Page 42 of Mark & Don't Tell

Vic glances at me, a devious little glint shining in his gaze. “You can say that.”

“You guys are pack?” There’s no mistaking the hopeful lilt to my question. I had wanted to ask about keeping Vic, anyway.

“More like besties for the resties, right, Vic?” Lincoln asks at the same time Vic mutters, “Unfortunately.”

Okay. That doesn’t sound good.

Lincoln narrows his eyes on his pack mate. Vic holds his scrutinizing gaze and lifts an eyebrow. What?

The alpha across the table rolls his eyes.

This must be what people feel like when they hang out with me and Quinn. My best friend and I can carry on an entire conversation without saying a word. To be on the other side of that is awkward as hell.

“Right,” Kai says, shaking his head. “Please, sit.” He gestures to my chair and Lincoln jumps up to pull it out for me.

My gaze skips around the group. There’s still time to run. I could leave now and never look back. This is all I’ve ever wanted. A pack. Love. Safety. Why am I suddenly so afraid?

Jesus. My cheating ex-pack really did a number on me. I’d dated plenty before them and never been as affected as when I discovered their betrayal. We might not have been scent matches, but we were...something. Or they were something to me. Apparently, to them, I was disposable.

Fuck them.

Fuck that fear.

Taking a steadying breath, I savor Vic, Lincoln, and Kai’s collective scents, a delightful mix of citrus, spice, and musk. I begin to sit, allowing Lincoln to slowly push the chair in. He returns to his seat once I’m settled.

“How did you two meet?” Kai asks Vic as he pours me a glass of white wine from the bottle sitting beside the table.

How much will that cost? At least eighty bucks?

“Well, that’s quite a story, now isn’t it, little doe? Should we tell them how we met?”

My attention snaps to Vic, and he smirks, taking a sip of his wine and tipping his chin toward my glass. I pick it up and take a small sip, but I can’t afford to drink a glass of wine until I eat something. My stomach is painfully empty.

Lincoln’s gaze seers into me. “Little doe?” he asks softly, nostrils flaring. “Does she enjoy a chase?”

“Mm, that she does, Linc,” Vic says with a smug smirk. “I hunted her.”

Cocky bastard. I do love the way his heated gaze finds mine and that we have our own secret conversation with that simple look.

Kai chokes on his wine, eyes shooting to me. “Where?”

“After Dark,” I say before Vic can. “We met the night Good Vibes had their launch party. I was there for research.”

“Is that what they call it nowadays?” Linc asks.

Cheeky fuck. I’m not about to give him the dirty details on the first date. “How long have you guys been a pack?”

Linc and Kai exchange a quick look, but Linc answers. “Twenty-four years; we became pack at eighteen, after this one”—he jerks his thumb in Kai’s direction—“thought it would be fun to go skydiving.”

Twenty-four years. Twenty-four plus eighteen is forty-two. They’re forty-two. Only a few years younger than my own fathers. Should I feel weird about that? Probably, but when I glance across the table and see Vic staring at me with that hungry look, I can’t bring myself to care.

“It was fun,” Kai defends.

“Fun is going to an amusement park. Jumping out of an airplane and plummeting to my death is not fun,” Linc counters. “I’m the smartass. Kai is the daredevil who will also make sure to tuck you into bed, and Vic is the grizzly bear. Terrifying on the outside, soft and squishy on the inside.”

“I’m not fucking squishy,” Vic grumbles.

“Anyway,” Kai says. “We started Good Vibes together at twenty-three, and the rest is history.”

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