I felt as though I'd been slapped. I drew the phone back and put it on speaker mode, just so I wouldn't have to have her voice closer to my ear. Maybe all werewolf women, I really hated the term bitches, were like this. Though it wasn't as if I were swimming in friends before, with few people understanding my need to care for the animals of my county, it would have been nice to have the potential of being around a few women like me.
Maybe it was best to try to make friends with her. I'd have been displeasured with the sort of woman who came in and replaced my sister, if I'd had any, too. "I'm trying to understand all of it. The guys- sorry, my pack, thinks that I'm doing a good job of it."
"They would. You know I called the Meet to protect Tommy and you, right? You know that?"
I took a breath and a flood of disgust came out of me. "I think that you called the Meet because you're still mad at Hudson for getting your sister killed. I think that you called the Meet because you want to see him and my other alphas suffer as much as you can and this is the perfect opportunity for it. And I think that maybe your sister is better off dead than having to deal with you."
Well, so fucking much for making friends with her. Where had all of that come from? A warm, cozy sensation uncoiled within me, as if I'd just settled down for a family movie with my entire pack. Whatever I'd done, the others somehow knew about it. And they were pleased with me.
How they felt meant a hell of a lot more than making friends with her.
"You just don't understand," she sighed, miserable. "Let me make it up to you. One quick little visit. We sit down, we talk, and I see if they're really doing right by you, by all of us in the community. The law is the law, Sadie, no matter how sweet you are. And Hudson should have had my nephew under his control. If I find you safe and sound, for yourself and for the matters of the Supernatural Secrecy Pact, I'll drop the Meet."
I paused and looked at Bosco. The dog was fast asleep, my hand still resting on his big, empty head. I chewed my lower lip and thought about it. It could be a trap. Oh, by all means, it probably was a trap. But what was she going to do to me? Kill me in the middle of some restaurant? That didn't seem likely. And she sure wasn't going to invite me to her house. She didn't trust me. You didn't invite people to your home when you didn't trust them.
"We meet somewhere public, somewhere without the guys?"
"Somewhere right out in the wide open where everyone would see me, or you, become a wolf. We'd be in violation of the Pact immediately and that would be that. Can't exactly call a Meet if I'm being a bad girl, now can I?"
I didn't see any way she could hurt me. But how was I going to sneak away from my alphas? They had all but barred me from leaving, not quite saying that they didn't want me to go or taking my keys, but always giving me worried looks and asking if I wanted them to join me. I guess I expected that. I hadn't wanted them to leave either, when they'd had to; mostly to go get more wood or screws or whatever they needed to keep improving the rescue.
There were some people who would have taken offense to them penning me in, but I knew what their hearts were. I knew that they were just scared, like I was, that someone might hurt me. Or maybe that my car would stall on train tracks. Life came at you fast when you loved other people, even if they could turn into wolves.
"You're buying," I told her.
She laughed in response and I sighed. "Where are we meeting up? And when? It's going to be a trick and a half to get them off my tail."
"Just throw a little bleach in the road. It won't hurt them and they won't be able to track you, sweetie. Is Alfonzo's too much of a drive for you? Around 6 tomorrow?"
God, she'd named one of the most expensive Italian restaurants in the tri-state area. Well, if she was going to wine and dine me, it was hard to say no. I'd had the worst craving in the world for garlic bread and I had no idea if I could eat it. Dogs couldn't have garlic. Could werewolves?
"I'll be there," I said, and hung up on her without giving her the chance to say goodbye. It gave me a flicker of satisfaction.
Bleach the road to get away from the guys, leave them at the rescue with a note of apology, go meet the evil queen in a castle made of spaghetti. God, life had gotten weird since I'd been bitten.
It felt so wrong. I was, without a doubt, absolutely betraying their trust. They hadn't even wanted me to talk to her and I was planning to sneak away on them. I sighed, shook my head, and headed back outside to return Xav's phone. My alphas were just putting everything away as I came up on them. "Xav? Your phone?"
He took it and drew me close, worry written all over his face. "What'd she do to you? You smell like you've been through a nightmare."
"She's not that bad," I said, and made a decision on the fly. "I'm meeting up with
