Betrayed Forced Mate (Rosecreek Special Ops Wolves #4)

By the time I get to the pack center, I feel like I’ll always smell like pumpkin spice. Everyone I pass on the street smiles at me. I want nothing more than to disappear into the background and float through the world without them even recognizing that I exist.

But, unfortunately, even the humans in this town are aware of Aris’s team, and they all want to say hello to me, thank me for bringing faster Wi-Fi to the town.

I want to tell them that I didn’t do it for them; I did it for me because I was lagging way too much while playing online games.

The pack center is also bustling, with shifter kids running around and playing at the indoor park, some sort of cookie swap happening in the dining area, and a whole committee meeting taking place, already talking about what kind of holiday decorations should go up after Thanksgiving.

It’s exhausting, just being in this building.

I make my way up the stairs to the quieter area restricted to members of the agency, and buzz through the security doors with my badge and thumbprint. I’m halfway to the mage’s office when I hear a phone ringing at the secretary’s desk.

She has a little sign up that reads out to lunch. I stare at the phone for another long moment, then sigh, reach over, and pick it up.

Chapter 4 – Olivia

I’m pacing in the hotel room, trying to stop chewing on my nails.

My first-ever solo mission, and I have this terrible feeling that something is going to go wrong. No matter how much deep breathing, meditating, or visualizing I do, it won’t go away. It feels like it’s coming from my soul.

I close my eyes and think back to my training sessions with Aris.

If you’re ever on a mission, and you’re not sure what to do—confer with the team. Call me. Call someone. The worst thing you can do is launch into something without proper support. Remember what happened to Percy when he checked out the wolfsbane field without backup?

My phone is in my hand. I know I should call Aris; that’s what he said to do, but I also have this feeling that if I do call him, he might cancel the whole thing, tell me to come home, decide that I’m not ready to do this.

Which might be right.

But the last thing I want to do is return to Rosecreek, and be reminded every day of the future I want and can’t have.

However, if I botch this mission, I’ll just end up back home, anyway. I take a deep breath and dial Aris’s private phone number, which he told me goes straight to his personal phone. It rings through, and I force myself to breathe.

He’s probably just busy, playing with his kids or running a meeting. He’ll call me back.

I sit down and slick my hair back, tucking it into a cap and getting on my wig, which is a long brunette this time. I style it, apply my makeup, then shimmy on my dress for the night.

Thirty minutes before I have to leave for the event, and Aris still hasn’t called me back.

I grab my phone and dial the agency office. Maybe he’s in his office, and didn’t realize I would try to call his personal phone first. It rings through once, and, with a frantically beating heart, I call again.

It doesn’t even have to be Aris. I would be content talking to Bigby or Percy. Hell, even Ado might be able to offer me a word or two of encouragement. Though I don’t know Rafael well because he only recently rolled into town, I’d even chat with him. He always has something fascinating to say about supernatural creatures.

“Rosecreek Agency. Byron speaking.”

I freeze, bringing my hand to my mouth.

No, no, no. The last person on the earth I would ever want to talk to in this situation. I can’t ask him for help, because that will just strengthen his assumption that I’m worthless. Inferior. Validate his choice to reject me as his mate.

“Hello?”

“Byron, hello,” I say, turning and looking in the mirror, trying to channel that unearthly calm that Veronica has any time we’re on a mission. “Is Aris in?”

“Is everything okay?”

The worry in his tone makes me falter. I hate it—hate how I can picture the exact expression on his face, the way he’s surely cradling the phone, how he’s probably tapping on the desk, a constant tick from his never-ending tapping on keyboards.

“Everything’s fine,” I say, clearing my throat and trying to clear the mental image of him from my mind. Leaving Rosecreek and going on missions was supposed to make things easier for me, but it’s almost like seeing him less makes me more aware of him. Now, when he pops up, it’s a huge shock to my nervous system, like someone has reached inside me and snapped my spine like a guitar string.

“Then why are you calling?”