Page 18

Benji

The scent of fur filled the air. I wasn’t the only one seeing red, at hearing the horrors Lily had gone through. My mates and I were holding our beasts in the best we could, but it wasn’t good enough. Roan’s eyes weren’t quite human, and all of us reeked of our animals.

I’d never been one for taming my wolf. We were shifters, not people. And maybe if my beast was a house cat, I might feel differently, but wolves were wild animals, not domestic creatures. Pretending they weren’t was denying a piece of who we were.

But watching Lily tense up, biting her bottom lip, her foot tapping, her eyes looking slightly above us—our lack of control was freaking her out. I refused to let that continue.

I grabbed Roan’s and Harlan’s legs, extending my claws into them, not enough to cause damage but enough to sting.

We needed to reel it in and not scare our mate.

She’d been so brave, telling us everything that had happened in her life—or at least gave us the broad strokes.

We couldn’t destroy the trust she so graciously gave us because we couldn’t control our anger toward those who’d harmed her.

No wonder she turned us down. I would have too, in her position. She’d never been treated as the goddess she was. Quite the opposite; they made her feel subhuman.

How could she be willing to share a space with us with her history, having experienced that kind of hatred? What a kind, forgiving soul she was. It’d be so easy for her to blame Rumor, for the horrors her family put her through. Instead, they were like sisters.

People like them were the worst. Acting in public like they were above doing the actual acts they did behind closed doors.

And then to dress up their selling of their daughter as some weird-ass matchmaking process.

Fuck, thats DarkShadow Pack not buying into the societal norm bullshit and honoring the goddess’ gift of a true mate by making sure Rumor felt safe and loved at all times.

We wanted that for Lily.

I pushed my beast down until he finally caved and submitted. The other two must have done similarly because the air started to clear.

What I longed to do was to bid her farewell and then go hunt those fuckers down and bleed them dry—along with every single one of the people who came to buy her friend, Rumor. Those kinds of alphas? Yeah, none of them deserved to share the same air as us.

I’d had a respect for Darkshadow already, but it was multiplied now.

Not only did they treat their omega the way omegas should be, allowing her to thrive and be her own person, they’d taken care of our omega.

They gave her a home, the freedom she needed to grow, and the safety she needed to do so.

All this after rescuing her in the first place.

We owed them far more than we could ever repay.

“I… Do we… Should we?” She closed her eyes, inhaled deeply, and as she let it out, opened them up again. “I didn’t want to make you mad.”

“We’re not mad at you,” Harlan said. “Not mad at you at all.”

He was very careful of his wording. He’d told her the truth but held back from offering more because we were livid, and telling your scared mate you want to bleed others wasn’t the best way to make them feel safe.

We wanted to seek revenge, get justice for our mate. True. But I didn’t think it was possible to be angry at her.

“You look mad,” she said, tensing up. “Please. Please don’t lie.”

Half-truths were too close to lying, no matter the reason. I’d have done the same as Harlan. But Lily was right to call us out. We needed to do better—to be better.

“I promise you, we’re not lying. We’re not mad at you.” For someone who was resolved to tell the truth, I was getting this all wrong. Consequently, she was getting more agitated by the second.

I was grateful when Harlan took over. “You’re an omega.

You’re supposed to be treated as the precious gift that you are.

We’re very mad…livid and ready to bleed out some shifters.

But we are not mad at you. We want to destroy everyone who has ever harmed you.

I don’t mean to scare you, but you said you wanted the truth. ”

Tears were forming in her eyes, a couple escaping as she tried to blink them back.

“In this day and age, I can’t believe they would do that to you.” I wanted to take her into my arms, to comfort her.

“I’m an omega. That’s my status.”

“No,” I said a little too forcefully. “You are not your designation. And your designation does not make you less than.”

“I don’t know if you came from another planet or have been sheltered, but omegas are the property. Some are owned outright, becoming servants of some kind. And honestly, at least then there are no pretenses, you know?”

She rolled her neck.

“Some are all but owned by being sold to alphas. We aren’t precious. We don’t have choices. Why do you think I’m here, in the situation I’m in? Because Darkshadow isn’t like any other pack.”

And I crossed everything, that being DarkShadow Pack would help her see that we weren’t like those other packs either.

“I know they’re not. But they are like us. Not exactly, of course—they have a name.” Harlan chuckled. “We really need to get on that whole naming thing.”

She watched him, not saying a word.

“Lily.” I waited until she was looking at me. “Would you agree that Rumor is treated well…the best, even?”

She nodded.

“We plan to treat you even better,” Roan said.

Her jaw dropped open and snapped closed. “How do I know that once I come, you’re going to still believe the same? You’re not going to let societal norms come back?”

“Because hurt people don’t hurt people. It is as simple as that.” And obviously it wasn’t that simple, but saying the words we, as a pack, had told each other when we first scented her felt right.

Her life hadn’t been good. And neither had ours. But maybe, together, our lives could be amazing.

“We’ve waited all our lives for you. And we’ll wait as long as you need. But when you’re ready, when you decide you want this, too, we’ll be here, with open arms.”