Page 20 of Pack Larsen

I mean, the jackass might as well have thrown a grenade into the middle of the room for all the effect his words have. Munro snaps his whole body around in a way that looks painful, a purely horrified expression painted on his sexy face as though the idea is the worst thing imaginable. Rage doesn’t look any more pleased, but his expression reads as more of a distaste than a downright revulsion toward the idea, kind of like he just stood in shit and now has to clean the bottom of his shoe. Charming. I’m clearly the shit in that particular scenario. Love that for me.

Haze looks confused and curious all at once, though there’s a wariness in his eyes that makes the hairs on my arms stand on end. It’s Pace, however, who stares at me and me alone with an intensity that sets my heartbeat into overdrive. He’s serious, as per usual, but there’s something wild about having his focus on me without being able to read his expression. He’s probably still wary of me after my morning outburst. Good. Let him be wary.

Looking away from those golden-honey eyes, because one could seriously get lost in those suckers, I focus my ire on the omega still holding me captive. “You know that trust you asked for? You just shit on it. Shit on it so good that it’s everywhere. There’s shit on the floor, shit all up the walls, in my hair. Total shit explosion. You’ve thrown that shit in the fan, and it’s painted the entire room a steamy shade of brown. I hope you’re happy with yourself.”

In this moment, I hate the adorable grin that amplifies his beauty, I hate the way his laughing makes me want to laugh, too, and I absolutely despise the way he’s looking down at me as though he’s never met anyone quite like me, because I’ll be damned if being pissed with him isn't made infinitely more impossible when he does that. Damn it all.

“You said you’d trust me, babe,” he reminds me through his chuckles, as though I wasn’t already aware of the mistake I just made.

“I’d have thought better of it if I knew what you were planning. Hindsight is a bitch,” I retaliate, glaring at the omega, even as my lips twitch with a severely repressed smile. He isn’t getting one. He doesn't deserve it. “Now unhand me, heathen. I have places to be that aren’t here. I’m not even going to fake an assignment like I was originally going to. Fuck it. I want to be far, far away from here, and I’m more than okay making that known.”

“Oh, like you were making it known that you were ignoring us?” Haze quips, amused now. Really amused. Oh, yeah. His stormy eyes are lit up like the fourth of July, a cute, little smirk on those kissable lips, as he stares me down with a challenging look that would be funny if this entire situation wasn’t ridiculous.

My vow to ignore them all goes flying out the window once more, and I scowl at the friendlier twin of the two. “That wasn’t me. That was Aero. I clearly suck at ignoring people.”

Haze snorts, his eyebrows raised in amusement, and I roll my eyes at him as he jokes, “No shit.”

His brother’s lips twitch, but it’s the only outward sign that he finds this whole thing funny. I’d like the ground to open up and swallow me deep-throat style, finding very little about this whole thing funny.

“Why do you need a date?” Pace finally asks, intense eyes pinning me in place as effectively as Aero’s hand.

I frown. “I don’t.”

“You do, you liar,” Aero snickers. “We just had a whole conversation about it.”

“Oh my god, I’m going to actually kill you,” I threaten, vowing here and now never to trust Aero ever again.

“Sure thing, babe. If you say so,” he answers carelessly, even patting me on the hand like a condescending dickface. Then he ignores me entirely, speaking to his pack as though I’m not even there as he explains, “Silver promised Meemaw she would be there, but her cunt mother will be there trying to shove pack prospects up her ass, so we’re going to take her as her fake pack to thwart any matchmaking attempts.”

“What the fuck?” Munro snaps.

Haze’s amusement doubles. “Fake pack?”

“I didn’t sign up for that,” Rage blandly notes.

And Pace, well he simply stares, the intensity doubling in his gaze as an array of emotions flitter across his features, contemplation being one of them.

Eventually, he asks, “You need a fake pack for this party?”

I don’t answer. I refuse to give him or the others the satisfaction, because I’ll be damned if I ask them for anything.

Aero has no such qualms, and I seriously second guess my decision in befriending him. “She does. And I figured, since she’s offered us a place to stay, it’s the least we could do to repay the favor. Right? One party is all.”

Haze actually looks like he’s thinking it over while his twin focuses back on the movie as though he’s done with the conversation. That’s fair. I’d do the same if I wasn’t so thoroughly mortified. Munro is still staring, aghast and troubled. What’s new? But Pace? The dude won’t stop staring at me. I’m starting to develop a damned complex or something.

“I mean, we could finally see how the other side party it up,” Haze notes, like he isn’t appalled by the idea but intrigued. What a funny little turn of events.

“It’s not that great,” I inform, forgetting the ignoring thing again. “It’s stifling, the food isn’t always great, and my mother is an insufferable bitch who will judge you the moment she sets eyes on you…”

My words trail off and I squint at Haze, a calculating thought spawning in my mind. I’m sure it plays out on my face, too, because the look Haze sends me is one of both amusement and a sprinkle of concern.

He should be very concerned, because I just realized what an incredible idea this is. Perhaps my trust wasn’t entirely misplaced, because simply picturing my mother’s reaction to my arrival at her benefit party with a pack she didn’t choose, vet, or approve of as though she even has that right anymore has an almost maniacal grin growing on my face.

Oh, yes. I think I like this idea. I like it a lot. I simply need them all to agree to it now.

Game on.

Chapter 8

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