Chapter 31
Chapter 31
Even with concealer and a full–coverage foundation, the lifted skin on my neck is visible. This is how Tessa finds me in the bathroom while I’m getting ready to meet with Xo and Knightly’s parents tonight.
“Wow,” she says staring at them while I stare at them through the mirror.
“I know. I shouldn’t have let him do it, but that thing inside of him–god, it was like it was ripping him apart from the inside, 1 place my hands on the sink trying to shake the image.
“You know,” she takes a makeup wipe from all the products I’ve tried to use to settle my skin but I’ve just made the marks angrier. “This isn’t something you need to be worried about here,” she wipes some of the makeup away. “Fucking hell, he got you good,”
“I get that this is normal for your guys, but I have to be out there in the spotlight. What kind of example am I setting for little girls out there? For my daughter? I lied to her today for the very first time in her life. Straight to her face,”
“Are you serious?” she laughs. “First time?”
“Yes,” I take the wipe and continue to clean it off.
“So, talk to him about it. Just this one time you’re going to have to let it slide because they’re already there and putting this shit on them is only going to make them angrier,” she presses her lips together. “Don’t you know how to hide hater marks?”
“No, the last time I had them was-” when your brother knocked me up despite me being on birth control.
“Alphas,” she nods. “They’re possessive pieces of shit who only care to show the world what is theirs,”
“You sound like you know what’s that like,”
“I do. I have one,” she pulls her blouse down to show me what looks like an old bite mark.
“What is that?”
“That’s my mate’s mark. It tells other males I have a partner. Works better than a ring,” she smiles. “I don’t live here anymore. I came because my mom asked me to help with Knight,”
“With his wolf?”
“Promise not to tell him?” she asks and shuts the bathroom door.
“I don’t know. I’m not a very good liar,”
“But you’re good at keeping secrets,” she laughs.
“How do you figure?”
“You have two five–year–olds with my stupid brother and he had no fucking idea. I’ve never seen Knight scared until these past few days,” she laughs and then gets serious. “How much do you get paid to make people look this flawless?” she asks caressing my face. “I’ve always been kind of a tomboy and I suck at makeup–ing. Is that a word?”
“No, and I wouldn’t put makeup on your skin. It’s gorgeous. Here,” I take a sparkly moisturizer and a soft–toned bronzer. “Just to give you a little extra glow,”
“Help?”
“Fine. I’ll do this and you talk,”
“Deal,” she slides up onto the counter.
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Chapter 31
“I have to wear this at the moment. I haven’t been sleeping well and my skin is a little lifeless,” I admit.
“Knight can help with that,” she says quietly.
“Tessa,”
“I don’t mean sex. I mean him just being close. You went through something very scary for a human. Your babies were threatened hours after we came into your life. We’ll never be able to apologize enough for that, Phoebe. You must think we’re just a bunch of assholes,”
“I don’t,” I say using a blender to add some dimension to her high cheekbones. She looks a lot like her dad. It’s kind of adorable. “Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever felt safe like this before. It’s weird. I just- I’m always ten steps ahead of the world. I’m a control freak.
“It’s what makes me so good at my job and keeping the twins out of trouble. I don’t know what’s happening next and it frustrates me. I feel like I’m that stupid twenty–four–year–old idiot standing in front of the ER doctor trying to deny the evidence on the screen,”
“Fuck, I can’t imagine having to go through that all by myself. I would kill Wayne,” she shakes her head.
“So, what’s your secret,” I try to change the subject. I reach for the mascara and hold it up.
“I’ve always wanted a sister,” she says straightening up and my chest aches because of what Knightly admitted the other night. “I was raised in a house full of boys,”
“Look up,” I point at the ceiling. She does what I ask. “I was too. Two little kitten assholes and my dad. It was obvious that he wanted sons. He was a Navy Seal. We were poor before his mate came along and he taught me to hunt and self–defense. You know, dad–son kind of shit,”
“Yeah,” she nods. “Did you hate it?”
“No, it was the only time we spent alone. Away from her. It was the only time he was nice to me. As nice as a soldier could be to their only daughter,”
“How did you get so good at this stuff?”
“Videos, mostly, and when I started on the runways. I took classes on my days off because the models never looked like I wanted them to when other artists did that for me. It would piss me off,”
“Control freak,” she laughs.
“Exactly,”
“You’re kind of perfect for my brother,” she says quietly. “I mean the one thing he lacks is control. He’s just all chaos,”
“I’m starting to see that,” I agree.
“My mom brought us here so we could force him to take a mate,” she whispers. I look up at her. “This is the first time my mom and his donor agree on something and he has a selection of potential mates. We weren’t going to just roll over and let the fucking idiot die,”
“How long does he have?”
“Well, his wolf is up and going with you and the pups here. So, it’s no longer a problem. But I’d give him to end of the summer,”
*His dad really fucked him up,” I sigh. “Keep your head up like that but look down at my hands,”
“My parents were willing to strike a deal with that asshole so as long as he could keep him alive. Knight would have been pissed, but he would be alive and we’d deal with Arnold when the time came,
“You guys are.” I reach for the eyelash brush. You all love him so much,”
“He’s our alpha. Even if Blythe were here. It’s Knight who’s been keeping us alive. The only reason our pack thrives is because he’s all that’s standing between Arnold and our annihilation. Without Knight, Arnold would have killed my dad for claiming my mom,”
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