Page 1 of Hunted Pack (Her Vicious Pack #7)

Vera

My head and heart are all over the place as I lean in the doorway to the garage, watching Mathew and Riley hug our new scent match, watch them hold him, comfort him. While I’m all the way over here…

He’s got soft brown hair, in that shade that’s not dark or light, more of a true medium, that likely gets beautiful highlights in summer. He’s got a slim built, but I don’t know if that’s natural or because of how he’s been treated.

His caramel pheromones are filled with bitter notes, reflecting the pain he’s been under while the Hearts had him. Reflecting all the shit that they’ve put him through.

Everything about him makes me want to protect him. Makes me want to protect my precious mate. I want to hold him, keep him close, cherish him.

But every time he catches a sliver of my pheromones, he has a panic attack.

I don’t know what has happened exactly, but I have some idea, based on his reaction. Torture, of some kind. Something that has made him fearful of his own scent matches.

There are few things more evil than torturing someone so much that they can’t be around their fated mates, but that’s why some people do it… Because it’s so effective…

I swallow hard, trying not to get even more upset. Trying to stay calm.

Mathew disentangles himself from the other two, coming over to me, his face pale, his skin clammy. Oh, that’s not good. I know what that look means, I’ve seen it plenty of times in the last weeks.

“Bathroom?” I start walking ahead of him, checking if the downstairs bathroom is available.

His fingers grip onto the back of my dress as he follows me. Like he’d get lost without me, even though he’s been living here for a decade. But I know it’s more out of comfort than anything else, simply needing to be near me, letting my pheromones soothe him.

Luckily, the downstairs bathrooms are empty and I hold the braid I put in his hair only a few hours ago, as he retches over the sink. Nothing comes out, though that’s not strange, I don’t think he’s had anything to eat since last night’s dinner.

After a couple of minutes, he slowly lowers himself to the floor, pulling me down with him, his face slowly regaining colour.

I sit next to him and he puts his head on my shoulder, wrapping his arms around my waist, pushing his nose closely against my neck. I reach up and slowly undo his braid, rubbing my fingers over the back of his head, massaging him, and he lets out a sound that’s almost like purring.

For a guy who’s as scary as Mathew, he’s like putty when he’s around his mates. Especially when he curls up with us, when he needs to be held and comforted, have his Omega instincts met. I have no idea how he survived for so long without his mates around all the time.

Although, that might be why he’s extra needy now.

Tonight has been quite the night.

Mathew and Riley went on a mission to ‘retrieve’ —steal— some seeds from a biotechnological research complex and apparently that didn’t entirely go according to plan.

Though, what I understood from slivers of conversation from the guys on the teams that went with them, there were very few casualties, fewer than expected, so that was a positive.

But when Mathew was in the lab, things went a little differently than expected as they found a ‘security guard’ at work when the lab was supposed to be empty.

Double strange was that he seemed to be doing experiments when he was wearing a security guard outfit, though one that didn’t fit him, not his own.

So, they took the seed samples they were there to grab, the ‘security guard’ and all of his stuff, back with them. The fake security guard is currently in a room in the training complex, waiting until we’ve got time to deal with him.

The two guys that Caleb, Jorge and I took back with us are in the rooms next to his. Each guy in his own room, for security and safety. It’s often hard to anticipate what they might do when they realise that they’re not getting out of there, not alive anyway.

Jorge and I were supposed to go on a simple movie date, take our minds off the mission that Mathew and Riley were on and get some time alone together. With a pack, it’s hard to get one-on-one time, so this had been a pretty good idea.

That was, until I caught wind of Luca’s pheromones and —not wanting to leave a new pack member out there in the world, especially not one whose pheromones smelled like they were in big trouble— I started following him.

I found him, together with three guards, accompanying a group of young kids through dark and dirty alleys, well past the kids’ bed time. That was the second reason I couldn’t let it go.

It looked wrong and I’m not that good with injustice, at least not when it’s against kids or people I love.

One thing led to another and everything ended with one of the guards dead, two of them currently in the training complex, waiting for questioning, and the kids getting ready to go to sleep in an upstairs room.

And, of course, Luca.

Our beautiful, but broken, Luca.

Our troubled and traumatised Beta.

After he told us how the Hearts used threats against his family to keep him in line, Caleb and Jorge —together with Derrick and some others from Mathew’s organisation— immediately went over to Luca’s parents’ house and are now bringing his parents and siblings here.

So they’re out of harm’s way and we can protect them, keep them safe.

I’ve not seen my family in six years, not since Caleb stole me out of the car that was supposed to take me to my wedding to a local pack’s Alpha.

