Page 16 of This Pack of Ours

“Such a fucking alpha. You think you deserve to be worshipped and fawned over just because you’ve got a knot?”

Jhin leapt to his feet finally and rounded on Vander.

“That’s enough. We are going to respect what she wants,” he said.

She snorted, bitterly.

“What Iwantis to never see another alpha in my life. But that’s not really possible, is it? So here we are.”

“Well, darling, we can make your wish come true for these alphas," snarled Vander.

“Fine,” she said, her cheeks flaming scarlet.

She whipped her bag over her back and stalked out of the room, beelining for the front door.

Jhin turned to Vander, and he scowled.

“She started it,” he said.

“We’ll discuss this later,” Jhin replied, tugging on a shirt and running after Juniper.

JUNIPER

I blinked back tears as I walked toward the front door. Couldn’t keep it together, not even with a pack that had been… fine. Great, maybe. Amazing?

Now they hated me, and they could report me. I had just been so tense and anxious that I’d snapped.

I’d probably never see them again. Not that I wanted to.

Fuck. I squeezed my eyes shut as I heard footsteps behind me, and the smell of blackberries and sage hit me as I managed to get my hand on the doorknob.

“Juniper?”

It was Jhin, his smooth voice making my name sound like something special. Like I was someone important, instead of an angry, broken omega.

I turned to face him, putting my glare back on. Couldn’t let him see me crying over his asshole pack. I wasn’t prepared for my instincts to rear up when I smelled his full earthy blackberry and sage. I wanted to throw myself into his arms and burst into tears. This was bad news. Really bad. I needed to finish screwing this up, so they’d never come back.

“I apologize for Vander. He has a habit of being… difficult.”

He was apologizing? As if I wasn’t the one who fucked it up. I was horrified when I sniffled, and a tear leaked down my cheek.

“Yeah, well, so do I,” I muttered thickly, sniffing again. I swallowed, meeting his eyes, trying to pretend I wasn’t crying. My lip trembled.Traitor.

Why didn’t this alpha just leave me alone? Why wasn’t I storming away?

Instead, I was standing here like an idiot, while he looked at me with a shockingly soft expression.

He pulled a real, honest-to-godshandkerchiefout of his pocket and held it out to me.

Ahandkerchief?Who the fuck carries around a hankerchief these days?

I snatched it and dabbed my face. It smelled just like him, and my omega was urging me to shove it in my pocket and run.

“Why do you own a handkerchief?” My voice was wobbly. “Does Vander really make people cry that often?”

For a second, he looked surprised, and then his face broke into a smile, a chuckle escaping his lips.

My idiot heart fluttered in my chest, and before I could stop myself, I snorted as well, unfortunately letting out alotof wet snot.

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