Page 126 of Scent to the Feral Cowboys
“Thanks,” I murmured.
“You’re welcome,” he said, slowly nodding.
Silence blanketed the room. Too warm. To confining. I had to fill it.
“Even if I’d come here in a better way, this just wouldn’t work.” I told them, gaze roving over each splendid Alpha face. “I’m too different. I grew up flying between San Francisco and Tacoma. I’m used to cities. Air pollution. Noise pollution. Nonstop shopping and coffee shops at every corner. I know nothing about living on a ranch.”
Wade leaned forward, hands knitting together atop the dining table, his eyes—a deeper green than his twin’s—gazed at me unwaveringly. "Did you ever think maybe that's exactly what makes you interesting to us?"
"What? My complete ignorance of rural life?" I scoffed, but the sincerity in his expression made something flutter in my chest. “My stupid body that can’t even get me past the property line without failing?”
“In your defense, there was a mountain lion involved,” Cooper butted in, that teasing way of his grating.
“Sure, a big ass cat. And how did I handle it? The second I was afraid; I ran back here so the big men could save me.” I leaned back in the chair; hands limp against my lap. “There’s nothing about me that fits in a place like this.”
"Everythingabout you is exactly what this place is missing," Boone said with quiet conviction. I turned to find his impossibly dark, warm eyes still fixed on me. “We’ve been colder longer than you know, Nelly. To us… you’re fire. You’re everything warm."
I looked away, uncomfortable with how his words seemed to reach inside me. My gaze fell onto my plate. I picked up another gooseberry, then dropped my hand back down to my lap. I fidgeted with the small fruit, trying not to pop it and make a mess, but also wanting to absolutely smash it. Destroying something would feel good, even if it was this tiny berry Wyatt had painstakingly foraged.
“Even if I’d come here in a better way,” I repeated my earlier claim, “I’m not the right Omega for your pack.”
“Nelly, we really didn’t know,” Wade spoke again. “You got to believe that we had no idea they’d find you the way I did. No idea they’d cuff you and bring you here against your will.”
“Are you really trying to tell me you had no idea how Eros operated?” I asked, desperate to believe them. If they reallyhadn’t known, if they were good men, then maybe I didn’t have to fight my Omega desires so hard. "That they’d get your product anyway they had to?"
"We would never have agreed to that," Wyatt said firmly. His jaw tightened, a muscle ticking at the corner. "Never."
"I don’t understand why it’s me," I demanded—mostly from the universe, hoping fate would explain itself. My voice cracked out two questions. “Haven’t I been through enough? Haven’t I met my quota?”
Levi's face fell, a flash of genuine hurt in his eyes. "It's not like that, Nelly. We didn't ask for you to suffer."
"So, you say," I muttered, but something in his expression made my conviction waver. “But it’s not just this. It’s…” I waved both arms, gooseberry tucked into my right fist, “everything.”
Wade pushed away from the table, his chair legs scraping against the floor. I flinched again, expecting anger, but instead he walked to the coffee pot and refilled his mug. His movements were deliberately slow, like he was trying not to startle me.
"Look," he said, turning back to me with the steaming mug between his hands. "We're not asking you to stay if you don't want to. We're not monsters. But we didn't trick you either."
"Then what happens now?" I asked, hating how small my voice sounded. "You just... let me go?"
“First, we’ll make Eros answer for this,” Wyatt’s Alpha aura built again, though his words stayed steady. Only the dark promise of a storm overhead, no thunder or lightning yet. “Then, we’ll arrange everything you need to get home safely.”
Levi spoke next, his voice thoughtful, expression calculative. “Cooper, the contract was clear about informed consent, right? So, we definitely have a reason to give them hell over Nelly’s situation?” He paused, head tilting. “Maybe we can demand at least a partial refund.”
I frowned, realizing that Levi was running the numbers on returning me.
“So glad there’s a return policy,” I mumbled.
“I’m not sure there is,” Levi said evenly, ignoring my unhappiness. His mind was going, his focus elsewhere. “But what happened to you wasn’t part of the deal, and anything we can claw back from them should serve as your compensation.”
“Oh,” I bit my lip, then took a deep breath. “I don’t need any money. I just need… to not be here against my will.”
“Cooper?” Wyatt pressed, waiting for his pack mate’s response. “You know more about the Eros stuff. The rest of us just listened to you and that lady. Didn’t do much contract reading in the process.”
I snorted out a derisive chuckle. “Well, we can bond over the fact that we’re all stupid when it comes to signing shit we don’t read.”
At my words, Wyatt smirked at me. Somehow, the little quirk of his mouth and the slight brightening of his eyes, made him even more handsome.God, stupid Alpha being so stupidly gorgeous.
Now, all eyes turned to Cooper, who shuffled his feet and delayed answering long enough for Wyatt to stand up and take a step towards him. Cooper backed up until his body hit the butcher block island. He scratched at his jaw, looking guilty.
