Page 50 of This Pack of Ours

She raised her eyebrows at me, crunching down on a baby carrot. I finished the cucumber dollars and went to slice the peppers into rings as well. She yelped and turned the peppers sideways. I gave her a triumphant look.

“See—total mom. You’re responsible and shit. You’d be a hot mom, like that one old song.”

She snorted as I hummed the chorus ofStacey’s Mom. I turned to flip the grilled cheeses, and frowned.

Oops.

A little burnt.

“Ez, that'ssoweird. Are you forgetting you were at my heat a few days ago?”

“I couldneverforget that,” I told her, face dead serious. “Andnotjust cuz you were our first heat…”

She choked, spraying bits of baby carrot on the table. Alarmed, I grabbed her a glass of water.

“I was yourfirst heat?” she managed, still coughing slightly.

“Yea,” I said, wiggling my eyebrows. “Pretty romantic, right? It’s like fate and shit that we got you and Kit.”

“Ez, what are you talking about?” she snapped. “You know I’m not joining your pack, right?”

“What!?” I said. Shit. Right. We weren’t supposed to tell her that might be the plan. No pressure and stuff. She went even more pink, hesitating.

“Don’t you remember the conversation? At the coffee shop?” she asked. Okay, I had to bluff my way out of this one.

“Well, yeah, that wassuperawkward, but I thought you two figured it out. I mean, you totally came to our date,” I said. “And I thought youlikedus. Minus Vander, but he’s just being grumpy. He’ll warm up to you.”

She was quiet as I finished cooking. I put the sandwiches onto plates and slid one over to her.

“Abracadabra,” I said, sitting down and taking a bite. Shit, this tasted so good with mustard.

“So?” I said, swallowing. “The pack? You’re not even tempted?”

That wasn’t breaking the rules, right? I still hadn’t told her the plan. Or even invited her. We were just chatting.

“I don’t want to,” she said. “It wouldn’t work out.”

I opened my mouth to ask why, but she gave me a death glare.

“End of,” she snapped. She was still a bit pink. Plus, I was learning her prickly omega language. Like where ‘fine’meant ‘awesome’. Maybe ‘end of’meant ‘I need some space to think about it’.

“Okay, okay,” I said and grinned. “You’ve got our number if you want us back for your next heat, though.”

Her mouth dropped open for a second.

“I willnotbe doing that,” she said firmly. I took another bite of my sandwich and glanced over at her.

She took a bite of hers, and I tried to see if she liked it. Her face wasn’t giving anything away.

“Is it good?” I asked, nervous. Itwasa little burnt. Shit, what if I’d actually given her theworstsandwich she’d ever had?

To my delight, she offered me a small smile.

“Yes, it’s good. Thanks.”

“Yus,” I hissed, punching the air. She rolled her eyes and grabbed some vegetables.

Jhin texted me a reminder to start looking up hotels to stay at. He really was a buzzkill sometimes. I didn’t want to leavetonight.

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