Page 12 of Hunter Moon

“I don’t know a Cain,” I muttered.

“Didn’t seem to know you either,” Linden said. “Called you Mr. Morgan.”

Truth was, I hadn’t met much of the Reid pack. They’d grabbed me outside the garage, shoved me in the cramped back seat of an old pickup truck, and driven me straight to Maxim Reid’s house.

The week I’d been there, he’d locked me inside a room with one tiny, high window, dark with wood-paneled walls.

At least someone was putting me to use, he’d said when he’d held me down by the back of my neck and shoved my boxers down. An omega like that, wandering around on his own, no mating mark. Clearly, there was something wrong with me.

“Groves won’t even miss you. Didn’t need a useless, unmarked omega. But I do. I need that tight omega hole—take the edge off.”

And I liked it, he said. He knew I did. Couldn’t hide how much I needed it after he’d marked me, right? Because he could feel it. An omega made to take him.

I’d fought back, given him scars to match the ones he gave me, but they hadn’t deterred him a bit. He didn’t give a damn if I bit or scratched or screamed, so long as he could—

I shuddered.

“No. No. I can’t. I don’t want—” Shaking my head, I held my hands up and stepped back from the flowers, but the room was too small. I wanted to shift and run, but I was so fucking tired, and my heart was racing, and—

And Claudia was there a second later, slipping under my arm. She wrapped her arms around my middle, her round, firm belly pressing into my side, even as she dropped her cheek against my shoulder.

“You don’t have to, Brook. It’s okay. You don’t owe them a single fucking thing.”

My breath was shaking, my chest so tight I thought I’d drown. It was like dying, but slow.

I turned and buried my nose in her chocolate-brown hair. When I breathed in deep, it was just the scent of pack. There was nothing wild about Claudia, no hint of the Reids in this house.

At least, there wasn’t after Linden mumbled he was going to get rid of the flowers and took them outside. I heard the thunk of the trash-can lid, and it didn’t feel like that was far enough away. I felt crazy, but I was already thinking about asking Mom to take them far away and burn them.

She would. She’d go through every step, just because I asked her. This was my pack, my family, and they’d be there for me.

They’d come to save me, even after Maxim Reid had snarled promises that they wouldn’t, that he’d killed Aspen Senior and no one was coming for me—that I wasn’t worth the trouble.

No wonder Aspen wanted nothing to do with me. I’d gotten his father killed. Linden might’ve forgiven it, but—but if Aspen was avoiding me, he had reason to.

I gasped in air. Couldn’t get enough of it. Claudia’s hand rubbed my back, between my shoulders. After a few seconds, I heard Linden’s steps on the porch. Weird, how loud they were. He wasn’t walking heavy, my adrenaline was just going haywire, my senses primed to pick up threats that weren’t there.

When he came back in through the front door, Linden walked over to me. He placed a firm palm in the center of my chest and held my gaze, breathing slow, silently encouraging me to do the same for about a minute.

“You’re safe here. The pack isn’t going to let the Reids anywhere near you.”

I nodded, swallowing hard, trying to work past the tightness in my throat.

“If they come again, do I have your permission to handle them without involving you?”

All I could do was keep nodding, focusing on the strength of his one hand on my chest, like I could lean over and he’d hold me up with only that.

“And do you want me to tell you about it?”

“No.”

“Okay. Done. I can take care of them. If you change your mind or want to talk, I’m here.”

But I didn’t. It might be best if I never talked again, just sank into the floor and hid in the dark until the world forgot me.

The nice thing about Linden, other than that he didn’t press me to open up right then, was that he’d never let that happen.

He dropped his hand and stepped back to get a clear view of all three of us. Claudia stayed plastered by my side.

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