Page 7 of Last Pack Standing
She stiffened, but didn’t turn around.
“Oh,you?” she said. “That’s rich.”
“Cassie, please!”
“You’re not catching anything but these hands, Langston.”
Ash sighed. “Cameras are rolling. Can we please fake chemistry before they edit us out of the episode entirely?”
Cassie crossed her arms. “Fine. But if I die, tell everyone it was Jace who ended me.”
She closed her eyes, tensed her body… and fell.
I stepped in, my arms fully out and prepared to take her weight. She landed softly in my arms, and even though she was tense and blindfolded, it felt like the most natural thing in the world to hold her. I adjusted her in my arms, grounding us. She was warm, her breath coming fast. She smelled like citrus and disbelief.
Cassie yanked the blindfold off and blinked up at me.
“I’m fine,” she said flatly.
“You’re fine, yes.” I said before my brain could form a good response. She elbowed me in the ribs.
And that’s when Leo, trying to show off by catching Ash and spinning him dramatically, tripped.Ash screamed, and we all turned to watch it, like it was happening in slow motion. Rys saw, then rushed over to prevent them both from falling. Rys stepped on Leo’s foot, and the three of them fell forward, taking the sound guy and his boom mic with them. Soon they were all on the ground, a tangle of limbs and swearing. Despite all of it, Leo held Ash up from the pile like a trophy, somehow miraculously keeping him from touching the ground.
Cassie burst out laughing in my arms. Something in me finally relaxed as I heard the beautiful chime of her giggle. God, I had missed her laugh.
Maybe I’d ruined it the first time with her, but that didn’t mean I missed my last chance. The cameras were rolling, catching every second of the mishaps. Cassie looked up at me. “Do you think the audience will vote us off? We’re pretty chaotic.” She said with a hint of doubt.
“Cassie, they would be fools to vote us off. We’re only just getting started.” I said with more confidence than I felt. I’d just caught the girl of my dreams in my arms. I hoped the show didn’t end now, as this was more than I ever hoped for. The producers ran over in a scramble to help the sound guy, but I couldn’t pay attention to anything but Cassie. She talked to me without venom for the first time since we arrived. It was something - more than I could have hoped for. And I’d take it.
Chapter 7
Ash
We’d barely been here a few days and it was already a disaster. My team mate Cassie - a very pretty, though highly agitated omega - already had beef with one of the alphas. I almost felt bad for him. It was clear to me that he really liked her, although she seemed to think he was the devil incarnate.
Even worse, our trust fall exercise, which should have been a disaster for Jace and Cassie, ended up a disaster for me.
The alpha who caught me went a little overboard, not realizing his strength. Rys tried to save us from falling, but ended up entangling us with the sound guy, resulting in all of them on the ground. Leo somehow managed to keep me up in the air, using a single arm to hold me above the fray. Now, I can’t say it wasn’t attractive, even if he didn’t realize his own overzealous strength.In fact, all of the alphas they’d put on our team were exactly my type.
If I wasn’t here for the money, I might actually consider getting to know them. But now, knowing how fiery Cassie was toward our teammate, and how ridiculous our challenge went, I felt like we wouldn’t make it past the first round of voting. And that’s exactly where we were tonight, lined up to learn our fate.
There’s nothing like standing in front of a giant glowing screen, knowing your entire future might be decided by a group of strangers. Alongside us were the other teams that had been placed together, eight total. Some of them looked like surefire winners - they were clearly used to performing. They seemed so confident, and acted so connected already. I’d watched their trust fall exercises, feeling awful as they seemed to ace the challenge, all while sending us smirks as they watched our team flail in chaotic fashion.
I crossed my arms, pretending I wasn’t on the verge of throwing up. Cassie stood to my left, arms tight at her sides, her eyes feigning disinterest. She was trying to look unbothered, but really, she looked pissed off. I was definitely bothered. But I’d gotten good at pretending.
Our “pack” stood in a line: me, Cassie, Rys, Leo, and Jace. Five strangers who’d fumbled our first challenge so badly that it had already been clipped and memed across the internet.
Leo tripping during the trust fall, somehow picking up two other people into the mess and then nearly launching me into the air?It was an instant classic. The audience loved it. But that didn’t mean they’d believe in our ‘love story’ enough to keep us on.
And no one knew what it meant for me. The pack didn’t know I needed this. And I really, really needed it. I came from a place where heat suppressants were a luxury, where alphas only looked at omegas like me when they needed someone to use and discard. Growing up, my family had to hide what I was just so I could get a job. I wasn’t trying to win a mate - I was trying to wina life.But I couldn’t let them know that. Not the alphas, not even Cassie. And especially not the audience. Desperation didn’t sell well.
The host’s voice rang out dramatically as we stood there to learn our fate.
“Team Silver, after yesterday’s, shall we say, chaotic trust exercise - you were one of the most talked about packs on social media. But it’s time to find out if going viral means votes… or if you’re the first to go.”
A long, terrible silence followed. I swallowed, glancing down the line. Leo stood tall, back straight, looking relaxed and with a happy smile, like someone who’d never been picked last in his life. Rys looked like a statue, somber but not stressed. Jace was either brooding or trying not to pass out, I couldn't tell.
And Cassie, well, she looked ready to throw down. I was pretty sure that if we got cut, she was taking the camera crew with her. I reached out, my hand barely grazing hers. But somehow, it seemed to do the trick. Her stance relaxed some, and it alsosomehow helped the knots in my stomach to ease. Her citrus scent was tinged with mild anxiety, but I somehow still liked it. The scent was a calming balm, so very different from the too strong, pungent scents of other omegas I’d met. But I couldn't even think about that right now. I still had so much riding on this show. All I could do was suffer in silence as the thoughts ran through my head.Don’t send me home. Not yet.
