Page 65 of All Packed Up

That didn’t take long.

Derek’s voice cut through her mind easier than the saw had taken care of the lumber.

Her smile slipped a little at the intrusion, but she stretched it back out to keep up appearances.

But that damned inner voice was right, no matter whom it belonged to.

Wendy was running away from a pack of alphas who’d done her wrong, and she’d known them for years! Or at least… some of them.

And what did she know about Tate and Arlo and now Griffith? The alphas who were helping her?

Basically nothing, and she’d only known them a handful of days.

The last thing Wendy wanted to do was get herself into another situation just like the one she was running from. It wasn’t the smartest thing to throw herself at the next alphas that happened to cross her path.

Her gaze flitted to Nic, who was sitting and talking to Tate about a certain corner they’d had trouble connecting.

Nic was safe, he was a beta. There would be no bites, no risk of bonding.

Wendy let her gaze wander, from Arlo, who grinning at whatever Nic was saying. Her attention narrowed to his teeth.

Alphas and their too sweet words and too sharp teeth had gotten her into trouble already. Her fingers danced along the side of her neck, feeling the bumps and ridges of Derek’s bite. It made her shiver, but not in the way bonds were supposed to.

She wiped her hands on the blanket before turning away from the alphas helping her. It was too dangerous, no matter how many sweet words they used or how many simple smiles they offered her. Alphas were dangerous, and Wendy didn’t want to put herself in another equally dangerous situation.

So… that was that.

Ignoring the disappointment in her chest was another story.

“Arlo, you’re short,” Griffith blurted suddenly. Wendy darted her gaze to the alphas in question, noticing Tate was only a bit shorter than Griffith, and Arlo was even shorter than him.

“I’m six-foot, I swear,” Arlo said.

Tate rolled his eyes so hard Wendy wondered how they didn’t get stuck. “Yeah, sure, except I’m six-foot. A couple inches off doesn’t mean you get to round up.”

Arlo glared at his partner. “Listen—”

“I keep telling you if you’d do yoga, you’d grow.”

The alpha’s irritated growl made a smile curl on Wendy’s lips.

“I haven’t grown since high school.”

“Ouch,” Griffith said. “Sorry I brought it up.”

Arlo sighed. “Yeah. I was the tallest for about three weeks. In sophomore year.”

Wendy covered her mouth with her hand, because she didn’t want to accidentally insult Arlo. Poor thing.

“There’s nothing wrong with being short,” Wendy interjected. She arched a brow and dared any of them to argue.

They remained silent like smart men.

By the time her jaw cracked on a second yawn, the alphas retreated in the name of sleep, and Wendy finally lay in bed, doing her best to push her dark thoughts from her mind.

“Ohhhh my god,” she moaned as the mattress cushioned her back. Stretching her legs out, she rolled over in the blanket and felt every muscle flex.

When she unburied herself, an amused-looking Nic stared down at her from where he sat on the bed.