“I’m sorry, okay?” I say a little desperately.
“Okay,” she responds softly.
“Fuck,” I mutter.
“What can I do to help?” Stacy asks.
Just like that. She’s let it go.
“Why are you so awesome? I’m being a horrible person over here.”
“You’re not being a horrible person. You’re acting on emotion, which a lot of us do when we’re under pressure or upset. We’ve all been guilty of that. You just have to make sure you don’t put other people in the line of fire while you punish Jase.”
“I’m not punishing Jase.”
When she doesn’t reply immediately, I repeat myself.
“I’m not punishing him!”
“Who are you trying to convince?” she asks.
I blink a couple times before I gulp down a swallow. “Anyway… I’m gonna just focus on my petition and on this law change. I’ve started work on it and if I can make it so females don’t have to go through it, then I can request a review on my situation so that the Young coven spell can be extended beyond the three days. I’ll just… I’ll focus on that.”
She says, “But Bailey? This is you and Jase.”
“There’s no me and Jase. I can’t talk about this.” My voice comes out sounding broken. Because I do feel broken.
Shit, I’m about to lose it. Sadness swamps me yet again and I want to just curl up and cry.
“Okay,” she whispers. “If there’s anything I can do to help, let me know. I’m gonna visit Sherry tomorrow. Maybe you could come.”
“Yeah, right.” I scoff.
“No, seriously. You should come.”
“Are you high?”
“Tell her what you’re doing. Maybe she’ll want to help. And maybe she’ll take comfort in the fact that it might be stopped, you know? Her situation is a prime example of how your petition could help, so… maybe it’d be good for her to sink her teeth into something too. Help the cause?”
I grimace at the notion of working with Sherry Creed on anything. But Stacy isn’t wrong. Sherry could be the poster child for why it’s important for female shifters to have some say over being mated to an alpha and being forced to live with an unbreakable bond when it’s the last thing they want.
I could try to get a victim impact statement. That could strengthen this case. In fact, I should ask my book club friends to ask around and get me a stack of them from other females who’ve had to mate an alpha they didn’t want. This way the SCC can see what happens when a female gets stuck with an alpha asshole who ruins her life.
“Think about it. I’ve got to go. But… call me if you need anything, okay?”
“Thanks, Stacy.”
“Chin up,” she says.
“Yeah,” I whisper.
I end the call and turn the water off before I type out a reply to Mal’s text that he sent when we exchanged numbers.
I’m really sorry. I wasn’t thinking about how that might put you at risk. I was just trying to live my life. I’m really sorry. Friends?
I wait a minute after seeing the message is read. No response.
I stick my phone back into my pocket and dare to stare at my reflection, feeling shame. Because what was I thinking, expecting a poor beta who barely knows us and who has been through major trauma to circumvent an angry super-alpha denied his rut?