Page 122 of Ensnared by the Pack: The Complete Series (Destined Realms #3)

AUDREY

A few minutes later, as the new small, hopeful peace settled inside me, the boy closest to me, Holden, sat back and held up his flipbook, looking at me expectantly.

“What have you got?” I asked, crouching beside him.

He slowly flipped through the six pages that he’d drawn. He wasn’t a very skilled artist — of course, he was seven so that could easily change — but his incremental position changes looked great.

“That’s fantastic,” I praised, making him puff out his chest. “A few more pages and you’ll complete the action. What do you think your guy should do after he leaps over that rock?”

“Leap on it,” he replied, his expression serious as if jumping onto the rock after jumping over it was the next logical action.

“Good idea. If you want to keep going after that, you could make it look like he’s running away from the rock or jumping up really high by drawing the rock farther and farther away from your guy—” I pointed at the space behind his stick figure and then a few more spots getting closer and closer to the spine of the book. “Or draw the rock getting smaller and smaller as your guy gets higher and higher.”

My flipbook had been very simple, just a guy moving around, but this kid had already added a prop, and I hoped my little nudge helped him think about other ways he could work with the prop.

“Oh! I know!” he exclaimed and went back to drawing.

I straightened and let my gaze wander to the parents, praying I hadn’t overstepped and that Holden’s parent, whoever they were, wouldn’t get upset with me.

But Felix gave me a nod of approval, making me wonder if Holden’s parents had just dropped him off and hadn’t stayed since Quinn hadn’t indicated that Felix had more than one kid in the group.

And now that I thought about it, it was kind of surprising to see so many adults standing around watching. I’d gotten the impression this area was a form of daycare and that they weren’t required to help out.

“They were about to leave when you showed up with the flipbook,” Quinn chuckled as if she could read my mind, although my wondering was probably obvious in my expression. “You know she doesn’t bite,” she added to the others.

One of the women offered an embarrassed smile. “We didn’t?—”

“You’re mated to Knox and—” the man beside her said.

Felix huffed. “She’s obviously not like Knox. She’s here talking to us, showing our pups something new and exciting.”

“But Knox has to be watching,” the man protested. “He flattened a third of Stonehaven just to get to her. I don’t want to risk saying something wrong and have him go after me.”

“He’s not going to go after you,” Quinn said, glancing at the kids who thankfully weren’t paying attention to the conversation. “He’s never seriously hurt a pack member.”

“He would for his mate,” the first woman said.

“Then don’t threaten her,” Quinn shot back as if it was obvious.

“But we don’t know anything about her,” the first woman said, making me cringe. It looked like I hadn’t done enough to ease their worries.

“Then talk to her.” Quinn threw her hands up in exasperation.

Do you need me to rescue you? Knox asked.

My gaze jumped straight to a shadow in the grasses between a red tent and a booth with yellow and green triangle flags.

Knox.

I knew without a doubt that it wasn’t a grimalkin like it had been a month ago when I’d been in the same playground watching happy families being happy. It was my mate.

A hint of worry seeped through our bond and I could tell Knox was willing to leave the safety of the shadows to rescue me. He didn’t want to, but he’d do it.

I shook my head and tried to calm myself. They were just talking. Felix and Gemma’s mother had relaxed around me, the others would, too. Eventually.

Except it was the eventually part and how long that would take that concerned me. Which set off my worry and desire to shrink in on myself and become less noticeable.

“Excuse me,” I murmured, needing to get away from them to refocus on what worries were real and what was the product of my upbringing. “I should find a table for lunch.”

I clasped my hands in front of me to stop them from trembling and strolled away from the craft table while everything inside me screamed to hurry up, be invisible, just for a moment.

Are you sure? Knox growled. You just say the word.

I nodded yes. Then realized Knox might think that was me asking him to rescue me, so I shook my head, then huffed realizing that wasn’t clear, either.

I pushed some love through our bond, trying to will him to understand that I just needed a moment and that I could stay strong until Bishop came back because his plan for his pack to see me was making them more welcoming.

