Page 17 of Running on Empty

Wolf shifter males loved to provide food for two groups of people: family and their mates, the urge particularly intense when they were in the courting phase, trying to convince her to accept them as her mates. Jax had obviously run home to his brother and told on me, and now they felt like they needed to step up for poor little assaulted Stevie and act like they were my fated mates as a misguided expression of sympathy.

“Well, here comes trouble!” Bianca was Cat’s partner and she patted the seat beside her, as Cat looked at me in concern. “And don’t you look like someone just took a shit in the cobb loaf dip? Please, for the love of god, tell me a bird didn’t.”

“A bird didn’t,” I replied dutifully. “I need information and I know you won’t bullshit me.”

“Absolutely categorically can’t,” Bianca agreed, sipping on her rum and Coke can. “If you’re looking for truth bombs, I’m your girl. Well, I’m Cat’s girl first.” She leaned into her lover’s side, Cat shooting her a dirty look even as she wrapped an arm around Bianca. “But we might be open to a throup—”

“We’re not and Stevie’s straight,” Cat cut her off.

“So’s spaghetti until it gets hot and wet.” Bianca shot me an outrageous wink, making clear she was just talking shit, as per usual. “But anyhoo, those idiots were all falling over themselves to feed you, I see.”

“Yeah, what’s up with that? Like they’re cool and everything, but your cousins have never done that kind of thing before,” I said, stabbing a plastic fork into some salad. “What’s the go?”

“Oh, are we doing this?” Bianca said, a smile worthy of the Cheshire cat spreading across her face.

“Bianca–” Cat growled.

“Please, please tell me we are doing this,” Bianca begged.

“Doing what?” I asked, right as Cat tried to shut her up.

She slapped her hand across Bianca’s mouth, her lover mumbling something that I couldn’t hear and then she jerked Cat’s hand down, taking an exaggerated breath.

“You know I only like you smothering me when you’re riding my face,” she chided Cat before turning to me. Her eyes twinkled and she looked like such a picture of mischief I knew I wasn’t going to like her answer. “Those cousins of my lurver? They’ve been hovering around you for years, watching and waiting. And now, all of a sudden, something’s finally made them pull their thumbs out of their arses.”

“What?!”

My ears started to ring with a faint high-pitched sound.

“Those Kelly boys are your fated mates–and it looks like they’re finally going to make their move.”

Chapter11

In the end it didn’t matter what Jax and Ronan had chosen for me to eat because, at Bianca’s words, the plate fell from my hands, dropping down onto the grass. I didn’t even stop to pick it up, just got to my feet and took off, ignoring Cat calling my name. I knew where the bushes were thinnest, where it was easiest to scale the fence, because we’d worn a small track there going back and forth as teenagers. So I was up and over the fence, running towards my old bedroom window in seconds. But I couldn’t pull down the flyscreen as I’d done in my childhood. The guys had swapped the old ones out for fancy criminal safe screens that were bolted firmly to the house. Instead I made a beeline for the door.

“Stevie!” An urgent voice cut through the relative quiet of my yard, but I ignored it, fishing out my keys, determined to be inside and away from them before they— “Stevie…”

Jax said my fucking name like it was a prayer and that hurt more than anything else, so much so I hissed as he reached out to grab my arm. He saw the bruises, not me, and then jerked his hand back.

Of course he did.

“Back off,” Ash ordered. “Now’s not the time.”

“Not the time for what, Ash?” I snapped, stepping forward. “Not the time for what?”

“You’ve had a terrible day.”

“Getting worse by the second, I think,” I snapped at him.

“You’re tired, wrung out, traumatised—”

“Well, if I wasn’t before, I am now!” Ash just stared down at me with those cool blue eyes, not responding as I got closer. “So when were you going to tell me, huh? Or were you never going to tell me?” I reached out and shoved my hands into his chest when he didn’t respond, but the big alpha didn’t move an inch. “You fuck…” I shook my head, my throat feeling tight and constricted. “You fucking fuck. I was your little sister, you said, not your mate.” I flung my arm wide. “I thought they were out there somewhere, waiting for me.”

“Stevie—” Jax started to say, his hands jerking up in front of him as if to hold off blows.

“No.” I felt stronger, better saying that word, shaking my head for emphasis. “No, we’re not doing this.I’mnot doing this.”

“We’ll talk later—” Ash started to say.

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