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across her middle
protectively. She’d loved hanging out with the little ones when she’d been in
the group homes. At least before they’d taken her away. She hadn’t been trusted then.
    She remembered a little, dark-haired toddler who had run
into her room at the hospital by mistake. He’d tripped as he charged in and had
started crying. She’d hurried over to see what the matter was before two
orderlies had run in. They’d thought she’d done something to the kid. Her door
had always been locked after that whenever visitors were in the building.
    She shrank back and ignored the careful look Riley gave her.
    Just then the door opened, and two kids walked into the
room. Cassie immediately grabbed them for a hug. The little one, a boy who
looked to be about six or seven, just smiled quietly, but the older one,
possibly a teenager, swaggered into the room and stood patiently through the
hug. He had a resigned what are you gonna do look on his face, and Zack chuckled as Alex
made a beeline for him. Something stabbed at Lisa again when she saw his eager
acceptance of Zack ruffling his hair.
    Lisa gulped at the loaded plate Cassie put down in front of
her. Eggs, bacon, waffles, mushrooms were all balanced on what looked like two
rounds of toast. Lisa couldn’t remember seeing that much food on her plate ever
before, and she certainly wasn’t capable of eating it all.
    Lisa, uncomfortably aware she hadn’t said one thing, looked
up at Cassie. “Thank you.”
    Mac squeezed her leg under the table, and she was suddenly
very glad he was there.
    Lisa nibbled on some bacon and pushed her toast around a
bit, her throat closing at the sight of all that food. Hoping no one was
looking at her, she raised her eyes and came face to
face with the teenager’s dark ones.
    Alex, Zack had called him, was staring at her with a puzzled
look on his tanned face and then he grinned. “Come on you have to eat—us alpha’s
got to stick together. Ow .”
Alex whined as he had clearly got a kick under the table from Zack. “What? I’m
just saying.”
    “That’ll do, Alex,” Mac said emphatically.
    Lisa looked at Mac, her chest tightening. His face was
closed, tight, hard. Something she’d done had upset him. And what is an alpha?
    “I was just trying to be friendly,” Alex said sulkily and
glared at Lisa like it was her fault.
    Lisa could feel the burning inside her start. No, not here. She
couldn’t lose her temper here. She fisted her hands by her sides.
    “Well, cool it for now, okay?” Cassie ruffled Alex’s hair.
    “Forget it,” shouted Alex and stood and turned.
    “Sit down,” barked Zack. “You will treat Cassie with
respect.”
    Alex angrily shoved the table, and that was it. The tenuous
thread on her control broke, and she roared and pushed the table back at Alex.
Temper swirled about her, she couldn’t hear anything. She couldn’t feel
anything. Flames of red hot anger burned through her. Her vision went red. Just
as she grabbed the edge of the table, two powerful arms surrounded her and
lifted her back into Mac’s hard chest.
    “Stop. Stop right now.” The
powerful voice echoed around her and zeroed on her inside. A feeling of peace
washed over her, and she urgently needed to comply. Just as her anger had so
quickly ignited in her, it was gone. Her strength left as well, and if Mac hadn’t
been holding her, she would have been on the floor. She heard an agonized cry
and realized it was her. Strong arms lifted her, folding her to him.
    She gave one gulp, and her eyes flooded with tears. No, she
didn’t cry. Not anymore. With utter and complete despair, she curled into the
big arms that were holding her. She’d lost her temper. They would drug her.
They would drug her, and they would send her back. Wicked.
     
    * * * *
     
    Mac wanted to cut his own throat. Stupid, stupid, stupid. What on earth had he been thinking,
dragging her into breakfast with them all? He tended to forget his large,
boisterous family