Page 52 of Same Thing

Bridger stood and rounded on her before she got to him.

“Go back inside,” he barked out.

“Where are they?”

“They’re where they are supposed to be.”

“Spare me the riddles, Bridger. What is happening?”

“Do you know something?” Delta asked.

He looked out at the road and then back to them. “I don’t know where they are, but I do know we should be concerned with this text I got earlier.”

“What text?” Delta asked, coming to stand beside Nory.

“Aro is heading this way.”

“Shhhit,” Delta hissed. She paced away and back, her hands linked behind her head. “Why didn’t you tell us? She can’t be here!” Delta gestured to Nory. “They’ll kill her.”

“No, they won’t,” Bridger said in a snarl.

“Yes, they will. You don’t understand the reach of the Elders way out here. They don’t just visit a Pack to say hello. They visit when some really bad shit is going down!” She bolted for the house so fast, she looked like a blur.

“Where are you going?” Nory called.

“To get your bag and to grab Nate’s truck keys!”

“It’s just Aro coming,” Bridger said. “It’s one versus many. Plus, he’s too smart to kill a human. You probably have family who will look for you. And friends. You’re good.”

Nory couldn’t help this unsettling feeling in her chest that something bad was happening. “What am I doing wrong? Why would this Aro person be upset that I’m here?”

“They’re trying to Arrange a pairing between our Alpha and an acceptable female.”

“An acceptable female,” she repeated.

“Not a human.”

“Right.” She couldn’t breathe. She’d been aware of this, but hearing that it was still an ongoing thing after what they had done last night had her feeling a panic attack coming on.

“Let’s go,” Delta uttered as she jogged past Nory on her way to Nate’s truck. She tossed the bag into the bed of the truck and scrambled inside.

“See you when I see you, Bridger,” she murmured.

He didn’t say anything back. He just watched her get into Nate’s truck. “Liam is not going to like this,” he called right before she shut the door.

Delta gunned it, spinning the back tires as she busted a quick U-turn. Nory didn’t miss it. Her hand was shaking as she reached over and turned down the volume to the blaring rock music that was playing on the stereo.

They made it to the first blind turn, but as Delta swung the truck to the right to follow the one lane road through a thicket of trees, she had to slam on the brakes to avoid catapulting into a white SUV.

The windows were tinted so dark, Nory couldn’t see who was behind the wheel.

“Oh my gosh,” Delta whispered in horror as she craned her neck to look past the vehicle. “It’s not just Aro.”

From here, Nory could see the sides of three more white SUVs behind the first one.

Someone jammed a finger out the window of the one they were nose-to-nose with and pointed back in the direction they’d come from.

A snarl rattled the air, and a heaviness settled onto Nory’s shoulders.