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Vera nods, her hair bobbing around her head wildly, though the anger hasn’t left her and I suspect she might be angry with him for a while longer about the whole kidnapping situation. Which is understandable.
But if Mathew’s this upset about one pack coming after us, I need to be sure about something else, about Mathew’s past.
I take Vera’s hand, bringing it to my mouth and softly kissing it. “Can you refill the bottles of water from before? I think it’s important to stay hydrated, especially after all the ‘exercise’ we just had.”
She glances at me, slightly frowning, but then nods when she sees the look in my eyes. “Sure.” She turns to Mathew. “Would you like something to drink too?”
He eyes her and then me, meeting my troubled gaze, understanding what I’m doing. “Yeah, sure.” He shrugs out of his robe and holds it out to her. “There will be cooled bottles in the kitchen. It’s at the end of the hallway across from the stairs. If you wear my robe, they probably won’t give you any trouble.”
Vera blushes as she looks him over, her eyes lingering on his dick, his very hard dick, quickly licking her lips as she shrugs out of her robe and hands it to him. Then she puts on his robe and ties it around her waist.
“I think this colour suits me.” Her voice is slightly hoarse and I laugh, smiling.
“Anything suits you.” I grin and she rolls her eyes at me.
She comes over, giving me a soft kiss. “I’ll be right back.”
As she’s leaving, Mathew puts on Vera’s robe, hiding his delicious body from view, and leans back against the railing, his gaze suspicious.
“I thought you two shared everything? Why send her away?” He crosses his arms over his chest.
I let out a deep sigh, trying to control the fury that’s been trying to grow in my chest ever since I saw him naked for the first time. To give him some clue, I let a sliver of the emotion into my pheromones. Fury, but of a protective type, my need to protect him.
“How much danger areyouin?”
He snorts, trying to smirk, but he’s not so sure. “In my line of work, I’m always in danger. I thought that was clear.”
“I saw the heart tattoo on the inside of your thigh.” I originally didn’t know for sure, I’d only caught a quick glimpse of it, but when he was finger fucking himself earlier, I got a much clearer look. To make things worse, it’s not just a heart, it’s a crowned heart.
“I know what it means. So, how much danger are you in?”
His uncertainty flips to anger in a flash as he stalks towards me, looming over me, his hands balled into fists. “Are you one of those bastards who…”
“No.” I stare at him, letting him know I’m sincere. “Before I met Vera, before we were constantly on the run, I helped some people escape fromthere.”
I take a quick breath. “I helped them get their feet back under them, tried to protect them until they got a new identity and hopefully a safer place to live. That’s the only thing I was involved with, helping them once they got out.”
He slowly nods and then sits down next to me on the chair, his gaze on his feet as emotions flash over his features. “Does she know?”
I shake my head, my heart aching for the pain he must be carrying inside. “She knows that I used to help runaways. But that’s all. It didn’t seem important to go into detail while we were on the run.”
He carefully takes my hand, running his fingers over the rough scar where my pinkie used to be. “Thank you.” His voice is rough. “Thank you for being a good person.” He quickly blinks, avoiding tears.
On impulse, I reach out and pull him against my chest as my heart breaks for him. He tenses for a moment before he relaxes into my embrace.
“I’ll kill anyone who dares to hurt you. As your Alpha, I promise you this,” I whisper into his hair, smiling as I catch a faint whiff of his pheromones.
I’ll kill anyone who dares to hurt my mates.
11
Vera
I don’t findanyone else in the house until I reach the kitchen and I’m immediately overwhelmed by chatter and noise from people who are cooking and doing other things.
The kitchen is massive. Bigger than the kitchens of most restaurants and hotels I’ve worked at before. It’s filled with large stoves, plural, some almost industrial sized ovens and enough countertop space for ten people to work at the same time and there would still be space left.
As I’m staring, an Alpha stands up from a table near the door on the other side of the kitchen and comes over to me.