Page 113 of This Pack of Ours

Vander. Jhin. Ez. Adrian. Kit.

It’d destroy them to see me like this. And fuck, I may be nothing but a gold pack slut, but I knew I was worth more than the slavery of a dark bond.

As long as her teeth weren’t touching my neck, I had a fucking chance. Valerie took a step closer, and I took another step back. She wasn’t rushing. Why would she? I couldn’t outrun her or overpower her. My heart was racing, trying to come up with something, anything.

“Juniper!” a desperate, familiar voice shouted. Everyone turned toward the elevator, and I saw a flash of pink hair in the half-open doors before I turned and ran.

I heard a snarl behind me, and felt auras explode into the air, making my hair stand on end, but I kept running. The spinning doors were right here, and I grabbed someone’s umbrella as I barrelled past them. I pushed the door around and then shoved the umbrella in the bottom of the door, praying it would jam as I flew into the rain. Thank fuck. Nature’s scent suppressant. They wouldn’t be able to smell me unless they were right on top of me.

Had to get out of sight.

I ran straight toward the tangled artistic maze of steel and glass in front of me and ducked inside. It was protected from the rain, only patches of wetness on the ground from where it trickled down the beams.

I was flying along the ground, my breaths heaving in my ears, my heart feeling like it might explode out of my chest.

“We’re going to find you, Juni!” called out Valerie in a sing-song voice. “Once my pack has dealt with your little fanboys, we’ll hunt you down.”

She sounded awfully confident considering the Argo pack had four alphas to her three. And she must have felt Jhin’s aura, right?

I peered out from between two steel beams, trying to see what was happening inside the mall.

“Ugh, Juni, Ireallydon’t want to ruin my hair.” She was still by the door, scowling as she looked at my maze. It was really the only place I could have hidden.

“Reveal yourself,” she commanded, and I couldn’t brace myself to resist it because it had already seized me, and I’d stopped, stepped into a gap between the metal mesh and banged on the glass.

Shit. Her eyes snapped to me, delight in her grin as I broke free and ducked out of sight again. There was a metro station just at the corner of the mall, and if I made it there, I could get away. I clamped my hands over my ears as I continued on. I looked back through a small gap between bars to see that she’d stepped into the rain.

KIT

We’d been wandering around the mall for a while, occasionally catching a whiff of sour cherry, but we hadn’t had any luck finding her.

Jhin pulled me to the side, dark eyes intent on mine as he spoke in a low voice.

“Kit,” he said and hesitated. “Is there reason to be concerned that they might try to… abuse her position as a gold pack omega?”

I twitched.

Dark bond.

He was asking if I thought they might dark bond her.

“Yes,” I said, trying to keep the tremble out of my voice. They had treated both me and the other omega like objects, and I could only imagine how they’d treat a gold pack. His lips thinned, and his strides grew faster.

We stepped into the elevator and Adrian gave a hoarse shout.

“Found her!”

We all pressed to the window where he was pointing. She was two floors down, near the exit, her posture tense as she faced off against Valerie.

Jhin darted back, and I heard the button click. I was glued to the scene.

Valerie held her arms out wide, and Juniper had taken a half-step back toward her before she froze. I could see the pack laughing. The doors closed and the elevator started down.

“This thing is so slow!” hissed Vander.

“The nearest stairs are way back there,” Jhin said. Vander growled in frustration, and I grabbed Ez’s arm as we stopped on the next floor. Vander growled again, and mashed some more buttons.

Below, they were still talking, Juniper was on defense, and as Valerie took a threatening step forward, Juniper took a step back, glancing toward the exit.

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