I’ve finally managed to get rid of Velora and clear up the non-argument. Getting food now, Bishop said in my head.

About time, Knox huffed. She’s uncomfortable being alone.

I left her with Quinn, Bishop protested.

And Quinn is only one person and she’s responsible for looking after the pups, not Audrey.

I opened my mouth to tell them it was fine then snapped it shut. There was no point in saying anything. I was too far away from both of them to be heard and speaking into the air would only make people more wary of me.

I’d never wanted telepathic communication more than I did now, even if it was just to tell them to shut up. But I couldn’t, so I just had to put up with them arguing in my head.

Straining to ignore them, I let my gaze wander to a nearby game street at the side of the park with booths that had all manner of games. There weren’t as many people down the impromptu street as there’d been on the other narrow streets through the festival, but that only meant it wasn’t crowded. Families played games and cheered each other on, a large group of eager-looking kids gathered around a booth with bright blue stripes, and?—

A hint of gold caught in sunlight flashed for a second and I turned my attention back to the group of kids to see Cyrus stand up. He must have been hunched over or crouching in the middle of the group for me not to have seen him when I first looked because he stood easily a head taller than most of the kids.

He said something and ruffled the hair of one of the kids, making the young man beam with pride, then he turned to someone else. The kids hung onto every word he said, but I didn’t get the impression it was because he was commanding them. No, they all looked excited and happy.

“So what’s the plan?” Cyrus asked, making me realize I’d wandered close enough to hear him.

My heart stuttered, but I couldn’t make myself walk away so I turned to face the playground, praying it wasn’t obvious that I was eavesdropping.

God, it was the stupidest thing I could have done. He’d already told me to remember my place and accused me of sneaking around, but my body had frozen on the spot. In fact, something inside me was screaming that I needed to get closer.

I’d never seen Cyrus look so relaxed, so comfortable, and the kids looked at him with adoration. They clearly loved him and weren’t afraid of him.

So, it’s just me he hates.

But that thought didn’t feel right, no matter how scared I was of him. What I saw now was a kinder softer version of the gruff man who I’d walked with for a month. The man who I’d originally thought he was.

Except that didn’t fit with the man who’d yelled at me and it was always safer to assume someone was more dangerous than they might be.

“Meet your little brother or sister,” a young man said, his voice cracking. “Buy them lunch and play games.”

“And win a toy for them,” another guy said, this one a few years younger than the first.

“And don’t mention the attack,” added one of the girls, making me look back at the group.

“Right,” Cyrus said. “We want them to forget for a day who they’ve lost or who’s still in the hospital.”

All the kids nodded and Cyrus handed out coin purses.

I couldn’t stop staring. It sounded like Cyrus had arranged for a group of older kids to help younger kids have fun at the festival, kids who’d suffered during the grimalkin attack.

That certainly wasn’t the man who’d yelled at me or who said veiled threats about ruining my dinner or being on time.

My fantasy rushed through my mind’s eye. He was always gentle and loving. He always held me with such tenderness and looked at me like I was the most precious thing in the world as he pushed inside me to ease the heat fever from burning me up.

For a second, it felt like it was more than just a fantasy, like the moment between us had been real.

But that was the Cyrus I wanted him to be, the Cyrus he was showing to these kids and the rest of their pack. Not the Cyrus he was with me.

The thought made my throat tighten and the fantasy slipped away.

“Don’t forget to have fun yourselves,” he said as they all rushed past me into the park to a group of young kids waiting on the other side.

Oh, shit.

I froze, holding my breath as if that would make me invisible even though I was standing out in the open. I didn’t want to find out how he’d react to me listening in and could only pray he wouldn’t want to make a scene in front of his pack.

Worry swelled through our mating bond and I pushed as much love back at Knox as I could, hoping to reassure him. I didn’t want him upset enough that he’d run into the middle of the festival. That could only spell disaster.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Cyrus head deeper down the makeshift street and released the breath I’d been holding, relief flooding me… as well as disappointment. I didn’t want to be invisible to him or ignored by him. I wanted the Cyrus of my fantasies.

But that was never going to happen.