He glared at me, his aura flaring enough that I could sense it through the metal door. Crescent shied closer to me, but then she got a determined look on her face as she squirmed to get down from my arms. I let her stand on her own again, crossing my arms over my chest when she stepped up to the window.
She had to go on her toes to see through it, and I was pretty sure Jared could only see her eyes with how close she was.
“Um, hi,” she said.
Then she paused, staring through the window at him. Her panic wasn’t too potent in the bond, so I didn’t want to step in—not when she’d done this on her own—but I monitored her closely as the silence stretched.
Vandle couldn’t resist the urge to intervene, stepping forward, but I put my arm out in front to stop him. I had a feeling she would be better at twisting Jared’s arm than he’d be.
She took a deep breath, then bounced up to try to get taller—unsuccessfully. “Can you please let me in so I can borrow some books?”
Jared didn’t answer right away. I stepped up closer to my omega and placed a hand on her shoulder, lifting an eyebrow at the old grump. Could he really say no to that request? It would be cold.
The window slammed shut on his faint scowl, and Crescent jumped. Before she could let out more than a single squeak, the door swung outwards and would have hit both of us if I hadn’t hauled her out of the way. Vandle’s displeased snarl echoed in the hall, but I levelled him with a glare.
He needed their books just as much as we both needed our omega to get what she wanted.
Jared waved us in, and the guys from Emerald pack stayed outside to flank the door as Crescent rushed forward.
“Dang! There’s more books than I thought!” she exclaimed.
I didn’t let her get far ahead of me, catching her arm in my hand. The Archiva pack were allies of ours, but they were also brutal and vindictive. She couldn’t stray far, or I would worry about her getting herself into trouble with them.
With her eager sprint stopped in its tracks, she turned to Jared and gave him a slightly awkward bow. “Thank you so much. Which books am I allowed to look at?”
The library was an octagonal room with tall shelves on all the walls except where the door was. They stretched up two floors high, taller than the ceilings in most of Anarchy except in places like the square or the rut cages. A metal ladder with wheels gave the librarians access to the higher shelves of books.
There were shelves in the centre of the room too, only half as tall as the ones on the wall, and off to one side was a small area with couches and a coffee table. That was where more of Jared’s pack lingered now, their attention swivelling to us from their game of chess.
Tyler, their omega, pushed to his feet, the sound of heavy footsteps distracting Crescent from her question. She watched him approach, scanning him up and down. He was an older man too, with grey hair and an unkempt beard, and a scar ran across one side of his face. The rumours claimed he got it from his previous pack before the Archiva pack killed them all to steal him, but no one really knew what happened. They stayed private and gutted anyone they caught gossiping about them, especially if the gossip involved their omega.
“What kind of books do you want?” Tyler demanded in a hard tone as he came to a stop, his arms crossed over his chest.
She pressed back against me, and I draped my arms over her shoulders. “Um, sweet ones. Where nice things happen to people?”
“You don’t want fairy tales, then,” Jared scoffed. “Horrible things happen to the people in fairy tales.”
Crescent glanced up at me helplessly. “But… they’re fairy tales. Like, happily ever afters. Why do horrible things happen?”
I looked beside us at Vandle, as if he would know the answer. His expression was as blank as mine. Fairy talesshouldbe happy—I remembered watching Cinderella and Snow White and Rapunzel as a kid. They were all happy. Why wouldn’t the book versions be?
“Well—” Jared started to explain.
Tyler cut off his alpha before Jared got more than a word out. “You want fairy tale retellings. They’re much sweeter.”
“Do I?” Crescent asked.
She looked up at me for confirmation, and I blanched. How the hell was I supposed to know? My reading was mostly limited to thrillers and murder mysteries where distinctly bad things happened to everyone. It was cathartic.
I’d never read a sweet book in my damn life.
Could I trust these asshole librarians not to lie to my sensitive omega?
Clearing my throat, I looked between Tyler and Jared. Both looked serious as fuck, like they probably weren’t lying. We were all good liars when we needed to be in here, though. Especially dweller packs like them.
“Sure you do, Little Omega.” I took a risk and agreed with them. “The retellings are definitely sweeter.”
I locked eyes with Tyler, threatening him with my gaze.