Total pages in book: 202
Estimated words: 193561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 968(@200wpm)___ 774(@250wpm)___ 645(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 193561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 968(@200wpm)___ 774(@250wpm)___ 645(@300wpm)
“I’m hoping that message will help, Greyson.”
His jaw muscles flex before he replies.
“Stacy, you’re my priority, but I can’t forget my pack. I need answers.”
He’s being so wonderful, so patient with me. I don’t want to skirt anything important. I don’t want to handle this wrong. I also don’t want him to get angry. How do I make sure things don’t go wrong? I’m just so… lost on how to handle things.
“I can’t say there’s nothing to worry about. I don’t know what’s up his sleeve, but I am hoping that phone call will help.”
He steps closer to me and takes my face into his hands. “Talk to your mate, woman. Now. Please.”
I blow out another slow exhale and he speaks again.
“I know you don’t know me yet, but you will. I’m meant to be yours as much as you’re meant to be mine. Give me your burdens. Let me help. It’s what I’m here for. To provide for you. Protect you. Let me do that while also protecting my pack. Our pack.”
He thinks of his pack as ours, but I know he can’t possibly feel that way about the Silver Hills pack. It’s nothing like this pack.
“What am I here for?” I ask, emotion welling up inside me.
“To help me build us a good life, a family,” he says softly. “To be the source of comfort and pleasure I get after every day out there protecting and nurturing you and our pack.” He touches my face. “You’re my reward. I’m gonna try to be yours by giving you everything that’s mine, supporting your wants and needs however I can. But I need to know what we’re dealin’ with here. Don’t put me in a spot where my pack will come to harm because you’re afraid to level with me.”
“And my pack?” I ask.
“I’ll do everything I can to minimize damage. Promise.”
I blow out a breath. Is it possible that I actually got this lucky?
“You’re right. So I’m gonna spit it out,” I tell him. “Because you’ve been so incredibly wonderful to me so far. And I want you to know I feel incredibly lucky that I met you. That I get to be your-” It feels so strange to say the word, “mate.”
Warmth seeps into his features and he whispers, “Good,” as he squeezes my hand and drops a soft kiss on it. “Lay it on me. We’ll figure it out.”
I take a big breath. “I don’t want anything bad to happen. To you. To your pack. To the innocent people in my pack.”
“Of course.”
“Yes, the alpha is my brother. I just called knowing he wouldn’t answer if I called around this time of day because he’s a creature of habit and I know where he probably is right now means he wouldn’t have his phone with him. I wanted to try to buy time. I don’t know what he’s going to do next and I’m… worried. About people there and people here.”
He doesn’t look surprised.
“And he’s…scary,” I say.
“Not remotely scared, Stacy. You don’t need to be either.”
“If you’re part of that pack, you have to do what he says or… it’s bad. I had to do what he told me to do. I hate the idea of hurting anyone. I loved the job in the diner because it was so much better than living in the wreckage, the junkyard that’s our home. But I also felt really bad about loving the job and staying at the motel because I knew how much people back at home were suffering. Our pack is suffering because he’s awful and they’re not getting what they need, and he thinks the answer to that is to take your territory. He wants to command this large pack and use all the resources you’ve all worked so hard for himself. And Greyson, I don’t know what he’ll try to pull next. He’s unpredictable. Often illogical. But he’s going to do something to try to take down this pack’s leadership so that he can lead himself. And he’d lead it all straight into the ground, believe me. So, I want you to know that whatever you have to do to stop him, you have my full support. Whatever you have to do, Greyson. That might sound like I’m disloyal to my family, but he’s not a good guy. He would not hesitate to hurt all of you. To sacrifice any or all of his people to get what he wants, to feed his own ego. I just ask… and I have no right to ask but I need to…”
“Ask.”
“I ask that you try not to harm any of the women and children there. That you’re careful about harming the men. There aren’t that many good ones left but there are some.”
Hardness overtakes his expression. And I feel like there’s a hard knot in my chest right now at the sight of it.