But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t try to protect them at any cost, if they ever were in danger and we could keep them safe.

I might not like them, I might not want to talk to them, but that doesn’t mean I want them to be harmed.

So, I fully understand why the first thing that Luca worried about once he realised the Hearts really had no control over him anymore, was to make sure his family was safe. That he had to be sure that the Hearts couldn’t hurt them either, couldn’t punish them for him getting away.

Mathew lets out a soft groan, his arms tightening around me as he leans against me more.

“You should eat something small. It will settle your stomach.” I don’t really want to get up, but staying here isn’t going to make things any better either.

He slowly shakes his head. “Everyone’s too busy. I can wait until things settle down.” His pulls me into his lap, wrapping himself fully around me. “And as long as I stay here, close to your pheromones, everything will be fine.”

I let out a soft laugh, turning my head so I can kiss his jaw. “ I can get you something. And you really should eat and get some fluids in you. This isn’t just about you, it’s about the baby inside you too. Tonight has been stressful enough, we don’t need to add any more to it.”

He grumbles, but then his grip on me lessens. “I guess you’re right. And I can’t stay in here for hours either. I’ve got too much to do for that.” He’s about to get up but I hold onto him, making sure he stays seated.

“Work can wait ten minutes. You need to take care of yourself first. You’re not allowed to leave this room until you’ve had food.

” I stand up, running my fingers through his hair, enjoying how soft his long hair feels against my skin.

“Unless you want to join me in the kitchen? That’s the only other place you’re allowed to go right now. ”

He looks up at me with that soft smile that makes my insides melt. “I guess I’ll join you in the kitchen, if my stomach allows me to.”

Well, we won’t know until we try.

But I have the feeling that the moment I take my eyes off him, he’ll go back to work and he’ll forget the whole ‘resting for a few minutes and get something in his stomach to replenish his energy’ until halfway through the day, at which time, he’ll feel even worse.

Not on my watch!

The kitchen is quiet, as expected. It’s too late for any of the other kitchen staff to be here and Eli is upstairs with the kids we rescued from the Hearts.

I sit Mathew down at the small table on the far end of the kitchen as I put four pieces of bread into the toaster and go through the fridge for some peanut butter. We both need to eat something that’s not going to upset our stomachs but will still give us energy.

The others should eat too, but I can only do one thing at a time and making sure Mathew and I have food in us is the priority, especially since he’ll get really busy as soon as he steps out of here.

I’m quite comfortable in the kitchen. I tend to go here for midnight snacks and sometimes help Eli with baking.

Eli doesn’t just let anyone into here, not even his own pack is allowed to do more than sit at the table, not allowed to touch anything.

But I’ve apparently ‘proved’ myself that I can be trusted in here on my own.

To be fair, the commercial kitchen is very impressive and with all the different tools, many of them really expensive, I probably wouldn’t just let anyone in here either.

With the toast and the peanut butter ready, I go back over to the table and put everything between us.

“Your stomach still doing okay?” I eye Mathew.

His morning sickness has been getting better lately, but that doesn’t mean that it’s really gone, as what happened just now made clear. It’s simply better than it was a few weeks ago.

He nods, picking up a piece of toast and starting to nibble on it. He seems to finally relax, his shoulders no longer pulled up so tight, his eyes slowly starting to unfocus, the line between his eyebrows disappearing.

If I —or anyone else from the pack— doesn’t step in from time to time, Mathew would work himself to exhaustion. And while he might have gotten away with that in the past, it’s not good to keep going like that now, especially not since he’s pregnant.

We’ve got a lot of things to do tonight, way too much, really, but it’s better to do that on at least some energy from food.

Running on adrenaline alone isn’t going to make us last for very long and while that could be doable for a single day, I feel like dealing with everything that happened tonight is going to be a multi-day thing.

“We’re on our way back.” Jorge’s voice comes over the earpiece. “We’ll be home in about an hour.”

My heart jumps and I can’t help my smile. Next to me, Mathew is smiling too, his eyes bright.

At least something went right tonight. It might not have been something we’d planned on doing, but at least something went right.

Mathew pulls me into his lap, his arm around my waist as he leans his chin on my shoulder. “We’re going to have a full house.”

“Yep.” I hold a piece of toast in front of him. “So we’re going to need all the energy we can get.”

He chuckles, taking a bite. “With you around, I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”

I kiss his cheek. “With our whole pack together, it’s not going to be a problem.”

Because being part of a pack means helping each other out, and that’s so much easier than trying everything on your own, even if it means dealing with so many different personalities.

But I guess that’s all part of it.

I wouldn’t have it any other way anymore.