Page 49 of Break The Ice

“You’re not dumb. You’re amazing. Your pack loves you. Everything is fine.”

He blinks really slowly and exhales, and all the anger and tension fades out of him.

“You have a pack?”

I snap my head towards Raider’s mother, who looks bruised and wounded.

Callan clears his throat, and August snaps her head towards him.

“You? But-” she cuts off and looks at Kit. “No, you would have told me!”

Raider’s aggression levels are rising again, and I look to Wren, who moves in on his other side.

“You were too busy dealing with Kelly and her,” Raider growls. He struggles, but I lean down and bite his neck.

He stills under my hold, exhaling slowly.

I let go and slide down his body, turning to look at the family properly.

The older pack looks completely devastated. Locke, Lia, and Ryn don’t look surprised at all.

“Did you guys know?” I ask.

“I mean, well, we guessed. When you had to be away from them, you called and talked to them all the time. It wasn’t really that hard to miss, Raider.”

“Hmm,” Bailey murmurs and wanders around the house, touching things.

Kit steps into his way, smiling with ice. “Stop it right now. This is not yours. And all you're doing is trying to get everyone angry.”

Bailey laughs, holds his hands up, and backs off. “Just playing.”

“Were you raised by wolves?” Kit hisses.

I’ve never seen Kit so aggressive. He’s deadly and so cuttingly polite.

“Bikers, actually, same thing some days.”

“Well, hint one, don’t wander into people’s houses and piss on their stuff.”

“I’ll write it down and say it every night.”

Bailey bats his eyes but salutes Lia and strolls on out of the house.

“Damn, he is going to be trouble.”

“Going to be?” Lia scoffs. “The Mirakill MC puts a babysitter on him when he wanders into our territory just to keep him out of trouble.”

“Are you done?” Raider snarls.

I look up at him. I couldn’t see past the anger yesterday, but I can now, and everything beneath it is pain.

He needs his family.

I grab Ryn’s arm and pull her towards the kitchen. “We need to talk.”

Once in there, I turn and find the other three have followed me. I dislike Bethany being here intensely, but I can see the pain in her, too.

“I don’t really understand what happened, but you are dealing with someone who feels abandoned by everyone he loved,” I say and glance at Lia.

---