Page 108 of This Pack of Ours

Adrian pulled me into a hug, and I had to work hard not to burst into tears.

“We’ll find her,” he assured me firmly.

“She left nothing?” Vander asked suspiciously, starting to look around.

“Just that.” I pointed at the garbage can. I hadn’t been able to bring myself to look through it after I scented what was in there.

“What the fuck?" He picked it up, finding a bunch of fabric inside.

“Oh, nice, that’s where my pink pair went,” Ez said, snatching a pair of underwear out from the remnants of Juni’s nesting.

Vander dumped the rest of it on the counter. It was pairs of their underwear and the remains of my favorite cushion cover.

“She left them,” I said, reaching over to claim my pillow case. She’d gone to the trouble of bringing them here, probably to nest with, and then thrown them in the garbage. There was no way she was okay.

I frowned as I felt something that had been shoved inside the tattered remains. I pulled out a stack of papers, with a heavy-duty staple in the corner.

My blood went cold as I saw the logo on the front.

Vander was staring at it too, anger darkening his expression, and Ez grabbed it out of his hands.

“Valentine Division?" he choked out, looking at us frantically. “She… she matched a pack?”

“No way,” I said, reaching over and flipping the pages. The first was the agreement, with signed consent forms. And the next was the pack information.

I opened it to the first page.Valerie Carlisle.Pack lead.

The name sent a flicker of unease through me, and I peered at the picture attached to her page.

Blonde, pretty. Female alpha. And those eyes…

A memory stirred as I looked at her eyes.

Back at the academy, I’d been on a date with one of the packs. It had been a double date, and I’d made note of the other pack lead because I’d never met a female alpha before.

I took another nervous sip of my drink, trying to ignore the fact she was staring at me again. Her pack’s omega date wasn’t from the academy, and her pack had been very handsy with her all evening. All except Valerie. All her attention had been focused on me. It was super awkward, and even the pack I was with had noticed.

I got up to go to the bathroom, trying to escape some of the tension, but stopped short when I came back out. Valerie was waiting for me just outside the doors. For a second, I considered just running back inside.

“Don’t be shy. Come on over, Kit,” she’d said, and I’d obeyed before I even clocked that she’d compelled me. Not a bark, not like a male alpha, but something more insidious.

Usually, I could feel the moment the pull began, sinking its claws in deep, and if you lived in the Gritch, you learned how to resist a bark early on. I’d experienced enough that I was familiar with the brief flash that burned in your brain when it hit; but hers had been so small. Almost unnoticeable. Her claws had sunk in the moment I saw her, and I hadn’t felt a thing.

She tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. She was a good head taller than me.

“God, you are so adorable. I just want to eat you up,” she said, giving me a wide smile. I very much didnotwant to be eaten by her.

“Your dates are so, like, tense. They’ve been so boring. You should come home with us,” she said, blinking her pretty eyes with sympathy. I caught myself mid-nod. My pack had been tense and boring, and I should…

No. I didn’t want to go home with her.

Fear curdled in my stomach.

Was that another bark? It was nothing like anything I’d ever experienced before. I panicked and covered my ears, running back into the bathroom. She called something after me, but it was muffled. I hid in the stall for an hour until one of my dates came looking for me. Thankfully, she was gone by then.

“Oh shit,” I said, putting the paper down on the bed like it had burned me.

“You know her?” asked Adrian.

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