Page 128 of The Beta's Bargain

“Money means nothing,” Silas purrs in my ear.

I snap my eyes open to watch him circle around me.

“What do you offer?” My voice is sultry, Silas always brings out the sexual side of me with ease.

“I'm going to give you wings, my little broken bird.”

My heart clenches and then lifts in my chest. I reach out, and he steps into my embrace.

“I accept.”

Silas laughs and kisses me. When he comes up for air, I'm passed into someone else's arms.

“Okay, now can we get out of this alley?” Falcon asks. “I really feel a need to shower.”

Dylan leads the way, the red waistcoat shimmering when it catches the light. There’s a bounce in his step, and when he looks back, a huge smile on his face.

We’ve come so far from those desperate days when we were dying for a bite to eat.

I'm content with what they’ve given me tonight. Everything else is a negotiation. All I wanted was for them to know me and know me well enough to find me, to know what I’d want and what I wouldn’t. To prove they knew what my heart was.

They know my heart.

I’ve found the pack of my dreams.

thirty-eight

Onyx

Ithought that night would be the end of it, but the pack has been determined to right their wrongs.

Life’s been like a fairy tale. I’ve moved in with them, and getting used to needing a map to remember when I am in my own home is slowly losing its shock factor. The quality of clothing is impressive, but the price tags make me a bit ill.

Of course, I’d had to resign from Raptore Security, but now we had a huge mansion and a pack that was trying to get on my good side. Which meant weekly catch ups with my friends, hosted by yours truly.

The trick to conquering the media world was to let Hazel and Grayson do their thing. The siblings twist the media around their little fingers and introduce Dylan and me in one elaborate party. Dylan’s identity revelation basically made me a non-subject, which I was eternally grateful for. Between the two of them, they have protected me from the world’s scrutiny and taken to sneaking me to the most incredible places. There’s a hotel with a forest room that blew my mind.

I’d pulled Gray aside and tried to tell him he didn’t need to, but he’d kissed me softly and smiled. “Of course, I need to. I love you, and I want you to have everything.” But I think we both know that a little bit of guilt is still driving his behaviour.

Dylan took me out one night to another one of the hotels with painted walls. He spent the entire night telling me about his life. His parents, his family, what happened to him on the streets, why he didn’t feel safe trusting people who knew he was a Donahue. He struggled with it, but he did it.

Falcon was a whole new level of promise. He immediately set up the paperwork for me and Dylan to be listed as owning part of each of their companies. It sets both of us with financial independence forever. When I argued this, Falcon said that since he and the others were prone to fits of stupidity, this was his safeguard. Then he gave me the keys to a separate property with the reason ‘just in case’. Oh, and the car. And announced my authority over the staff. My head is still spinning. Our argument lasted two days, and I only caved because he got on his knees and pleaded with me to allow him to do this to protect me from them.

How could I refuse?

Silas, though, he’s building me a beautiful world to live in, like I am one of those pretty, broken birds. He’s pulling in contacts and friends, strengthening ties with Pack Raptore, Pack Knight, and the friends I’d made. In true Hastings fashion, he’s planning an enormous charity event for the Omega Refuge, and he’s bought the buildings I used to live in with intentions of making them hospitable and make them cheap housing. He also organised Yvette and Simon’s promotions and gave Moira a position in management of the Silver Rocks Resort.

I can see what he’s doing. And I love him for it. I love them for it.

The weeks have been exhausting in a way I never even realised. The hours of getting ready, dress fittings, the interviews and introductions. Dylan’s parents came at the end of the second week. The reunion was beautiful. His parents adore him, and despite their concern, once they met the guys, they were totally on board.

After they’d left, I sat down on the stairs, tears running from my eyes. Grayson had sat with me, his hand holding on to me.

“They like me,” I'd whispered, feeling brittle.

“Yeah, people do that.”

“But they’re okay with me. She called me daughter.”

---