Seven

Although Adela stops wrapping to glance up at me, she doesn’t call me a liar, and neither does Mack, though they must be able to tell I’m not being entirely truthful.

Mack’s eyes dip to my stomach.

“Did you want to talk to Adela about the baby while she’s here? I can wait outside if you want?”

You mean why did I run away from my mate? Uh, no thanks.

They, Adela at least, think I’ve been abused. I caught her glances as if she were searching out bruises or cuts, but it’s pointless. Not just because we shifters heal too fast to leave lasting bruises. There are some wounds, some hurts that aren’t on the outside. They cut too deep for that.

The worst was the indifference, I think. The way Shane would turn away when I was speaking as if what I had to say wasn’t important, or the way he wouldn’t care if I saw him disappearing with Bree.

He’d return still doing up his pants as if he wanted me to know what they’d been doing. And if I somehow missed it, he’d stand next to where I was sitting in the den, so I couldn’t fail to notice their shared scents.

Remembering all the ways Shane hurt me, I feel my eyes filling with tears and I turn my face toward the couch. “No.”

Mack doesn’t push for answers, which is something I’m coming to expect from him, and neither does Adela.

They stay silent as I keep my eyes shut, facing away from them, waiting for Adela to finish tightly bandaging my leg and slipping the leg brace back on.

After resting her hand on my leg for a few seconds, as if in comfort, Adela rises. “All done now.

You rest up, Aerin. You couldn’t be in better hands than in Mack’s.”

I listen to the low hum of their conversation as they leave the room and step out of the front door. They’re talking about things that mean nothing to me, events in town, people I don’t know, that kind of thing. Again, it’s soothing in a way that only someone who has been an outsider practically all their lives would understand. For just a second, I feel like I belong… somewhere.

When I feel a heavy gaze on the side of my face, I turn to find Bennett standing in the doorway with crossed arms.

Since the pack left shortly after breakfast, I thought it was just me, Mack, and Adela in the house. But then I remember that everyone else stuck their head around the lounge door to say goodbye.

Everyone except Bennett.

Now I understand why he didn’t say goodbye. It wasn’t because he was trying to avoid me because he hates me and wants me gone, it was because he wasn’t leaving at all. He must’ve been outside in his car or something, waiting for Adela and Mack to leave so he could get me on my own.

A spike of fear shoots through me, and I fight to sit up without jarring my leg. “There’s no need to be afraid,” he says in his gruff voice. “I won’t hurt you.”

My voice is filled with bitterness. “No. What you’d do is a thousand times worse.”

The confusion settling on his face seems real, doesn’t seem feigned. But Shane was like that too, an actor so good that the only one who saw his ugliness was me.

Before he can speak, Mack appears in the doorway, his eyes going from me to Bennett, as if he senses the tension between us. “Is everything okay?”

“I’d like to go back upstairs. I’m tired,” I blurt out, desperate to get away from Bennett.

Other than a brief frown in Bennett’s direction, Mack says nothing else. Though, what I expected him to do, I have no idea. Even if Mack walked into Bennett beating the shit out of me, as his beta, any step he made to stop his alpha would be viewed as a challenge to his position. And challenges, I’ve seen over and over, lead to nothing but a dead challenger, at least in my father and Shane’s packs.

After carefully lifting me from the couch, he carries me back upstairs. As we pass Bennett, I turn my face away from him, not wanting him to see how much he’s scared me. Not wanting him to see the ghosts that live in my eyes.

When I’m back in Mack’s bed, I think about my current situation and how desperate it is. I can’t afford to stay here anymore, not with an omega who could discover my secret any moment, and not with an alpha who could trap me here. Briefly, I think of Mack’s smile and his kindness toward me.

Maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to stay here.

But then I remember the way Bennett looks at me, and his determination to send me away. He sees me as trouble, and he isn’t wrong.

I left the Dacre pack because I wanted—needed to be free, needed to be away from a place where I would never rise above anything more than an unwanted duty.

If Bennett learned what I was, he would keep me here because there’s value in having an omega, or he would sell me to another pack since they already have their own. I can’t afford to let that happen, not while I’m pregnant, and not when I don’t know where I’d likely end up.

