Page 88 of All Packed Up

Nic glanced down at her. “So do you want me to kiss him or not?”

Wendy met his gaze and smirked. “I want you to kiss whoever makes you happy, as long as I can make you happy too.”

Nic squeezed her hand and directed them back the way they came. “So since I shared a little bit… why don’t you tell me about these alphas we’re hiding from?”

Chapter 22

WENDY

She glared at Nic’s back as he stepped in front of her to swipe away a cobweb.

“First of all, how dare you be so open and share so much and knock spiderwebs out of the way before asking for my story.” Now she practically had to tell him. Quid pro quo, or something like that.

Wendy passed under the branch and did a little hop on the other side. Hopefully it would deter any eight-legged friends from tagging along.

“You don’t have to tell me,” he reassured her. “I’m just curious too.”

“It’s okay,” she promised, dragging out the word in a whine. “If I didn’t want to tell you, I wouldn’t.”

“Where’d you meet them?” he asked.

Wendy supposed it was best to start at the beginning. Fine.

“College.”

Nic’s mouth dropped open.

“I know, I know,” she groaned, and pulled her hand from his to wave it in the air. Maybe if she pretended Nic wasn’t even here it would be easier to say it all aloud. “How did I, an omega, pick the one pack that smelled good but had shitty personalities?”

Nic shrugged. “I don’t know a whole lot about omegas, so I can’t help you there.”

Wendy worked up the courage for the bad shit, wringing her hands together as she kept her gaze on her feet.

“I thought I was so lucky,” she announced with a quiet, bitter laugh. “They were the golden boys of campus, you know. Everyone loved them and every omega and beta at the school was trying to get all packed up with them. But they were interested in me.”

She shivered, but it had nothing to do with the cold. “They doted on me until they graduated, and then they swooped in and convinced me it was time to be a pack.”

“What did you graduate with?” Nic asked.

Wendy frowned. It sounded so silly now that she was saying it out loud. Like, why wasn’t this the biggest red flag ever, why had she looked past it? “I… didn’t graduate. They were a few years ahead of me and convinced me if they were going to be the perfect pack, no omega of theirs needed to work. Or go to school.” Wendy shook her head. “I feel so stupid now, knowing who they really are. But every girl I talked to claimed I was the luckiest one in the world. And if everyone on campus wanted to be their mate, surely they were picture perfect alphas, right? I was going to be a graphic designer. I mean, I snuck around behind their backs and practiced what I could. But it’s just a hobby.”

They began an incline just as the sun dipped behind a cloud, casting the wintry dark forest in even more shadows. “They were so nice, Nic. They had me fooled.”

Nic walked closer to her, laid his hand on her lower back. Instead, she reached behind her and grabbed his hand like a lifeline, twining their fingers together. “I had no real reason to say no. I liked hanging out with them on campus, they smelled… okay.” Wendy’s breath shuddered out of her. “When it came time, I just… said yes. It got me out of the apartment with my dad, who was so proud his daughter had found the perfect pack.”

“Damn,” Nic murmured after a bout of silence. “Where is your dad now, if you don’t mind me asking? Why didn’t you go to him?”

She smiled sadly at the ground. “He died last year.”

Effectively leaving her alone with the Sterling Pack… for good. A tiny, small part of her had always hoped her dad would see between the lines.

He never did.

Was dying, taking away her last ray of hope, his revenge for her leaving him alone?

Wendy had been all he’d had left, since her mother died giving birth to her.

Was it selfish to wonder that?