Page 113 of The Packaged Deal

I whirl on her and shove her back from me. “You pull away? That’s your response to what just happened, after I all but throw everything away for you, and your reaction is to pull the fuck away? Fuck. You!”

I whirl and keep marching, but this time, Adrian gets in my way, catching me up, pulling me into an alley where he holds me against a wall and leans over me.

“Your mother is a beast.”

I glare up at him. “Are you going to pull away, too?”

“I’m not going to pull away, Jade.”

I try to walk away, but he throws me back against the wall and growls. “Omega.”

“What?” I snap at him.

“You’re upset. Talk to me.”

I poke him in the chest. “I don’t want to talk, Adrian.” With a sob, I close my eyes and let the pain wash over me. “I want to go home.”

He studies me for a long time, and then finally sighs and steps back. I skirt around him and leave the alleyway. Kandi and Sven are waiting for me, but whatever conversation they are having apparently doesn’t involve me. They fall silent when I get close.

“Don’t worry, you can keep talking. I’m not your omega, anyway,” I snarl and lift my chin, refusing to acknowledge the hurt inside me.

Sven stares at me with no emotion, but Kandi flinches and looks like she might cry.

I stalk past them, my tiny skirt swaying with each step. It takes me forever to find my way back to the house. By the time I do, my feet ache, my legs are sore, I’m thirsty. I couldn’t talk if I wanted to. And I’m so hurt and angry, I don’t want to ever speak again.

My pack trails after me, not saying a word, and with each moment of silence, the wounds my mother ripped open inside me fester, growing darker and more painful.

What if I made them want me? What if they really are better off without me? I bulldozed them. They did nothing but take care of me.

They said we were pack. They said they were mine.

“Why don’t I have bonds then?” I whisper.

My hand reaches up to touch my neck. Nothing permanent. Nothing to tell the other alphas I’m taken.

Is my mother right? What if I am this toxic person, and I just can’t see it? I rub my face and press the alarm on the house, inputting my fingerprint and waiting while the door opens.

Could I say goodbye? Could I leave them?

My eyes fill with tears just thinking about it. I swallow hard and fill a glass with water as the pack files in after me.

“Jade, we need to talk,” Kandi whispers, but I shake my head. I put the glass down.

“We don’t need to talk. I think we’ve all heard enough.”

thirty-one

Adrian

Jade stalks through the kitchen and goes straight into the lounge. She folds her arms on the side of the lounge and buries her face in them. Her silence is scarier than anything I’ve seen yet. It’s like she’s gone into herself and is fading away from us.

“Jade, talk to us.”

She shakes her head.

“Jade, no one cares what your mother thinks-”

“I CARE!” she roars with so much pain that I rock back on my heels. “I care that my mother thinks there is something wrong with me. She’s prepared to disown me because I’m so fucked up. I care, Adrian.”

---