Page 34 of Big Knot Energy (Shadowverse)

I really hoped I wasn’t pushing her too far. But I needed to know how carefully I needed to tread with her, with her alphas, with this pack.

“They hurt you?”

“He. Only one alpha. And yeah. But, uh…”

She was blinking a lot and fidgeting with her purse strap as her anxiety rose. I didn’t need to scent the change in her signature to see this wasn’t a topic she wanted to discuss.

“It’s over. And these guys…they saved me. Took me in. They keep me safe.”

“You saved yourself, beta,” Enzo said, turning to look at her over his shoulder.

I looked at him, at Ax, then caught Cyrus’s eyes as he watched me in the rearview mirror.

This sweet woman had apparently been through some shit. I’d noted a small scar over her eyebrow but had assumed it was from some old injury.

Now, I wondered if it had been caused by the same asshole who’d left that mark on her shoulder. It had been obviously covered by makeup, but the raised ridges were obvious, like the alpha had ripped through her skin then hadn’t bothered to tend to it so it would heal properly.

Anger built in my chest and tore a growl from my throat before I could swallow it down.

“Please tell me you three beat his ass.”

Ax huffed a laugh. Enzo smirked. Cyrus sighed as though we all exhausted him.

“Fucker disappeared before we had the chance,” Enzo said.

“So that’s how you met? You guys rushed in like knights in shining armor?”

“Actually, um, his brother is mated to my sister,” she said, pointing at Enzo.

“That’s kind of cool.”

Except the mood seemed to have shifted from my question and now I felt like the biggest dick for bringing it up.

But I wanted to know more about her, know why she kept shutting down. She would behave as though she was having a great time, then it was like she’d catch herself smiling too much and would retreat into her shell.

Instead of pressuring her with more questions, I came up with a plan in my head to break through her walls and keep her from rebuilding them. I could tell there were far more layers to this beta than she let the world see and I was determined to peel them away one by one until I found the diamond hidden underneath.

Clasping her hand and bringing it to my lips, I feathered a kiss to each of her knuckles before lowering our entwined hands to my thigh.

“No more shitty talk tonight. We’ve got time to reveal all our deepest, darkest secrets.”

I waggled my brows at her and earned a dick hardening giggle.

“Do you guys have something to eat, or should we order out? My treat.”

Enzo scoffed. Ax leaned forward to frown at me past Issa. “We’re courting you. No chance in hell are you paying for shit.”

Issa had a slight smile still on her lips as she shook her head and rolled her eyes. I’d caught her doing that a few times when it came to Enzo or Ax, as though they entertained her in the most annoyingly fun way.

I was so curious about the dynamics of this pack and found myself wanting to spend as much time as possible until I’d learned everything I could.

Like, other than owning The Vault, what did the alphas do in their downtime? Did Issa work?

Who was I kidding? What I really wanted to know was the background behind her failed bonding and whether her previous alpha was a threat to the beautiful, sexy as fuck beta.

Holding my hands up in surrender, I let the alphas follow their instincts to care for an omega and pay for the food.

Issa and I voted for Chinese delivery.

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