I could end up in a pack with an alpha that’s a million times worse than Shane. One who wouldn’t think twice about beating me morning, noon, and night, regardless of who my father is.

Which means I have to find another way to leave. With a broken leg.

Going on two feet is impossible, it hurts too much to put pressure on my leg, but if I were to shift and see if it’s bearable on four legs, I might be able to get far enough away that they won’t come after me.

“You want me to stay, Aerin?”

I stare at the wall and think about the best way I can leave. Although Mack is nice, his loyalty is to his pack, and to his alpha. Not to me.

“No. I want to be alone.”

There’s a pause before I hear him cross back to the door. “If you need anything, just shout and I’ll be right here.”

But I don’t respond. I’m too busy thinking through all the ways I can leave without getting caught.

All the rest of the day I barely speak. No matter how much Mack tries to talk to me, I refuse to be drawn into any conversation.

The offer of lunch doesn’t get a response. I’m too busy thinking about how I’m going to get from the bed and downstairs without breaking my neck.

Mack’s suggestion to take me to the garden tempts me for a moment.

Not because I’ll be getting fresh air, but because it would make escape easier if I was already outside.

But then I catch sight of my gray duffel bag in the corner of the bedroom and I realize I can’t leave here without it. So, I have to make my escape from the bedroom. I can’t leave my clothes and all my cash behind because it’s all I have.

It’s only mid-afternoon when my stomach grumbles and the urge to use the bathroom sneaks up on me that I realize I’m being stupid.

Going on the run desperate to use the bathroom and with an empty belly won’t get me far. So even though it feels like I’m using Mack—tricking him even, I accept his offer of a meal when he next comes up to check on me.

After a much-needed trip to the bathroom, Mack brings up a plate of steak and potatoes and leans against the wall beside the window like before.

This time, him being there is not as comforting. It’s downright awkward. It’s impossible not to feel guilty when Mack is doing so much for me while I’m busy planning my escape.

“Is the meal okay?” he asks, startling me.

Just in time, I stop myself from tipping the plate over in my lap. I force myself to smile as I lift my head and meet his eyes. “It’s good.

Thanks.”

Then why are you just picking at it?

I wait for Mack to ask the question floating around in my mind, but that’s not the question he asks.

He doesn’t ask a question at all. “Bennett isn’t a bad guy.”

I return my gaze to my plate because I don’t want to hear him defend his alpha. I especially don’t want him to see the anger lighting my eyes at having to hear him do it. “Sure.”

Several seconds pass in silence. “If he said anything to…..”

“He didn’t say anything,” I interrupt, working out how I can get rid of the contents of my plate so Mack can leave. The sooner he leaves, the sooner I can get back to plotting my escape.

The silence is so long that I know Mack doesn’t believe me. Not that I can blame him. If I heard me, I wouldn’t believe me. “Well, you’re safe here. You don’t have anything to fear from Bennett or anyone else here.”

My smile is so bitter that I make sure to keep it aimed at my plate so Mack can’t see it. “Right, whatever you say.”

“Aerin…”

“Thanks for the meal, but I don’t think I’m hungry.” I return my fork to my plate, leaving most of the meal untouched, knowing there’s no way I can eat now. “I think I’d just like to sleep if that’s okay.”

To my relief, he doesn’t push to know what’s wrong because it’s clear something is, and it’s just as clear that I want him gone. That I want to be alone.

“Whatever you need.” In a second, he’s across the room, retrieving the tray from me.

I don’t bother faking another smile because I know he’ll see right through it. Instead, the moment Mack lifts the tray, I turn my face away and settle back in bed.

At the doorway, he pauses. “Just shout if you need anything else.”

I nod, but I don’t turn from the bookcase I’m staring at but not seeing, and I don’t respond. There’s nothing I need from him, nor from anyone in Winter Lake.

He opens the bedroom door and lets himself out, closing it quietly behind him.

For hours I lay still, trying to rest but unable to relax because my mind won’t shut off. I keep finding reasons to stay, reasons to ask Mack for help because out of anyone who I’ve met so far since I ran from the Dacre pack, he’s the only one that I think would help me.

But then I remember he’s a beta here. He can’t help me, even if he wanted to, not if Bennett ordered him not to.