Page 70 of Starting a New Life

“Okay. Give it to me. How screwed are we?”

Chapter 15

Nix

I’d overreacted. Embarrassed myself.

Gray hadn’t accused me of anything that wasn’t true. I had stolen. I’d done it despite knowing it was wrong because I’d been too afraid of what might happen if I revealed myself to the local pack. Because I’d been too afraid of ending up in chains.

Which was a reasonable assumption, my inner voice supplied. He has to realize you didn’t think you had another choice.

I grabbed my hair and pulled, the pain blinding, but also drowning out the thoughts and worries, even the fucking pull to go downstairs and find Gray. Maybe apologize for overreacting.

He growled at you.

Yeah, but he hadn’t meant to scare me. I imagined this situation wasn’t easy for him either. He’d probably expected a mate who was ecstatic to have found his match. A nice shifter guy or girl who was completely on board with jumping into bed upon scenting each other.

Instead, he’d gotten a mage who couldn’t be around shifters other than him for more than a few minutes without freaking out.

He was a catch. Attractive, young, a freaking Alpha of a sizeable pack. An Alpha whose people respected and cherished him.

He was the cherished Alpha, and I was… the outcast. Unwanted by basically everyone I’d ever met in my life. And the people who did want me wanted me for all the wrong reasons. Well, they didn’t want me, they wanted my magic. They didn’t value me as a person.

No one did.

Okay, maybe Levi.

I sighed and forced myself to take my hand off the door handle. I’d been about to go out and search for Gray again when I knew he was in a meeting. He’d told me that Oakley had an appointment with him and that the meeting was important because it was about those pups I’d helped rescue. About what they needed to do to ensure they could stay here.

That’s who my mate was. A protector. Willing to go to war to make sure I was safe. Willing to fight to keep those pups safe.

And instead of being a strong presence by his side, I was hiding again.

There were twenty-three shifters in this building. And the thought of going downstairs to talk to them while waiting for Gray to finish his meeting was… I shuddered, a cold shiver running down my spine as I imagined sitting in a room full of shifters.

Yeah, no. Definitely a hard no. Knowing they were here, in the same building as me, was hard enough. I could feel them, their auras, and was keenly aware of them moving, my senses going haywire every time someone came up the stairs.

Like right now.

Two of the shifters had left a group downstairs and were walking up the stairs.

I forced myself to take a deep breath and step away from the door. If I didn’t want to meet the pack anyway, I didn’t need to stand right in front of the door, waiting to get it smashed into my face. I might as well do something to take my mind off my mate.

Maybe I could… I spun in a circle, my eyes roaming over the room.

Well, there wasn’t much to do. It was furnished, but that was it, and since I hadn’t actually taken stuff from my tent, there was nothing to do here. I mean, I could take a shower. Brush my teeth. Maybe even braid my hair. And then… then I could sit on my bed and stare at the wall. Sit on the windowsill and stare out at the forest. Sit at the desk and…

The knock on my door made me freeze and jump back, my heart rate kicking up a few notches.

Oh shit. I’d expected those two wolves to go to their rooms, not to mine!

Could I pretend I wasn’t here? Probably not. And pretending to be asleep while my heart was hammering as if I’d been running a marathon wouldn’t work either.

Fuck.

“Uh… yes?” I said, hating the way my voice sounded suspicious and openly afraid.

“It’s Nick and Connie… uhh… the wolves from two nights ago?” The pups, my brain supplied immediately, pictures of one of them lying on the ground, bleeding from a hole in his chest, came to the forefront of my mind. “Can we come in?”