Page 48 of How to Lose a Pack in 10 Dates

“Look: I like her. Not just the scent match, not just the heat triggers—her. And if she wants more than one of us?Great. I can deal. But I’m not gonna play backup just because I’m the easy one.”

Silence stretches; then, softly, Cam says, “She’s not using you, Jace.”

“I know,” I reply. “I just don’t want to find out too late that I used myself.”

Wes exhales through his nose. “Still think this is a mistake.”

“Yeah,” I mutter, jaw locked. “You’ve made that pretty fucking clear.”

“Just looking out for you both,” he says, tone dipping into that sarcastic, sing-song mockery that makes my fists twitch.

“Really? That what this is?” I look up sharply. “Because from where I’m standing, it looks a lot more like you’re sabotaging it before it has a chance.”

“The only person who should be associated with the wordsabotageisher.She’s not what you think she is.”

“You don’t know what I think,” I snap. “You haven’t even given her a chance.”

“I gave her a chance four years ago,” he hums. “Didn’t end well then, either.”

“That’s ancient history.”

“Not for her, it isn’t.” His voice is low now. “You’re so caught up in the scent match you can’t see what’s right in front of you. She’s not in this for you. She’s not in it for Cam. She’s playing the long game—and the prize is screwing with me.”

“You don’t get to talk about her like that,” I snap. “You don’t get to drag her through the mud just because you can’t stand the fact she’s not chasing after you.”

He doesn’t back down.

“She’s using you,” he warns.

“And you’re projecting,” I fire back. “You think just because she burned you, she’ll burn the rest of us too? That’s not logic, man. That’s ego.”

He bristles, nostrils flaring, but I don’t stop.

“You want to have an issue with the scent-match?Fine. But you don’t see her the way I do, or feel what I feel when she looks at me like I matter. So maybe take a second before running your mouth about something that doesn’t belong to just you anymore.”

The room’s thick with tension, scent, and the unspoken things swirling beneath both our skins. For a long beat, neither of us moves; but then Cam taps the board game and clears his throat.

“Your move,” he says.

I sigh, then play along. But as I do, I sit with it—with her ghost in the room, and my own words rattling around my ribs.

And I get that Wes doesn’t like it. I know it’s not going to be easy for him given their history. But Aimee’s ourscent match.

And he sure as hell better start respecting it.

My phone buzzes on the cushion beside me, coming as a welcome distraction. I don’t even check the screen—I already know it’s her.

Gym tomorrow?

I need to sweat out all the tension from Wes being emotionally unavailable and Cam being perfect.

I huff a laugh through my nose and type back without thinking.

I’ll make you sweat. Not sure how much of it’ll be cardio.

Cam eyes me knowingly. “Who’s that?”

I don’t answer. Not because I don’t want to, but because I’m already reading her next message.

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