Page 48 of Revenge of the Blood Pack

She doesn’t want us to know she’s crying, so we try to pretend we don’t hear her, no matter how much it breaks both of our hearts. And it definitely breaksbothof our hearts. At some point, Max and I will have to discuss her feeding on us, our connection,and figure out what the hell to do about it. But not now. Not when she’s barely functioning.

Rain falls outside. It’s still early but Max and I are dressed and ready, while Asha is still sleeping with Trouble wrapped around her. Max sits at his laptop going over reports. Trying to see if there’s been anything else that might indicate the presence of another Blood Mage. I think in his own way he’s trying to help. Trying to find a pack member to give Asha hope and bring her back.

I don’t know if I should tell him she’ll need more than that.

Max’s phone rings softly, and he instantly silences it and steps outside. But I follow him, and while he casts me a look, he doesn’t tell me to go back inside. We stand under the roof cover, staring out at a rainy parking lot as he answers. “Hello, Max here.”

I can just barely hear a gruff man’s voice on the other line. “He’s ready to join the team. We’ll be sending him out to meet you soon. Did you get his file?”

Max looks irritated. “I got his file and I have no idea why this man would be a good fit for my team. Hell, for any team.”

“Yes, you do. You see his strengths. I’m not asking you to ignore the obvious difficulties you’ll face with him; I’m asking you to carve those strengths into something that will help the Enforcers.”

“Sir, with all due respect–”

“This was me updating you. Not me asking your opinion. Make this team of misfits into the best fucking group of Enforcers. Got it?” The line goes dead, and Max sighs and shoves his phone into his pocket.

“Another team member you didn’t want?” I ask him jokingly.

He looks at me with annoyance. “I never said I didn’t want you on my team. I specifically accepted you on my team, actually.”

“But you didn’t want me here.” It’s not a question, just a statement, because we both know it’s true.

He shakes his head, clearly frustrated. “Braxton, this job is hard. It’s dangerous. I’ve seen a lot of death. I’ve seen small mistakes causing a world of pain and suffering for people. This isn’t what I want for you. This isn’t what I want for anyone under my care.”

And it hits me, the most obvious fucking thing that I’m mad I didn’t realize it before. “And you don’t want anyone under your care to get hurt.” His shocked gaze meets mine. “Like with mom and dad.”

“Fuck,” he mutters, and when he runs his hand through his hair he looks really upset. “I don’t want to talk about that.”

Of course he doesn’t. He was the one who found them. He was the one who saw everything and tried to protect me from it. I was just the one who should’ve been there in the first place. The one who was supposed to come home straight after school. And had I been there… maybe my parents wouldn’t have been attacked. Or maybe between the three of us, we would have been able to fight them back.

Max? Max had been working after school like he was supposed to. So, not only was he doing the right thing and then had to be the one who came home to that, but he blamed himself for not being home earlier. Not walking faster.

He never blamed me.Never.Even though he should have.

“None of that was your fault,” I say.

Max does this half-head-shaking thing he used to do when we were kids, like he’s trying to shake away an idea. “It doesn’t matter. We were luckier than most. We had an aunt and uncle willing to take us in. Our lives continued.”

“It didn’t make it any easier,” I tell him, then decide the hell with it. “And then you lost the Oracle. The woman you spent time guarding. The one you said was like your grandmother.”

Max’s gaze meets mine, and the pain in his eyes hurts my heart. “Why are you talking about all of this? I don’t need to hear it. I’m desperately trying to find another pack member, to give Asha purpose and keep her on the right path. I have to figure out how the hell to bring another Enforcer into this mess and conceal what’s happening with Asha, and I have to figure out my feelings…”

Ah, and that’s another part of it.“You like her.” Max doesn’t respond, but he doesn’t have to. “And I do too.”

His hands curl into fists. “None of this really matters, because she’ll never have either of us. And as Enforcers on a team, we shouldn’t start a relationship. It’s just stupid.”

“It’s still a problem,” I say with a shrug. “But if you want to just give me the green light with her, that’s fine.”

He glares at me.

I lift a brow. “Is that a no?”

“I don’t want to talk about this,” he says stubbornly.

“It’s got to be talked about at some point, and it’s probably better we figure it out than confuse Asha anymore. Because with everything she’s going through, I think she needs an anchor in this storm.”

He draws his shoulders back. “And you think you’re that anchor?”

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