Page 45 of Pack Down Bad

I cross my arms over my chest, half because I want them to know I’m annoyed with them and half because I’m narrowly holding myself together to keep from throwing myself at any one of them. Or all of them. At this point, who’s counting?

If I want the guys to be honest with me, I owe them some honesty, too. And now with my memory completely back, there’s one thing I want to make clear right away.

“I had a boyfriend at home,” I announce, ripping the bandage off to share the ickiest news first.

Knox growls under his breath as Percy sucks in a sharp breath. Rhys can’t even look at me once the words are out.

Quickly, I clarify, “Things were over before I met you guys. I invited him to the bar to meet Mia to get her opinion of him, and when he showed up... They turned out to be a scent-match. So, I left before things could get awkward. I didn’t have anything to drink at the bar, so I made a quick escape in my car, only I didn’t anticipate the weather, and that’s how I wound up here.”

A collective groan sounds from the pack.

“How serious were you with him?” Percy asks, his face fixed in a deep frown.

I nervously laugh. “I think I wanted things to be working well more than they actually were. We never made it past some chaste kissing at the end of our dates. We didn’t...connect, the way I do with you guys.”

For obvious reasons.

That news seems to help cheer the alphas up a bit. At least Rhys manages to look at me again, his eyes round and worried.

“The three of us are a little much for a rebound,” he halfheartedly jokes.

I roll my eyes and shake my head at him.

My alphas are more of a boomerang situation than a rebound. I just know that I’m going to find myself drawn back to them no matter where I try to go from this point forward.

Once I forgive them for lying to me, of course. And for me to do that, they need to spill the beans themselves so we can have a true clean slate to make decisions from.

“Your turn. Tell me the truth,” I demand, my voice coming out sharper than intended.

Rhys rubs the back of his neck and blows out a long sigh. “Okay, we lied to you, Snow Bunny.”

“About?” I arch a brow and cross my arms tighter over my chest.

I love it when he calls me by that nickname.

“About how far from town we are. About not having internet or phone service. About needing to wait so long to take you home.” Rhys recites the list in a deadpan tone that makes my heart ache. All of his boyish charm is gone, and he suddenly seems more sullen than Knox when I first met him.

Knox’s jaw tightens. “We should have told you sooner.”

“Yeah.” I laugh humorlessly. “You think?”

They must have thought I was a fool, believing they were living off-the-grid with a giant TV in their living room and Percy’s tablet full of books always within reach. Even with amnesia, I can’t believe I was so gullible.

My only excuse is being blinded by the shock of finding my scent-match.

Rhys steps closer, his hands going out to reach for me until he thinks better of it and stops himself. “We weren’t trying to hold you prisoner, Snow Bunny. We knew we couldn’t keep you forever unless you wanted that as much as we do. That your memory would return eventually, and that we would have to face whatever life you built before meeting us.”

“We wanted to make sure you would give us a chance when that point came,” Percy adds softly. “We wanted you to understand what we could offer.”

I press my fingers to my lips to still my trembling. My throat is tight as I note the sincerity in each of their expressions. They lied to me for selfish reasons, but not altogether unforgivable ones.

And if I’m being honest with myself, I’m not sure I can blame their logic.

As much as I would like to pretend I’m not the kind of person who runs from things, I sort ofdiddo exactly that. I ran from the bar instead of facing the match between Mia and Jason, even though Mia is my best friend in the entire world, and I know she would never want to hurt me.

If I remembered what happened at the bar the night I was introduced to their scents, would I have been prepared to face my shock? Or would I have run scared away from them back to hide in my apartment?

IthinkI still would have given them a chance...

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