Page 31 of How to Lose a Pack in 10 Dates

He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and shrugs. “Okay?”

I grip the counter until my knuckles ache.

I want to snap something.Anything.

Because it’snotokay. Nothing about this fucked-up, weird-ass situation is okay. It’s not even in the samesolar systemas okay.

“So. One date,” I press. “That’s all it took?”

He sets the bottle down with a quietthunk. “Jesus, Wes.”

“I’m just saying: she’s doing this on purpose.”

And I know how it sounds. Iknow.My voice is rising higher by the second, and I'm giving conspiracy-theory-on-a-bulletin-board energy and not exactly helping myself here. But she’s needling away under my skin by having her scent draped all around my pack mate, and I can’t stop now.

“Every look, every laugh, and this whole wide-eyed, innocent omega act?” I shake my head. “It’s not real. It’s bait. It’srevenge.You get that, right? It’s all a fucking performance.”

Jace folds his arms, muscles flexing, his jaw twitching. He’s defensive now.

“Revenge for what, exactly?”

“For me turning her down. For walking out without an explanation instead of throwing myself at her feet like every other alpha who catches whiff of her scent.”

He blinks at me. “You seriously think—”

“Iknowher.” My voice comes out too sharp, too fast. “I know how she operates. She’s not chaos. Well, sheis, but not like this. She’scalculated. Always has been. She’s not flirting off the cuff—she’s choosing every moment, every word. She’sperforming, and you’re too busy eye-fucking her to see it.”

Jace stares at me, his expression completely impossible to read.

His silence only makes it worse.

“She’s trying to make me snap,” I continue. “And it’s working. You and Cam are too distracted by her tits and the scent match to even notice she’s got you both dancing in the palm of her hand.”

He opens his mouth, but I barrel on; on a roll now.

“Think about it for a minute. My ex, who lost her mind when I ended things, just so happens to get scent-matched to mypack. She then shows up inthatdress, flirting and giggling with you both right in front of my face; and you walk back in here after one date, scent-drenched and covered in her slick like you’ve been fucking in her nest?”

I scoff, holding my arms out wide. “Comeon, Jace. Shewantsme to lose it.”

Jace narrows his eyes.

“It’s not all about you, Wes.”

I laugh, though it’s more of a harsh, humorless bark. “Isn’t it? You really think it’s a coincidence that she’s here, in this house, withus?”

“She joined a scent-matching app,” he says slowly, as though he’s having to explain it to a very stupid dog. “We got matched. We invited her here last night. We talked.Iasked her out.”

“And she’s using that to get at me.” I shoot back. “I know how it sounds, alright? But I’m telling you: this isexactlyher brand of petty.”

“No.” His arms uncross, his voice dropping. “You’re spiraling. You’re turning this into some paranoid power play because you’re pissed she moved on. You didn’t want her, and now you do, and you don’t know what the fuck to do with that.”

I grit my teeth. “She’s trying to fuck with me.”

“And it’sworking. You’re unhinged over a date that had nothing to do with you. And don’t give me the ‘I’m protecting the pack’ routine—you’re not mad for us. You’re mad foryou.”

That word:us.

I hate how much it hits.

---