Page 139 of Traded

“Come on,” Liam murmurs. He holds out his hand, waiting for me to take it. “I’ll make you some tea. We can talk this through.”

I know what his version of talking things through looks like. Just like I know that when the conversation’s over, my ability to talk it through with anyone will be stripped from me once again. “It was always Carter, wasn’t it? It was never me.”

Liam’s face doesn’t change. But a crease appears at the corners of his eyes, and he glances at a still-pale Jonas. “What are you talking about?”

I laugh softly, but there’s no amusement. “Did you ever want me at all, or was I only ever your ticket into the draft?”

Liam says nothing. But Jonas’s fish impression, all wide eyes and a floppy, gaping mouth, gives it away.

It might be funny, if it wasn’t so fucking sad.

My eyes close. “Packs get drafted together. Everyone knows the NPHL goes for the top performer. And Carter was the best. Everyone knew it. First pick and a straight ride into a top team for whoever he decided to bring with him.”

Boone had left us.

And Jonas and Liam had appeared through the mist of our broken hearts like a gift. They zeroed in on me like I was their personal homing beacon. Showered me with gifts and constant praise and told me they were one hundred per centin, and to forget all about Boone because I had them now.

Whatever they needed to do, I realize, to make Carter believe they wanted his omega too. And so he’d asked them to join his pack. The pack he was desperate to build to make sure I’d never be alone again.

“You rode his star all the way to the top.” I fold over again. I’m not sure they’re breathing. “You wanted the top team, the brand deals, the sponsorships. You made him all those promises so he’d believe we weren’t on our own anymore. That you loved me, too, even though it wasn’t about me at all.”

And when Lauren had arrived, their deception fell to pieces as easily as shredded paper.

Carter and I stepped into a trap we didn’t even know was open.

“Jonas,” Liam says shortly. “Get out.”

“But—”

“Now,” Liam grits out. “Before I throw you back through that shower.”

Jonas ducks past me without saying a word, and I look up at Liam with blurry eyes. “We’re not going to discuss the bark after the season, are we?”

There’s always going to be a reason to extend it. The biggest one being that Iknow too much.

First, it’ll be playoffs. Another month, or two. Then three. And on, and on, until I’m silenced just as effectively as Erin. “You’ve backed yourself into a corner. You can’t do a lifetime of this.”

“And I’m not going to.” Liam kneels in front of me, but I turn my face away. “I know you don’t believe me, and I don’t blame you. But I do love you, Ro. It wasn’t an act.”

His hands reach for my face. “Let’s get this done, and we’ll clean you up.”

I look him over, wondering if I ever knew him at all. “I’m going to tell them, you know.”

Liam’s hands are shaking as he looks at me with gunmetal eyes, and I nod. Almost to myself. “There will be a day that you forget. Or a trip will run over, and the bark will fade. And that leash you’re holding so very tightly around my neck will slip, and I will telleveryonewho you really are.”

Liam lets loose a long, rattling breath. “We won’t need to do this forever.”

“Stop lying to me.” My voice sounds so empty. “You can at least do that.”

His hand lifts, running through my tangled hair. He smooths it down my shoulder. “You have areas in your head called a cortical and limbic circuit. Did you know that?”

“What are you talking about?”

“It takes a while.” His finger gently presses against my temple. “But alpha barks can create long-term changes, if they’re repeated often enough and over a sustained period. They become… permanent, Rosie. Do you understand?”

Horror weaves its way through my lungs, winding around my ribs and constricting. “Permanent?”

He nods, still looking at me with that strange expression.