Page 68 of Moon Kissed

Well, that shockingly slick, seductive wolf just threw my stereotypes back in my facehard, and it was... sexy.

Yes, okay! It was fucking sexy, and not just my horndog wolf thought so. That kind of in-your-face, take-charge confidence was my weakness all day, which was not good.

I wanted my fates under control, but I could not go to bed with them. I couldn’t complete the bonds. Every woman knows you have all the power in a relationship when he’s chasing you. You have none once you’re caught.

I went straight to the window to put in my order. Just to give me something to do other than sit around listening to everyone whisper about me, and they were whispering. I heard comments about my stolen angora sweater dress, and matching blue boots. I heard them whisper about Hall, if I killed him, and who’d I go after next. I heard Castor on a hundred lips.

But what I didn’t hear was a single word about Mason, Nia, or what my fates and I interrupted the night before. Even though the omegas knew about it, they weren’t uttering a word in this room full of alphas.

Interesting.

I wasn’t used to this as an epsilon. There wasn’t much sisterhood, community, or all-in-it-together among the epsilons. We were the definition of every woman for herself. But for omegas, they appeared to have their own rules, their own bonds, and their secrets among themselves.

It was weird to only be learning this now. Weirder still to realize how little I knew about my people. But it wasn’t a surprise.

My fists balled at my sides. As I learned harshly, brutally, and violently only a short time before, I didn’t know anything about Wolf Nation.

Not a fucking thing.

“How come you’re not afraid?”

I pulled out of my thoughts. “What?”

Nia studied me with a strangely intense expression. “I... I... I lived my whole life thinking no one could hurt me, and then...” She looked away. “But people can hurt you, Daze. Peoplewantto hurt you. I know what that feels like now and it’s theworst,” she hissed. “Is this what people feel like all the time?”

I met her gaze steadily. “It’s how women feel.”

She flinched. “How do you do it? How... do I do it?”

I didn’t need to ask what she meant. “It’s simple, Nia.” I reached out and accepted my pancakes. “You get stronger, and then you get even.”

I turned, and came face to face with Badr.

My hand was already inching toward my knife, ready for—

“Nia,” he said, dismissing me completely. “Sit with us.”

The guy said her name and Nia still looked around like he could be talking to someone else. “What? Me? Why?”

“Because what happened shouldn’t have happened. We should’ve looked out for you. From now on, we will.” A smile completely foreign to his face appeared on his lips. “From now on, you’re with us.”

All the whispering about me stopped, because everyone was too busy gaping at Nia.

A personal invitation from one of the most popular, and handsome, alphas in the school to sit at a table everyone else isn’t even allowed to look at too hard? It was unheard of.

“But— But, uh—” She flicked to me. “I’m not allowed to leave her side.”

Holly placed Nia’s lemon blueberry scones at the window. Badr picked it up before she could move. “Volana comes too,” he tossed over his shoulder, walking off.

“Um.” Nia rubbed her arms, looking from her watching audience to me. “Is this cool with you?”

“That’s for you to say,” I replied, expressionless. “I understand if you’re not interested in being surrounded by alphas, but for what it’s worth. I think they’ve already proven they’ve got your back.”

Her grip tightened on her shoulders, as if she was trying to keep herself together. “Maybe no one will—again if I’m close to the Chosen Five.” She ripped a word out of that sentence, but I filled in the blanks just fine. “Don’t you think?”

Something approaching pity filled my chest. The woman didn’t trust her wolf anymore. She didn’t trust her to protect her, so now she was relying on her enemy to be an internal compass. If I was the best Nia could do, then Luame help that girl.

“Solid logic,” I said simply.

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