Page 84 of How to Lose a Pack in 10 Dates

Her hand tightens on the tray she’s holding.

“You’re manipulative. You’recalculated,” Wes spits. “And it’s so fucking transparent it’s insulting. You parade around this house, stirring up heat pheromones and cooking weird glitter food like you’re some sweet little housemate—like you didn’t climb straight into bed with Jace the second he smiled at you. And now what? You’ve got Cam wrapped around your finger too?”

My jaw clenches hard enough I feel it in my temples, but it's Jace who moves fast, stepping in front of her with an expression that tells me he'sthis closeto putting Wes through a wall.

“Hey. Back thefuckoff,” Jace growls. “Now.”

“I was just—” Aimee starts, but her voice is trembling now. “I was just trying to help with dinner. I thought it might be… nice.”

She sets the tray down carefully, then she glances my way, and it fucking wrecks me.

She’s not smiling anymore.

“I know I’m not…” she stops. Breathes. “Whatever you think I am, I’m not trying toruinanything.”

Wes lets out a sharp, joyless laugh. “Right. You just waltzed in here with your fake sweetness and glitter casseroles and fucked your way into a pack you don’t even want.”

Aimee flinches as Jace growls again. “Sayone moreword, man—”

“I don’t want to be a problem,” Aimee says.

Her voice is barely above a whisper, but still cuts through whatever threat Jace was going to follow up with.

“Yeah?” Wes sneers. “Then maybe stop acting like a stray that keeps dragging in chaos and pretending it’s affection.”

Her facecrumples.

I want to move, but I feel frozen to the spot, helpless for the first time in years as she turns without another word and walks out of the kitchen. There’s no storming, no theatrics; just quiet devastation.

We all stand in silence. The air is razor-thin as alpha instincts coil like loaded springs, mine and Jace’s both.

There’s nothing funny anymore. This isn’t pasta. This isn’t dinner.

This is our pack, splintering at the seams.

Jace speaks first. “You happy now?” he sneers.

His tone snaps me out of it, and I take a breath as I turn my attention to Wes, too, but it does nothing to cool the burn in my chest.

“What thefuckis wrong with you?” I bite out.

Wes scrapes a hand down his face, then slams it onto the counter.

“I’ve fuckingtried,” he announces. “Tried to ignore her. Tried to be civil. But she’s pushed and pushed and pushed, and you’re both too fucking soft to see it.”

“You think she’s doing this on purpose?” I grit out. “You think she’s making dinner and smiling at us just to piss you off?”

“She’s not just making dinner,” he scoffs, his blue eyes practically burning. “She’s making herself indispensable. She's charming the shit out of you two and driving a wedge straight through the middle of this pack.”

“She wants tobelong,” I tell him. “The whole reason we’ve all come together is because the app scent-matched her to us. Now she’s scared and alone and still doing her best to connect with us, and allyou’vedone is act like her existence is a personal attack.”

“She’s notscared,” Wes says coldly. “She’scalculated. Every little smile, every touch, every ‘oops I reorganized your shit’—you think any of that’s innocent? She knows how to bait me, and she fuckingloves it.”

“No,” Jace snaps, stepping right into his space now. “She’s trying.You’rethe only one who seems determined to sabotage this.”

“She walks around here like she owns the place,” he mutters, but there’s less fire behind it now. More hurt. “Like she belongs. Like this isherpack.”

“You sound insane,” Jace says flatly.

---