Page 99 of How to Lose a Pack in 10 Dates

“I didn’ttrack you,” he mutters, brushing past and stepping into my apartment. “Cam gave me your address.”

Of course he did. Note to self: revoke access toeverythingnext time you decide to play house with a pack of alphas.

I close the door behind him then turn to face his broad back.

“So,” I say flatly. “You came all the way here towhat? Lecture me? Fight again?”

“I came to apologize.”

I snort. I can’t help it. “Alright then,” I nod, waiting. “Apologize.”

His nostrils flare, and my stomach clenches. I see it, then: the alpha in him. He doesn’t like being tested, doesn’t like being challenged; and definitely not byme.

“I’m trying to make this right,” he says. His voice is clipped, almost as though the effort is choking him. “But you just keep poking. Keep playing.”

I step closer, folding my arms. “You don’t like being played, Wesley?” I ask, saccharine and sharp. “Because I could swear you’ve done your fair share of it.”

“You’re not subtle, you know,” he snaps. “You think I don’t see what this is? You bait me. You flirt. You fuck them. You’re parading around that house like it’s some kind of heat-den fantasy camp—and I’m, what, supposed to just sit back and clap for you?”

His voice is rising now, the cracks starting to show again.

I blink up at him, mock-innocent. “Cam and Jace make me feel wanted,” I say coolly. “They make me laugh. Maybe I just like men who don’t treat me like I’m disposable.”

“You think I treated you like that?” he hisses. “You think I forgot what we had? That I didn’t go insane trying to figure out why you blew up on me the way you did—why you never gave me a fuckingchanceto explain?”

“Are you kidding me?” I laugh, sharp and humourless. “Youghostedme. There’s no explanation that starts with you rejecting your scent-matched omega and ends in happily ever after.”

His jaw locks. “You have no idea what was going on in my life back then.”

“Right,” I spit. “Because your poor little rich alpha problems gave you the right to blow up the one thing that was actually good between us.”

“I was young, alright?” he grits out. “Barely even twenty-one years old. Young and dumb and—”

“Youknewwhat I was. What we were,” I cut in. “Age doesn’t excuse it.”

We’re both breathing hard now—me with adrenaline, him with something more feral. His deep blue eyes rake over me, chest rising and falling in short, angry bursts.

“This isn’t about the others,” he mutters. “You’re doing it all for me. To get under my skin.”

“If that’s true, then it worked.” I smirk as my voice goes lower. “Didn’t it?”

He stares at me, tense and seething—andsomethingin him unravels.

His next words are a snarl.

“You think I don’t know what you’re doing?” he says. “You’ve been pushing since the second I let you walk into that house.Laughing too loud, sitting too close. Letting them scent you—letting themtouchyou. And now you’ve got me standing in your apartment like some fucking deranged ex.”

“Youare a deranged ex.” My pulse thuds behind my ears. “And it’snone of your businesswho I sleep with.”

“It is when it starts messing withmypack.”

“Oh, please,” I snap. “You made it about the pack the second you lost your temper. I’ve beenfinewith Jace and Cam. Ilikethem. So maybe you should back the fuck off—”

“Oh, I’m not backing off.” There’s low, lethal laughter in his voice as he steps closer. “Not when I know you’re scent-matched tome, too.”

I immediately go still as the air around ussnaps.

“I don’t want you,” I say, but it comes out quiet and unconvincing.

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