Page 53 of The Beta's Bargain

She searches my face as if seeking the lie. “Not selfless.”

“No?”

“If my sister gets a pack, then I won’t have to work so hard to keep us fed and housed. It’s selfish, too.”

It’s hard for me to wrap my mind around the concept of not having food to eat. Or not having a place to sleep. I can literally walk into a number of hotels and sleep in any bed I want. My family own multiple homes. Falcon’s own homes are numerous, and Gray has, at last count, four, but he’s welcome at a whole host of other packs' homes.

Food and lodgings. Clothes and safety have always been easy to come by.

“Is it hard living like that?”

She freezes and then closes the tablet. I think she might move away, but instead, she leans back into the couch; her gaze distant.

“It’s dangerous. It’s so easy to get sick. Your belongings are difficult to replace, and people will take them. You can’t afford to ‘own’ things or get attached. Men are…it’s dangerous. Drug use is rife, as is crime. Learn to sleep light, react faster, keep secrets.”

“And you work so hard…”

“To get us out, Silas. It’s all to get us out of that life. While Silver is with me, she puts both of us in more danger. Suppressants are expensive. I have to bag my clothes before I come home because I can’t afford to have her scent on me. Alpha’s with money don’t like to hear the word no.”

A fury that I've never known rises, and I move slowly, leaning over her. “Has that happened here?”

She blinks, frozen like a deer in the headlights. “Not here.”

“If it happens here, you will give me their names.” I order.

She inhales, shuddering, but I don’t move away.

“Are children important to you?” She asks.

I cock my head to the side, wondering how much she heard. “Yes, and no. I want a vast family with lots of children. But they don’t have to be mine. I just want to raise a family.”

Across the room, I catch Dylan listening intently to the conversation.

“So you’d be happy to adopt or foster?”

“Yes.” I say easily.

“Wow, that’s really…cool.”

“You don't want children?” I ask her.

“I mean, I’d love a big family, but my life is hardly a safe place to raise a child.” She admits. “But it’s good to know you want a family, and it doesn’t matter where it comes from.”

And now I feel like she’s not talking to me.

Dylan’s tension eases, and he turns away from the conversation. Falcon’s words slam into my brain.

Okay, Falcon. Courting the beta. Out of the corner of my eye, I watch Dylan pace near the huge window. Court Onyx to win Dylan. All right, Omega, you’ve left me no choice. I’ll take the beta, too, if it means I win you.

“What got you interested in working customer service?” I ask and turn my body towards her, listening intently and cataloging every gesture and micro-expression she makes.

All's fair in love and war.

sixteen

Onyx

Silas sat with me for hours last night, asking me questions and chatting. He’s intelligent and sensitive, attentive and empathic, all of which surprised me. I know more than I ever thought I needed about him. I know he enjoys helping at rescues. He doesn’t get along with his family. He feels the weight of expectation and resents it.

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