Page 18 of Stella

I looked Simon in the eyes. “No.”

“What do you mean, no?” Simon frowned. I was beginning to think frown was all he did.

I pointed at the door. “You’re convinced I’ve concocted some sort of Machiavellian scheme. For what purpose, I don’t know.”

“It’s obvious,” Simon crossed his arms over his chest, the three-piece suit pulling his shoulders tight. “You think we would be an excellent pack. Good looking, rich—”

I laughed. Loudly. I didn’t mean to be cruel, but the idea of wanting a pack, wanting him as an alpha, it was so horrific it was hilarious. “Absolutely not. I already tried to play nice omega with a pack of alphas as pompous and controlling as you. It didn’t work out.”

I told myself that Evan and Jerrick didn’t look disappointed. My body was producing a ridiculous amount of “take me now, big boy” pheromones right now. Whatever desire they felt was because of heat hormones rather than wanting me.

The corner of Simon’s jaw twitched. A tell, finally. “It’s a reasonable conclusion.”

“I have a great job, a great family, and a great life. I’m not putting up with another pack trying to stop me from living my life just to stroke their egos.”

“I see.” Simon cleared his throat.

The mother of all awkward silences fell.

My cheeks grew warm. Damn it, this was Simon’s fault for his paranoia.

Evan elbowed Simon in the ribs. Hard.

“I’m sorry,” Simon said. “I jumped to a false conclusion. I would appreciate it if you allowed me and my pack to finish this process. I would like to be there for my sister.”

I rolled my eyes. “Throwing Meredith in there is cheating.”

Simon grinned. “I’m used to having my way. You’re making things…interesting.”

I handed each one of them a clipboard. “Fine. But no more asshole declarations that I’m trying to steal the family’s prized silver.”

“I didn’t—" Simon started, but Evan elbowed him again. “Shut up, dude. You’ve already made the two of us look bad enough.”

Jerrick gave Simon a look and he sighed. “I apologize, again.”

“It’s fine,” I said. “Now, about your sex life…”

Chapter5

Stella

Hours later, Simon, Evan, and Jerrick had finally finished filling out their paperwork. Despite my joke at the start of the process, there weren’t that many questions about sexual preferences in the personality profiles.

No one was ever honest about sex stuff in the profiles. It was better for them to discuss the topic with their prospective partners.

When asked, Simon said they didn’t care about being matched to a designation. Most packs with two alphas and a beta would be looking for an omega. It was a point in their favor they wanted someone compatible, regardless of their designation.

Still. Now they were open to finding an omega, if they wanted. If they could find an omega willing to put up with Simon’s paranoia.

Jealousy reared her bitchy head, and I ignored that along with the two devils on my shoulder, rage and lust. My head pounded, pain like a sharp knife behind my eye. My headache was back with a vengeance.

The pack went to Raina for the next part of their onboarding sequence, and I decided to cut my losses and go home. Meredith wasn’t onboarding until tomorrow, and I couldn’t handle Simon anymore. I didn’t want to go to jail for strangling him. I didn’t look good in orange.

Everything smelled weird at my house, and I debated if I wanted to go back out for Italian. Pasta cured all ills. It wasn’t as good as being screwed and knotted by a certain pack, but it was comfort food.

I threw myself onto the couch, pillows tumbling to the floor. Lando Catasion, my black and white tuxedo cat, shot me an evil look and then stalked to the other room.

“You and Simon, both,” I told Lando. Meanwhile, Pumpkin, my sweet orange tabby, was nowhere to be found. Probably stuck in a closet because he forgot how to get out. It wasn’t his turn with the one brain cell all orange tabbies shared.

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