“Who is that? Or should I say what is that? What are you? What did you do to me?!” I hissed.

“You’re a Devil. And I’m Zeke,” a cowboy with wavy hair and crazy purple eyes came out of the trees first. He squatted down about a dozen feet away and nodded.

“I’m the devil?”

“No, you’re notthedevil. You areaDevil. Like me. A Jersey Devil,” Max explained, glaring at his Crew mate.

“A what?”

“You know the stories, don’t you?” Another man, this one big as an ox, said as he came to sit beside Zeke.

“But that’s just a myth,” I said.

“About that,” a third man, with blond hair and his arms covered in tattoos stood beside Max. “We’re all the stuff of myths and legends, Miss Abruzzi.”

“Each of us is a last chancer,” another strange man said. “I’m Kian, by the way.”

“I’m Penelope,” I mumbled and sat,er, fell down on my butt.

“Easy. Are you hurt?” Max asked and went to reach for me.

“Don’t,” I said, and he flinched back.

The look of pain on his face hurt to see, but I couldn’t think clearly as it was. Having him touch me would only make it worse.

I looked around at the big, scary, but handsome men and frowned. They were all huge and good looking, though none held a candle to Max as far as I was concerned.

“W-what’s a last chancer? What are you? What am I?” I asked, turning to Zeke.

He was the first one who struck me as being brutally honest. Max had promised me the truth. But he’d obviously left out a huge portion when he’d fucked me.

Like the part where his dick was going to turn me into a freak.

“Actually, it wasn’t his dick. It was his bite,” Kian answered.

“Oh my fuck, did you just read my mind?” I asked, my panic returning already.

“Did I?” Kian asked, looking around at everyone there.

“Holy shit,” Max mumbled. “So, before anyone asks, I think when you all acknowledged me as your Alpha, we really did create something here. Something that bound itself to us with magic. Telepathy is only part of it,” Max said.

“I don’t understand.”

“I’m sorry, let me explain?—”

“Not you,” I said, still too upset with Max to look at him just yet.

Something clawed at my insides, and I hunched in on myself.

“Easy, you’ll hurt yourself,” the biggest man there said, frowning hard.

I could see something inside of him, something big and furry. A Bear! He could turn into a Bear. Oh damn, I really needed to know what was happening.

“Alpha, is it okay if I talk to your mate?” Zeke asked.

Max’s displeased growl filled the space. All those big, powerful men hunched in on themselves, like they were trying to be smaller somehow.

Max felt bigger. Heavy too. And he was hurt and upset. That was my fault. I felt that down to my soul, and tears pricked my eyes. I did not want to hurt him. But I needed answers, and I needed time.