Page 70 of This Pack of Ours

Jhin caught my eye and shook his head slowly, the amusement dancing in his eyes and making me smile.

I finished my coffee and pulled my laptop onto my lap, nervously waiting until Jhin dismissed Ez before I opened it.

“Um, Jhin?” I asked, looking up. “Could I pick your brain about something? It’s an email.”

“Of course,” he said, standing up smoothly and coming around behind me. He leaned in close enough that I could feel the warmth of his skin.

I did my best to ignore the distracting scent of blackberries and sage as he read through the email. God, it had been torture when Vander trapped me under that stupid blanket. I kept almost missing what he was saying, too distracted by the scent of morning frost all around me.

“Hm,” Jhin said.

“So, I think I know what it means, but…?” I trailed off.

“They want to give you money. Well, they want to give the Safe House money. However, sometimes these kinds of things come with a lot of strings attached.” He frowned. “I haven’t heard of the Aisha foundation.”

“It’s new!” I said, proudly. “It’s run by Vex Eden!”

He looked at me blankly.

“Like, the omega of the Crimson Fury pack?”

“I’m not familiar with them,” he said.

“They’re mega movie stars,” I said. “Kitlovesthem. He has their poster up in our room.”

Jhin’s face went uncharacteristically dark for a second, his eyes flicking murderously toward the nest.

“Anyway, so Vex,” I said quickly. “She’s a legend! A gold pack omega from the Gritch who secured a princess bond with the hottest, most unobtainable—” Jhin’s eyes darkened again for a moment and I switched gears. “Point is, ifshewants to help, I think this could be a really good offer.”

“I don’t mean to dampen your excitement,” said Jhin. “But you should be prepared. The offer may have conditions that may require you to change things or remove you from the decision-making process. You should go to this meeting and hear them out, but listen carefully.”

I shook my head. “But this isVex Eden.If anyone understands what my omegas need, it’s her.”

“Sorry, Juniper, but that may not be the case. Someone on behalf of Ms. Eden’s foundation has offered to support you, and there’s no guarantee that she’s had any direct involvement at all.”

“Oh. I see,” I said, deflating a bit. I glanced back up at his face, suddenly a lot more nervous. “If I go, would you come with me and help me with all that conditional stuff? I don’t want to mess this up. It’s on the seventeenth.”

He gave me his small smile.

“It would be my honor.”

I turned back to my laptop, replying to the email. I kept refreshing the inbox, just in case, and got a reply pretty fast.

Thank you for confirming! Yes, we can accommodate one additional person. For anyone who attends, I will need their full name as it appears on their ID, so they can be issued a guest pass.

With a flutter of nerves in my stomach, I wrote out our full names and hit send.

* * *

I grabbed some cereal and seated myself on the bar stool. Ez invited himself to sit next to me, leaning in close as if telling me a secret.

“Hey, girl. So listen, I’m trying to come up with good date ideas for you and Kit.”

I looked at him.

“Ez, we—” I gestured between us. “—are not dating.”

“Sure,” he said. “So, do you and Kit like Polo’s?”

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