Page 23 of Our Deceptive Heat

I hesitate, torn. “She doesn’t care about me, Kelly. She’s not Aunt Auggie. My mother loves my dad only as much as she hates him.”

“There has to be something we can do. Marrying you off in six months to one of his cronies is archaic.”

“I have six months of freedom, and then I either run or I submit to the merger,” I say quietly. “But you can’t tell the others. Not yet.”

“What about the band? Can they help you?”

“They belong to my father. The only thing that could save me now is a pack bond, and they have made it clear that we are just friends. I have no one else to ask.”

“I’ll see if I can find you a pack.”

I stare at him, the offer he’s giving me, the lifeline.

“You’d do that?”

“Absolutely. I will find you a pack. I’m not going to let you end up in that nightmare, cousin.”

My eyes burn, and I rapidly blink. “Thank you, Kelly.”

“No worries. Now, my suggestion is to go on tour. Tell them the truth and pretend like everything is fine.”

“I can do that.” I scoff.

“Good. I’ll find you a pack.”

“Kelly?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you so much. Really, thank you.”

Kelly smiles and closes the call. I sit back in my chair, trying to get my head around what’s happening. What’s going to happen? I have six months of freedom left, and then I will either achieve all my dreams or become some pack’s beta.

I turn on my computer and stare at the itinerary. We’ll be traveling for months together. I put my head down and groan.

“I can do this.”

“Uh, yes you can.”

I jerk, almost knocking my coffee over and find my assistant pumping the air with a huge grin on her face.

“You scared the crap out of me, Molly.”

“Um, sorry?”

Molly is one of the strangest beta’s I’ve ever met. She’s forgetful, distressingly so, except for when it comes to work. She’ll ring me in the middle of the night to remind me about a memo I wrote twelve months ago but forget to put shoes on.

It’s going to be hard not to have her around.

“Did you get James and Hodges up to date with the campaign?”

“I did.”

“And do you know where-”

“Yes, I know where we keep the backup hard drives, the alternate plans, the coffee cups, and where Amy likes to go for dinner. We will be fine without you.”

I stare at her, unable to say the words out loud that are ringing in my head.

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