Page 49 of How to Lose a Pack in 10 Dates

Stop saying things like that unless you’re gonna show up and follow through.

Fuck. My grip tightens on the phone, and I type back fast.

Oh, I’ll follow through alright. You’ll see.

I set it face-down before I do something unhinged. Like drive to her place. Or propose.

“Was it her?” Cam pushes.

I nod.

“Are you gonna—”

“Yeah.”

He doesn’t ask what I mean. He doesn’t need to.

I stare at my phone long after the screen fades to black, like maybe the ghost of her message is still burned into the glass. Like maybe if I just look hard enough, I’ll see something I missed—proof that this isn’t one-sided. That I’m not losing it.

Because Iamlosing it.

Not just emotionally, but biologically. Instinctively. Whatever you want to call it.

She’s under my skin, in my blood, etched behind my eyelids every time I close them. I’ve never been the kind of guy who believes in fate or destiny or any of that scent-match fairytale bullshit, but now I catch myself flinching and grinning when her name lights up my phone.

It'sinsane.I barely know her, but my body doesn’t care. My instincts are stupid loud; the kind of loud that drowns out common sense and makes everything else in my life feel gray by comparison.

It’s not just sex. It’s something sharper, something bigger.

It’sher.

And Wes… Wes might be right about one thing. It’s not smart to feel like this, to want someone like this, to be ready to crawl out of my own skin just to get closer; but that doesn’t make itlessreal.

She laughs and I feel it in my spine. She brushes my hand and I want to throw her over my shoulder and keep her there until the world makes sense again.

No omega’s ever made me feel like this. Not evenclose.

And maybe that’s why I can’t stop thinking about what Wes said.

Maybe sheisplaying us. Maybe I’m just the fool who fell face-first into it. But if she called me right now—if she whispered my name and asked me to show up—I wouldn’t hesitate. I wouldn’t ask why. I wouldn’t try to talk myself down. I’d be out the door.

That’s the worst part. Because I don’t know if she wantsme, or if she just wants what being wanted feels like. I don’t know if I’m a distraction or a weapon or a damn science experiment she’s running on a dare.

I don’t know if I’m brave enough to ask.

Because if she saysyes, I might break.

But if she saysno?

…I’ll still come running.

Chapter Fourteen

Aimee

Before we go any further, I need to plead my case:

Ireallythought I could be normal about this.

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