Page 13 of Damaged Princess

My mouth opens and closes a few times, but I'm not exactly sure that's any of his business.

"You don't have shoes on. Jesus Christ. It's not even forty degrees outside, Ana." Murphy sighs so heavily he sounds like an old man. Or maybe a pissed-off bear?

"I'm good," I assure Evie's alpha. I'm holding my shoes and I wiggle them at him. "I'm headed down to my room now."

Murphy grumbles something under his breath. I think he says, "Evie would have my damn head. I miss the days when I didn't have to pretend to care. All right, hop on." He crouches down and nods to his back. "Better hold on tight. I'm not touching your ass."

I stand blinking in pure confusion.

Murphy eventually gets frustrated and barks, "Now, Anastasia."

I climb onto his back like I'm a five-year-old getting a piggyback ride. Murphy heads down the stairs at a rapid pace. We hit the second floor landing, which is where my room is located. At the same exact time Evie and Archie, one of her other alphas, come up from the bottom floor.

Archie laughs while Evie grins.

"This is absolutely not what it looks like," I say, tossing my hands up.

Only Murphy wasn't lying about not holding me up, so I slide down his back. My feet hit the carpet as Archie snorts.

"Really?" Evie asks, laughing. "It seems you've had your own version of the carry of shame."

"I have no idea what that means," I say, glancing down the hall toward my room.

"Get dressed," Murphy says. "We have a policy against half-naked, unclaimed omegas running the halls."

"Do we?" Archie asks, amusement in his tone. "If we don't, we should probably add an addendum."

"Ohmigosh," Evie says, coming to my side. "All right, let's go. This occasion calls for girl talk."

"No worries, lovely. I'll ensure the store is opened in a timely manner," Archie says, coming over and kissing her cheek.

"Oh crap," Evie hisses. "That's right. We have jobs. Thanks, Archie."

"I'll kiss you when I see you next. Make sure she gets some damn clothes on," Murphy grumbles. With that he turns and heads off.

For being such a soft-spoken person, Evie can sure shriek with the best of them. It's kind of impressive how bossy she is despite the fact she's about as sweet a person as you'll meet.

I managed a five-minute shower and changed into fresh clothes, but Evie relentlessly waited in the living room.

"What the hell happened last night?" she asks, slapping at my arm. We're both on the couch in my suite.

I shrug, picking at my fingernail. "I went to the mixer. It wasn't very exciting. Wolfe asked me if I wanted to hang out and watch a movie. We ate. That about sums it up."

"Okay," Evie says slowly. "How did you end up in his shirt?"

I roll my eyes.

"If you want to know if I screwed Wolfe then you can just ask." I laugh at the look of discomfort on her face. "I didn't, by the way. I fell asleep watching the movie. Wolfe let me sleep in his bed. Then I ran into Rafe this morning in the kitchen…" I explain what I overheard. "I'm not okay with that. I don't care how pathetic I am at the current moment. I still refuse to fall into the same trap as my mother." I roll my lips together to keep from saying more.

I feel awful saying that, because I loved my mom more than anything, but I also learned from her mistakes. I barely hold back the tears. I'm not used to being weepy at the drop of a hat.

Now isn't the time to lose myself in my emotions.

"I really don't think that's what's happening here," she says, leaning forward and squeezing my hand. "Did you ask Wolfe what's going on with Vik? He'd be the best one to tell you..."

I shake my head. "We don't talk about Vik at all, underanycircumstances."

Wolfe tried a few times in the beginning. To avoid bursting into tears I bit his head off, and Wolfe hasn't broached the subject since.

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