” Storm says carefully.
“That’s only part of what happens in an MC,” Devon groans. “Everything about us seems to scare you. How the fuck are you going to build a life with Storm and Wilder if you’re like this?”
“I already have a big brother, thank you very much,” I say primly. “Even though he’s an asshole, he’s a much better person than you are.”
“Again, you don’t know,” he says, not pretending to feel hurt by my words. “We’re just about the same age. I’m not going to pretend to be any good at this big brother shit, because I have no practice at it. Take a week off, come up to the clubhouse, and really figure out what we’re about. Lore and I grew up in this world. It’s not perfect, but nothing really is.”
Blowing out a breath, I glance at Wilder.
“I have business out that way,” he admits. “It would be nice to have you nearby. I’m not going to sway you either way though.”
