Page 124 of How to Lose a Pack in 10 Dates

He shakes his head. “I smelled you in heat and I wanted to tear through the walls to get to you. And all I could think was—you shouldn’t have had to do this without us.”

“Wes.”

I squeeze his hand. His eyes meet mine, and this time, I don’t let him shoulder the wreckage alone.

“You weren’t wrong about me,” I say quietly. “Not completely.”

His brows pull together.

“When this started… itwasabout the article. It was all forwork. I came in with a plan and a pitch and a chip on my shoulder the size of your ego. I didn’t come here to feel anything. I wasn’t supposed to.”

The silence deepens around us.

“The point was always to prove a theory. That scent-matching was flawed; that omegas like me couldn’t trust the system, and that it was rigged to funnel us toward alphas we couldn’t afford to fall for.”

Wes doesn’t move, but I feel the others shift. Jace’s hand brushes my spine, and Cam’s fingers tighten around my knee.

“And then we had our first date,” I continue. “And you—you were so rude and arrogant, and still so good-looking that I wanted to scream. You pissed me off so much, I told myself I’d get even for what happened.”

Wes’s jaw flexes.

“I told myself I could handle it. That I could write the piece, prove the tech was bullshit, humiliate you and dismantle your pack—and walk away clean.”

There’s a long beat of silence.

“I was wrong,” I murmur. “I underestimated you. All of you.”

Cam’s breathing shifts. Jace is still as stone behind me.

“Because it stopped being a story the moment I started laughing with Jace at the farmer’s market; and by the time I went to that pottery class with Cam, I was completely doomed.”

My voice trembles now. I let it.

“I didn’t mean to fall for you. I didn’twantto fall for you. But I did. All of you. And I was so scared of what that meant that I clung to the stupid article.”

I glance at each of them. Cam’s eyes are glassy, Jace’s fingers won’t stop moving through my hair, and Wes watches me; unreadable, but listening.

“I kept telling myself I could split it down the middle,” I say, voice breaking. “The plan and the feelings. That I could manage both without hurting anyone. But I was lying—to myself and to you. And I’m so sorry.”

No one moves.

“I crossed a line,” I whisper. “I betrayed all of your trust. played with something sacred, and I knew it was wrong, and I still did it. I hurt you, one by one; and I’m not asking you to forget that. But I need you to know I see it. What I did, and how wrong it was.”

Wes’s throat bobs, but I press on. I can’t stop now.

“If I could take it back, I would. But I can’t. All I can do is tell you that I never meant to fake what we had. Not for one second. None of you were a byline. You were the best thing that ever happened to me—and I was too scared to believe I deserved it.”

My next words are raw. “I didn’t want to want you.”

Wes lets out something between a laugh and a sigh. “That makes two of us.”

“But I do,” I say, voice thick. “Even after everything, even knowing I messed it all up, I still want you.”

His eyes close. When they open again, they’re shining.

“So do we,” he murmurs.

And slowly—so slowly he gives me time to flinch if I need to—he leans in and presses his forehead to mine.

---