Page 34 of Mercy & Her Devils

He slides his elegant fingers up and down my back, as if the movement is calming him. “Millie will be so scared. What if they keep her, until it’s time for her to sleep? She needs me. My scent. I’m the only pack that she has now.”

“She has me too,” I say, fiercely.

I mean it.

The strength of the feeling surprises me.

Lark pushes back to look at me. I don’t understand the expression in his eyes.

“Are we pack?”

“You’re my songbird.” I grip his chin, brushing away a single tear that’s trailed down his cheek. I don’t think he even knows that he’s shed it. “Maybe we’re a broken pack, but who the fuck cares? We can be strong together.”

“Songbird?” Lark’s expression is fragile. “Your songbird.”

“Mine, remember?” I want to kiss Lark, but his pain is still too large; it’s suffocating. It draws the air from the cell. “And is the man who calls me cupcake really complaining?”

“Not that man.” In a move that makes my stomach swoop, Lark pushes me back to lie on the mattress. The air rushes from my lungs. I remember suddenly just how weak I am. He cages me with his arms, and his inky hair falls over me, draping me in shadows. “Just the man who knows someone else who likes to call me a bird with broken wings.”

Shit, shit, shit.

Fletcher calls him that.

My breathing stutters.

Lark knows.

He has to know who I am.

“Lark…” I try.

“Something to tell me, cupcake?” Lark’s expression is unreadable.

I’m shivering. “I didn’t know how to tell you. I mean it about wanting to become a pack with you. I’m just…ashamed…that I ever belonged to a pack who’d hurt Millie and you. I’ve been wracked with guilt because I had no idea how to tell you…”

“That you’re the Sheriff’s Omega? Oh, was that meant to be a secret?” Lark says, dryly.

I stare at him, before I growl.

The growl is impressive enough to make Lark startle.

Then he grins. “I’m clearly a bad influence. Growl again. It made me all tingly.”

Just because it felt the best thing in my entire fucking life to let out my emotions, I do growl again.

“That’s it.” Lark’s expression gentles. “Omegas are told that we must smother our feelings. We’re caged by rules from the moment that we’re born. At the same time that we’re told we’re too emotional, we’re forbidden to show those emotions. But they’re ours to feel, show, and have respected. I taught Millie that because I always wish I had been. I spent my life hiding how I felt, and look what it got me: A Broken Bond. So, growl away.”

Except, now I don’t want to growl anymore.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I’m not…we’re not enemies. I didn’t—”

“Don’t apologize.” Lark presses his hand to the scar on his neck. Then he gently glances at the scar on my neck, where my old bond mark was, and my hand instinctively reaches up to touch it. I yelp, pulling my hand away. The scar’s hot and throbbing, oversensitive still to the touch. “Our Alphas hurt us in the same way. You’re not my enemy. There’s no one else in this entire country who understands what we’ve been through, apart from each other. We’re united in this. I hate that you’re here, but at the same time, you’re a precious gift. I’m not alone now. I’m sorry for everything that you must have suffered in that man’s house. I understand, and if you need to talk about anything, then I’m here.”

My chest is tight.

I didn’t expect him to react like this.

I believe that he understands.

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