Page 124 of Unforgivable

"Couldn't be better."

"We're home?"

"Yes, we're home, beautiful."

She flinches, "call me 'love' please."

Now it's my turn to flinch. It burns me up inside to know that Lyri has to deal with this latest attack on top of all the other bullshit.

"I want to train today," she murmurs.

My hand pauses on her cheek. How to handle this one? "You'll have to ask Rhet, love," I smirk to myself. Blame good 'ole Blue Eyes, ha.

"I'm training, Ezra," she warns.

"Sweetheart, you can barely get up out of bed."

"Yes, I can. I just... don't want to right now."

I can't hold in the chuckle at her pouty tone of voice and ridiculous arguing.

My laughter ends too quickly. We failed to defend her from Liam. A fucking horse had to do our job. She's scared and doesn't trust us to protect her anymore.

"I can train, Sunshine," she says. Her soft hand cups my cheek. "All of you... you're sacrificing too much for me."

Is she out of her mind? "Nothing is too much for you, love. Don't you get it? You've saved us from going wild, from giving up. My wolf has never felt this way before. I love you. The other two love you, too. Not as much as me, but- ow." I rub my chest where she slapped me, hoping she'll kiss it better.

"Don't tease your brothers."

"They're not even here," I point out.

"You all spy on me. They could be anywhere, listening," she mock glares at me, then sighs, flopping onto her back and staring at her ceiling. "This is really boring, Ez."

"I know, but- hey! You can meet Carmichael."

"He's here?" she brightens up a little.

"Yeah, somewhere. Let's go."

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Lyri

I suppress the urge to duck behind my males and hide. This male coming towards us with ground-eating strides is a monster. It's only the similarities in his face that tell me that this must be Rhet's cousin, Carmichael. He's beyond intimidating with black ink over swarthy skin and the lightest blue eyes I’ve ever seen. How on earth does one male become this size, alphason, or not? I can't believe that this male is only twenty-two years old. He's not even fully grown yet. How enormous will he become when he is?

Hard blue eyes examine me. I straighten my spine, forcing myself to remain upright and uncowed.

It's not easy. I'm exhausted from the latest injuries and the incredibly annoying fact that each of my males felt it was necessary to check on me throughout the night. I would just drift off into sleep, and another set of quiet footsteps, male breathing on my face, worried eyes staring at me, would inevitably wake me back up. It didn't help that none of them slept next to me for the first time in months, too afraid of hurting my wounds.

So I'm tired, irritable, and sore, and this male is beyond intimidating. I see the family resemblance in the shape of the eyes, the color of their hair. Both Rhet and this male look like they could be brothers.

But there is a feral cruelty to this male that even Rhet, with all that happened to him, doesn't have. This is an alpha, a male who will bend to no one. I’d stake money on the idea that Carmichael Reyes enjoys bloodshed.

"So you're Lyri," he mutters. There's judgment in his eyes. I understand it. I don't like it, but I understand it. I'm not his cousin's mate. I'm not family. I'm not even pack, but Rhet is determined to sacrifice everything, even his own life, to keep me here on the ranch. I don't think I believed in Rhet's love until he showed up at the clinic, ready to battle to get me back. Suddenly, the real world was intruding on our private life.

"Your mate didn't want you?" now he's looking at me with speculation.

I glance at Rhet. "We didn't tell him who the fucker is," he explains.

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