Page 111 of Drama Queen

Knox’s eyes dart to mine—so much like his brother’s, so much like our baby’s—while his lips quiver and his eyes shine with unshed tears. “Ares…” he chokes past the knot in his throat, just in time for the door to finally, blessedly close.

My breath stutters as I clutch Evie to my chest, ready to hit the ground running when we’re free of the building. I’d be crazy to think Knox wouldn’t follow. He’ll be racing toward those stairs on the other side of the building, hoping to catch me before I scurry away.

He knows.

I disappeared from town and the pack the same morning Hendrix left me in the barn, so I don’t know what the town gossip is or who he’d told about my rejection, but Knox seemed genuinely surprised when he scented our mate bond. Though our connection was wounded, it vibrated steadily and thundered louder when he was near.

Our lives are about to change again, and I'm terrified they'll retaliate by taking my baby because I kept her a secret.

Two

KNOX

“What the fuck did you do?”The roar released with those words rattled the windowpanes, enhanced by the slamming of the door.

I had tried to catch Ares by hitting the stairs, letting my wolf through enough to aid my speed, but once outside, her blockers concealed her escape direction. Not enough to cloak her honey-caramel scent during our accidental encounter—a scent that wrapped around me like the long-lost lover she quite literally is.Mate. She’s our fucking mate, and she was right under our noses this entire time. Not to mention the baby. Our baby! Ice-blue eyes, meaning one of my brothers, my pack knew about her, and I’m almost positive I already know who the culprit is.

My brothers startle from their positions around the living room in our country-style home. We’d moved further away from the pack, wanting to branch out on our own and tired of Tamera trailing after Hendrix, still hoping for the bond we’ll never offer.

Kato is in the kitchen—the chef of the family—preparing dinner, while Maddock works on his laptop, and Hendrix lounges on the couch. The latter seems annoyed, huffing, put outthat his day was interrupted—an attitude that has gone on far too long, one I’m eager to rectify with my fists.

Kato is the first to notice my barely restrained form, practically salivating to rip our little brother’s throat out. He quickly shuts down his dinner operations and rounds the counter into the living room. His hands raise, as if trying to calm a wild beast. “Whoa, bro. Your skin’s rippling—your wolf’s seconds from bursting through. What’s going on?”

A deep rumbling growl forms words through my elongating fangs. “Our mate.” Coherent thoughts are hard to form with my brain slipping into wolf-mode. My eyes close tightly, willing patience into my veins, pushing back the full-on alpha mode that wants to shred my human skin.

“Our mate?” Kato whispers, eyes widening with excitement and anticipation. “You met her?” He glances behind me at the door, as if expecting her to walk in right behind me. “Where is she?” His brows furrow, puzzled about why I’m angry if I just found our mate.

“You mean,whois she?” My glare slides to Hendrix. His brows furrow similarly, his expression thick with concern, confusion, and darkening the lighter shade of his eyes.

Maddock stands, inserting himself into the conversation, sensing the heightened emotions ricocheting off the wooden walls. “Explain.” His alpha command brooks no argument, demanding immediate facts so he can figure out how to quickly solve whatever issue we're about to face. There is no easy fix for this. We're fucked.

Suddenly, all of the fight leaves my body, and I’m left with an overwhelming sense of sorrow and longing. When I engage their eyes again, mine are shining with unshed tears, and I only stop when they lock with Hendrix. “Our mate… it’s Ares.”

The devastation in Hendrix’s expression as he closes his eyes and shudders, a tear slipping free from the pain, conveys his lack of shock. He knew.

This motherfucker!

Maddock, not expecting the traitor in our midst, tilts his head in confusion, sidetracking my lunge towards my brother. “Are you angry because we didn’t realize it when we were younger? I’ll admit, I watched her, but she was always so reclusive, I didn’t want to make her uncomfortable. Then she disappeared…” His eyes widen, realizing she didn’t report her departure to the pack, which caused a small uproar. He studies me, seeking the truth with his next question. “Is she well? Does she need us?”

His sincerity breaks my heart when I know I’ll have to shatter his. “She’s well, but she most definitely doesn’t need or want us, if her running away from me was any indicator.” My anger has cooled but begins to crawl up my spine again as I growl and pose the next question. “Does she, Drix?”

Two huffs of confusion emit from Kato and Maddock as I direct the question to Drix, but when they glance at him and see his forlorn reaction, they wait for an answer too.

“I…” His voice cracks after the first word, then he clears his throat to try again. “I thought it was all a dream—a nightmare, really.”

“What the fuck did you do?” Maddock’s words echo mine from earlier, but the authority of his alpha command overshadows mine.

“I’m not entirely sure…”

Maddock crosses the room, pinning Hendrix by the throat against the wall, having broken the couch, crushing it as he walks through the leather material to get to him. “You better get entirely sure when you tell me about what you did to my mate.”Saliva drips from Maddock’s very real fangs as he leans toward Drix’s neck.

“I’m sorry,” Hendrix’s lips quiver again, seconds before tears begin to fall earnestly. “I didn’t think it was real. The dreams started before she disappeared—a couple of weeks before graduation. They only turned… turned dreadful after she left. I didn’t think…”

“You must have suspected something since the guilt is eating you alive. The timeline matches your shit attitude change,” Kato, always the one to call you on your bullshit, blows his excuse wide open. “What’d you do?” Now my twin's voice deepens, joining our alpha’s threatening tone. Maddock is the levelheaded one, while Kato loses his temper like the drama queen he is, putting Hendrix in a hell of a lot of trouble.

“Graduation night, there was that party in the woods on the outskirts of town. Ares came. I noticed her right away because she never comes to parties. There’s something about her that’s always demanded I track her, but she’s a loner and likes it that way.” He hangs his head, resigning himself to continue the story. “Anyway, I’d come home completely out of it the next morning and couldn’t remember what had happened or where I’d been for almost the entire night before.”

We grunt our agreement, remembering the day well. We were scared shitless because he came stumbling home with slurred speech and hasn’t been the same since. We’d tried to figure out what he’d been through since he also smelled like someone had dumped a bottle of perfume all over him. The floral scent gagged us for days. We ended up having professional cleaners come and scrub the place from top to bottom, but we never got a clear picture.

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