Page 48 of Packing for Vacation

“Your dog?”

“Yeah, my dog.” I let out a whine, tears running down my cheeks, and both alphas cuddle even closer, their chests rumbling with comforting purrs.

“It was really tense in the house after that.”

“Did they hurt you?”

There’s a sharp edge to Scott’s tone.

“Not physically,” I reply. “But suddenly, after years of what seemed like a perfect pack, there were a ton of arguments. They yelled a lot. Kept bringing up their desire to have kids. Omegas were born to be mothers, were born to be bred, to give their packs children, to continue their alphas’ bloodlines, all of that bullshit. Called me an ungrateful bitch when I refused to budge on that point. Made derogatory comments about my changing body. I had to leave.”

“I didn’t realise they’d been abusive,” Matiu says, a growl in his voice. “They’re fucking lucky they’re in Canada right now.”

“I don’t know,” Scotty mutters. “I might just get on a flight tomorrow, go pay them a visit.”

“Hmmm.”

“Guys,” I say.

“When you talked about your soul dog the other day…”

I shake my head again, wiping a fresh tear from my cheek. “They wouldn’t let me take Coco with me. They said they’d paid for her, so they’d keep her. And I had to get out.” In the final weeks I’d stopped inviting them into my nest, and I’d begun to fear that they’d enter anyway. “I still feel so guilty about leaving her. And after I went back to my parents, they gave Coco away. They never wanted her. She lives with Édouard’s mother now.”

I sob, thinking about how even his mother made it clear that I was not to visit, on no uncertain terms. “I’m sorry for ruining the mood,” I sniffle as Matiu pulls me flush against him and Scotty rubs my back.

“No,” they both say in unison.

“So that’s what happened to my old pack,” I say eventually, once I’ve calmed down enough to speak. “They lied. They thought they could coerce me into having children. They made it transactional. I owed them a baby because they’d put up with me. It felt like such a betrayal.”

“Because it was.”

“Yeah,” I agree. “They lied to me from the start. Even taking away how they acted in the end, what they did by failing to be honest with me about what they wanted, that still makes me so mad to this day. All I ask for in a relationship is honesty. It’s my bottom line.”

The nest is silent, my alphas purrs having died down abruptly.

“Idiots,” Matiu says quietly.

“Fucking idiots.” Scotty agrees.

I close my eyes, enjoying being tucked between my alphas, men I can trust, and eventually fall asleep.

Chapter Seventeen

Scott

All I ask for in a relationship is honesty.

Lizzie’s words, spoken so softly, echo in my head like a fucking freight train. In the dim light from the rising moon I look across her sleeping form at Matiu. He turns his head, staring straight back at me.

“We’re fucking idiots,” he says.

“Absolute fucking idiots,” I agree.

“We’ve gotta tell her, eh.”

I drag my hand down my face with a groan. “Oh god. It’s gonna be bad.” We should have told her how it really was from the start. Yes, it would have been awkward to explain everything that had gone on between Matiu and I, but this is so much worse. What the fuck were we thinking?

“We had to give ourselves—you and I—a chance to talk first, Scotty. She’ll understand that, surely.”