Page 43 of Sweetheart: Part One

“Yes.” This time, I was sure. “If he didn’t care, then he wouldn’t be so angry.”

Still, fear brushed up against that conviction.

Better than the alternative, I told myself.It’s better than a dark bond.

Even baiting a man like Ebony while living inhishome. A man who’d already come into my room while I was asleep.

If Drake wasn’t there, what would have happened?

I didn’t know the nature of what he’d wanted. Neither, it seemed, did any of the others.

Drake was still staring at me, less sure now.

“You said he hasn’t reacted like that to anyone else,” I pushed.

“No.” Drake’s voice was tight. “He hasn’t.”

“So I could make a change?” I asked. I saw the flicker of conflict in his expression.

And there it was: Drake Jaccard’s weakness. Just like everything else with the Crimson Fury pack: it came down to Ebony Starless.

All I had to do was push.

“Isn’t that what you want?” I asked, voice dropping. I reached out and dared take his hand in mine. “No more Sweethearts dropping in without knowing, no more feeling guilty every time they find out who Ebony is. And I’m choosing this. I can talk to you along the way, you and Love. Keep you in the loop. And maybe… maybe I can figure out how to balance him, and that would carry over to your bond with him, too.” That last part was a shot in the dark.

Drake wasn’t like the rest of his pack, I got the impression therewassomething else he wanted. His eyebrows rose just slightly in the dim space, something vulnerable shifting behind his eyes: a wounded, guilty shadow.

“What if I could do that?” I asked. “Give me a chance.”

It might actually be working. There was an edge to the blackcurrant wine in the space, something desperate in it. So I bundled all that fear from Rook away into a little dark corner and clung to this instead: the first flicker of genuine hope I’d had since I arrived.

“You can keep pulling in random Sweethearts who don’t know,” I pushed. “But I’ve seen what he is—what they both are. And I’m not running. Istillwant to try.”

Drake winced, running his fingers through his tangle of dark waves. “I’ll… think about it,” he said. “But it can’t just be me that wants you around. At least get Love on board.”

I stared at him, hope rising in my chest.

“Yes!” A smile tugged at my lips and before I could catch myself I was flinging my arms around his neck, jostling bundles of dressing gowns out of the way.“Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

He snorted, hands placed gently at my waist as if he wanted to hold on tighter, but wasn’t sure if he should. “You’re fucking insane.”

THIRTEEN

Day Four

VEX

Things could be going better four days in.

I’d woken with a demand on my phone to update my dark bonded pack on my progress. It took me a while to wrangle with the command.

Me: Drake likes me. Working on Love.

That, I convinced myself, was an adequate update that told them what they needed about what was going on. Who cared about the two guys in the pack who hated me? I only needed one signature, after all. Plus, it was true: today I would be trying to crack Love. I’d picked Drake’s brain all night.

“What’s his favourite colour?”

“Shit, I don’t know. Does that make me a bad pack mate, not even knowing my pack lead’s favourite colour?”

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