What am I even apologizing for?
Yet the guilt hits me, anyway.
Stupid omega instincts.
Silas drops his gaze to the floor, shoulders hunching like he’s trying to make himself smaller. For such a massive guy, he suddenly looks vulnerable.
I sit down and try to focus on something else. Unfortunately, my eyes land on Elias.
He sits across the table wearing a lovesick grin, looking like he’s about to compose a sonnet or propose or some equally horrifying shit.
Only Darius seems normal, if you can call brooding at the far end of the table normal. His eyes meet mine for a second, then cut away as Archer brings me a plate piled with eggs and bacon.
“Here you go,” Archer says.
I grunt and start eating. It’s good. My stomach growls, and I hate my body for being so easily won over.
“How are you feeling?” Darius says, his eyes on me with a weight that makes me want to bare my teeth. Or bare my neck.
My shoulders tense and my gut churns.
Fuck. They know.
They know what was done to me. What was sewn into my body. Where it was sewn. I feel stripped bare and vulnerable in a way that makes me want to shift and run until there’s nothing left of me but distance.
“Fine,” I say, meeting his eyes.
Darius leans forward. “Who did this to you?”
My throat closes. No fucking way.
I grab a piece of toast and shove it in my mouth so I don’t have to answer.
“Dammit, Blue.” He exhales. “Whoever hurt you needs to pay. Tell me who it was.”
Something in my chest detonates. I get right up in his face, close enough to count his eyelashes.
“This is my anger,” I snarl. “My pain. My fucking problem to deal with. Not yours.”
His eyes flash. He grabs my wrist. Holds it. Not enough to bruise, but enough to keep me there. “You’re ours now. Which makes it our problem.”
I bare my teeth. “Like hell I am, you arrogant dumbfuck.”
I yank free and drop back into my chair, shovelling food into my mouth so I don’t cry again. I’ve used up my lifetime supply of tears in the last twenty-four hours.
Fuck, the food is good, though.
Archer clears his throat. “Blue, we’d like to show you around the compound today. Help you settle in.”
I narrow my eyes. “Why?”
He smiles.
Why the fuck is this idiot smiling again?
“Maybe if you see how we live, you’ll reconsider running.”
I snort. “Fat chance.”