a k

ore bread and took one look

Two mugs. My hands around mine too tight. Kael's shirt back down b

id, too quic

es. You think I didn't see the way he was looking at y

on his tea.

d, warning voi

r two years like a ghost. And you show up in the mud with warm bags and suddenly he's b

mug. My face wa

left side where I bandaged

talked. Buzzcut kid - his name is Jace - he told Jonah's guys you were sitting with Kael. Now Jonah is s

everaged. Pr

little on the counter. My

e was left in my mud. I have camer

lies travel faster when you're the

ned. Once, twice.

ome._ About the trucks last night

nt. "Or he wants to trade me again. To someone bigger. Because I know his b

loud before. Not eve

me sharp. "Wh

reserves he doesn't have. He faked the ledgers. I... I fixed them. I ma

ing like I just handed him a wea

oney. That's not just pro

t. From propert

touch me right away. He asked with his

ded,

my shoulder. Warm

prove anything," he said. "Y

If Jonah is lying about grain, then south packs will starve come winter. People I kne

uiet. "The other packs. I want t

ll them. But not you alone. Me with yo

. All Alphas. Once

us. "You two are g

said, still looking at me. "He

t now. I kept pulling at the green dress - I wore it again because it was the only thing that fe

ugly. Like a school gym. Smelled lik

ironed for him a hundred times. He saw me in the green dress next

ke he had a right. "You shouldn't

t of me. Not fully. Half.

me," Kael

hort. "With you?

Alphas near us turned. "You traded me. In the mud. With my bags still warm.

d. "You don't know w

cary. "For five years. And the grain reserves are fake. You have three months, not eight. You moved numbers f

ete ugly room. Silence spre

y beard stepped forward

e first time since the mud. And I saw it - he

t this," he said, low, trying that qui

the table where no one could see. His pinky brushed mi

"I don't have a home with yo

gry dangerous look, but also proud. Like I was the only thing

that makes the walls shake. "And she's telling the truth. Anyone wants to check her nu

Jace was there in the back,

under the table. At my green dress and warm socks

No slow boots this time.

f me but letting me speak. Letting me be loud and messy and contradictory and petty when I said "he never even carried m

say much. He just drove with one hand on the wheel an

nvit

kles. At the way his left side was still

his. My small cold han

ight. Like he was sca

idn

still ten minutes away with its fridge hum an

. They were cold and empty u

, but Jonah wasn't watch

e was driving me home holding my hand l