Page 47 of Twisted Legacy

She laughs bitterly. “You don’t know shit about me.”

“I know you had a tough life growing up, and it’s only gotten shittier since coming to this town.”

“You can keep your pity.” She snarls, regaining her fight.

“Pity? Is that what you think I’m feeling? Why would I pity you? Fuck, sweetness, I have no room for pity in my heart, because I’m so goddamn proud of you.”

She’s back to mumbling again. “As my coach from school, right?”

“Yes, as your coach from school, and your trainer at Wolfe Pack.” I pull her hands in front of her, knuckles on display, and I say, “Your knuckles were split wide open when I found you. You’re always gonna wear these scars. That’s the evidence that you took all your experiences from before, and the lessons we’ve had since you’ve been here, and applied them. You did everything you could to protect yourself.”

I grip her shoulder, pulling her close again. “The Hughes want to wrap you up in bubble wrap and whenever I think of the state you were in when I found you, I want to agree. But as the man who admires your fighting spirit, even when I wanna strangle you because of it, and as the guy you met one crazy night, I shouldn’t even be thinking about; I want to hunt down every last person that touched you and make them bleed. More than that, I want you to be able to look them all in the eye and show them just how much theydidn’tbreak you.”

My hand slips to the nape of her neck, I rest my forehead against hers. “Come on LaReaux. Help me prove to these bastards that they didn’t break you.”

She doesn’t agree. She doesn’t have to. There’s no way I’m letting her quit.

Chapter30

Thea

Deacon Wolfe is fucking with my head. That little speech yesterday was fraught with all kinds of sexual tension, even though I know he’s not interested in me. If I thought he was, I would have shown him certain parts of me aren’t broken by offering him a quick fuck right there in the middle of the gym.

Maybe an anonymous hookup is what I need right now. But I’ll have to expand my net. The outskirts of Canyon Falls Annex isn’t far enough away to escape running into people at this school. And I need an escape.

“It’s her. It’s her!”

“What the hell?”

LJ’s unexpected outburst has me looking up from my phone. I instantly regret my choice to come to breakfast. Her cute little nose scrunches up as she asks, “Why is your face plastered all over the partition?”

I step around Holden, who is still doing his best wall impersonation, and gape at the sight in front of me. “A better question is why are there a bunch of people wearing cat ears sitting at our table?”

As we get closer, they all get to their feet and start some kind of chant. A jungle beat pipes through the speakers and lion roars mix with the bass, making the skin on my arms stand up. Somebody flips down the middle of the cafeteria and someone else jumps over him, landing in front of me on one knee, and presents me with an envelope. A second person does the same thing, landing in front of LJ.

I’ve gotten enough envelopes to know what this means. Taking a step back, I shake my head. Nope. No way. Nah, ah.

“Thea LaReaux, the esteemed members of the Lady Lions invite you to a hunt.”

“A hunt?” LJ and I share a look and she asks, “What kind of hunt?”

“We will camp and prowl the lands, and at the end we will hold a celebration for all those who are successful in capturing their prey, and offer a formal invite to join our pack.”

“Um, maybe you didn’t get the memo, but I’m more of a lone wolf kinda gal. The last time I tried to join something didn’t end so well for certain members of the pledge committee.”

The girl standing in the front of the crowd who was leading the chant, smiles over at me. “I promise we’re nothing like those entitled bitches in Zeta Nu, which is why we think you’d be perfect for us. And as a legacy student, don’t you deserve to be a part of an organization that truly emulates pride and cohesiveness? A chance to choose what trails you prowl in life?”

Finn comes to stand next to me, glaring down at the guy who’s still at my feet. “She’s not interested. Now get the fuck out!”

I glance down and see the guy pushing a box towards me that I hadn’t noticed before. It’s like a cat dropping off a dead mouse. He looks up and my eyes widen. It’s the guy Sasha tased.

He winks when he notices me staring at him, which sets Finn off. “Didn’t I say get out? You can walk out or hobble out. The choice is yours.”

The space around me gets smaller and I know without looking that Holden and Pax have joined the party. I scoot closer to LJ and look over at the girl in charge. “I’m not interested.”

“How about you think about it and hold off on making a final decision until next semester?”

The guy at my feet is playing with the hem of my jeans. He rolls out of the way and springs to his feet seconds before Finn’s foot connects with his ribs.

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