Page 105 of This Pack of Ours

“Do…?” Jhin’s eyes snapped to mine.

“This.” I waved at all of them. “I… can’t join your pack. Can’t be your omega.”

Jhin walked toward me, and I couldn't read his expression. I froze as he pulled me into a hug. His hand wound through my hair, pulling my head up to his chest, and his other arm tight around my back. He held me for a second, then pressed a gentle kiss to the top of my head.

I burst into tears.

* * *

It was a while before I was settled enough to talk, and Jhin had moved me to the love seat. He was sitting next to me, gently rubbing my back while I sobbed. My glasses were covered in salty smudges, and I kept trying to clean them on my shirt, but it was just making the smudges worse.

Ez had grabbed the tissues, Adrian had passed me one of my fluffy blankets, and Vander had brought me my vape.

“Kit,” Jhin finally said. “We’ll leave if you want us to. Perhaps, I shouldn’t have hugged you like I did. You just seemed so—miserable.”

“Y—yeah. Juni probably would have punched you,” I said, grabbing another tissue and blowing my nose again. “Hey asshole, I’m trying to break up with you here.”

Jhin gave a sad chuckle, and I added the tissue to the mini mountain on the floor.

“So shall we go?” he asked, his dark eyes boring into mine. His smooth, gentle voice contrasted so starkly with the intensity of his eyes, with the weight of his attention and aura.

I hiccuped. “No, I should…explain. You guys have been amazing. Really,” I started. “But today, I was dropping off Juniper downtown?—”

Jhin’s eyes flashed for a second.

“Oh fuck,” he said, jumping to his feet with a panicked look on his face. “I’m late—shit—I’m so sorry, Kit, but I need to go. I’ll be back as soon as I can?—

He bolted out of the door without another word, and I blinked after him. Vander rolled his eyes and took his place next to me on the couch.

“I guess we’ll catch him up later.” He nodded at me.

“Right,” I said, a bit thrown off, “Well, you know Juni kind of messed up her whole heat cycle. She’s supposed to be done, but for whatever reason, she’s not. She was having a really bad heat spike, so I took her back to the car, and—well?—”

“You boned?” Ez asked sympathetically.

I nodded, another tear dripping down my cheek.

“And, after, she told me she’s going to stay at the Safe House. That she should leave and give me some space. And it made me realize how much—I—I think I love her.”

Vander spluttered, and started to choke on something. Ez slapped him on the back with far too much enthusiasm.

“God, I had this whole plan where we’d find her a pack that she could be sure of—you know, that she could trust. And then I’d tell her how I felt, and if she didn’t feel the same way, she’d have them, right? And if she did, then maybe we’d be able to both join together. But then I got the scent match—and she said no—and I guess I was still hoping, you know, with us all here, that maybe it would work out.” I scrubbed my face. “But she’s leaving. And… I can’t do this without her. I can’t move on and know she’s alone. Without her, I’m notme, you know?”

Vander ran his fingers through his bleached hair, looking pained

“Well, this is a fucking mess,” he said. “She’s head over heels for you, Kit.”

There was a pause. My blood went cold, pins and needles prickling over my hands and feet.

“What?” asked Adrian, echoing my thoughts. Everyone was staring at Vander.

“Well, you saw her rush out last night,” Vander said. “And I told you I’d go and talk to her because you were all worried, but it’s because I figured what she was upset about. She was crying her pretty eyes out overyou, Kit. She told me she had to leave. She couldn’t bear to stay and watch you fall in love with someone else.”

“No,” I said, shaking my head.

This was some kind of joke.

Had to be.

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