Page 72 of Awakened and Betrayed
“He did what?” I shout into the phone, and my eyes snap to Torrez’s.
“You left your pack? Why the fuck would you do that?”
“You’re not a shifter. I can’t claim my rank and also claim you,” he tells me casually, like somehow I should know that’s how this works.
“But weren’t you second in line to take over or something?” I ask, shocked that he would walk away from that for any reason.
Torrez shrugs again. His blase´ attitude about this whole situation is really starting to irritate me. Mave calls my name from the phone, and I tune back into her voice.
“Did you hear what I said?” she asks.
“No, sorry, I was a little busy freaking the fuck out.”
“Vin, Torrez can’t come back to the pack. If you don’t accept him as a mate, he’ll have to find somewhere else to go, and there’s no guarantee another pack will ever take him.” She’s quiet for a moment. “Basically what I’m getting at, is this is a big fucking deal.”
I release a hollow laugh and run my fingers through my hair. “More like, this is a big fucking nightmare.”
“He’s a good male. You guys could be really amazing together.”
“Mave, I already have five mates...five!”
“And now you can have six!” she snickers.
“Why do shifters act like I’m just adding fruit to a basket? He’s not an apple. He’s a being, a male, an individual.”
“Yeah, an individual any female in their right mind would want to take a bite out of,” Mave grumbles.
“You’re not helping,” I tell her, exasperation seeping out of every word.
“Come on, Vin,” Mave teases seductively. “Let him take a bite out of you, or better yet, a nice long lick. Get a taste for how shifters like to do it, and then call me and tell me you don’t see the benefit in adding a sixth to your collection of gorgeous males. I don’t even know why you’re complaining; it’s a tad ungrateful if you ask me. I’d switch places with you in two-point-five milliseconds, and I’d spend the rest of my life fuc…”
I cut Mave off. “I’m hanging up on you now.”
“Good, I’m going to go have somemetime while I fantasize about the group orgy I’d be having right now if I were in your place.”
Mave hangs up on me, and I shake my head at the phone as I hand it to Knox and watch him slip it back into his pocket.
What the fuck am I going to do?
I thread both of my hands into my hair and fight the urge to start pacing. He can’t go back to his pack, but he can’t join my Chosen either, so where the fuck does that leave him? My troubled gaze finds Torrez’s warm brown eyes. I stare into them, and it’s like I can smell the rich soil my feet sink into as I run through the forest on a moon-kissed night. I can feel the crisp air whooshing past me and the laughter and joy bubbling up in my throat. Why am I drawn to him?
Torrez takes a step towards me, but I’m pulled from the moment when Bastien steps in front of me, cutting Torrez off from my line of sight. I snap back into reality. Our life is complicated enough. There is no chance I can add this on top of everything else we’re already dealing with. I sidestep Bastien, and Torrez’s eyes snap back to mine. His chest falls at whatever he sees in my stare, and he shakes his head.
“Don’t decide this now. Not like this. You need time to see the truth your worry is hiding from you. I can wait.”
I open my mouth to argue, but before I can so much as inhale in preparation of a response, Torrez flashes into his wolf and darts away through the trees.
I shout for him to come back, there’s no point delaying the inevitable. But my call echoes through and around the trees and then falls to the forest floor unanswered.
“What the fuck just happened?” Sabin asks.
But any answer, or more likely the lack of one, is lost in the sound of the ringtone from someone’s phone. Valen pulls his phone out and brings it to his ear. He answers and then grows silent his eyes locking onto mine, his look searching.
“We’ll be right there,” he tells whoever’s on the other end before disconnecting. “That was Aydin; I guess there’s someone named Pebble at the house. He’s saying he needs to talk to you right away.”
* * *
I followthe guys into the living room where Aydin and Evrin stand, arms crossed, lording over Pebble as he sits stiffly in a chair. Pebble spots me as we pour into the room, and he stands up.
