Page 31 of Last Pack Standing
“Look, I didn’t come here thinking I’d connect with anyone.” I said, shrugging lightly. “Honestly, I thought this was just a silly show. A long shot, at best. But I was wrong. All of you… you just feel right. Whether it was fate or just the producers getting lucky, we found each other. And it’s perfect. We really are the best team. I don’t want to let any of you go.” My voice cracked as the truth hit me fully. I’d actually done it.I’d found my pack.
There was a brief pause before Jace tilted his head, glancing over. “Leo, you’ve been quiet. What are your thoughts?” Leo gave us all his signature slow, casual grin, crossing his arms behind his head as he lay back and stretched out on the very well used nesting bed.
“Oh, I’ve known you were it since the beginning. I was just waiting for the rest of you to realize it.” He rumbled with a knowing tone. I reached over and gave him a playful shove.
“Figures the jock would turn out to be the smartest of us all!” I teased, and he gave a purr before quickly tackling us all into a ball, with the rest of us erupting in laughter as we fell onto the bed.
For a while, we just stayed there, pressed together in the soft mess of blankets and scent-soaked pillows, breathing as one.But eventually, the world beyond the nesting room called. With sleepy groans and a few more kisses, we began to untangle, each of us reluctant to leave this little piece of heaven. Whatever came next, whether it be cameras, challenges, confessions - we would face it together. As a pack.
Chapter 29
Jace
I was officially the luckiest alpha alive. I’d found my pack, received a second chance with my dream girl, and now I had not one, but two omegas who I thought were perfect - and they wanted to be with me. Not to mention that the other guys were a perfect fit. We’d done the impossible - find each other on a reality show that was more about ratings and drama than actual connections. But this was fate.
Now, a surprise heat with two omegas - that wasn’t fate. That had to be manipulation. And now that the heat was over, I was determined to find out who had put my two omegas at risk. If the producers thought they could do that to Cassie and Ash, they were in for a world of hurt.
But I didn’t want to alarm the omegas. Right now they were still basking in the glow of being catered to and cared for by all of us alphas through their very vulnerable heats. So, I just smiled and held them until we decided to get up and shower off. Once we left the nesting room, I was sure the cameras would descend upon us and we’d get bombarded with questions, asking us every detail. And I would tell them to shove it. This was not a joke.
We moved to the showers, all of us joking and laughing like we’d been a pack for years already. I scrubbed off, reluctant to wash away the combined scents of all of us after such a meaningful moment. But there would be more heats. Many, many more opportunities to bathe myself in the slick of Ash and Cassie, who were now washing each other off and making me feel even more protective of them.
As I finished getting dressed, Leo stepped over to me. “You know this wasn’t an accident, right?” He said in a hushed tone. I nodded once, a frown on my face. “Not that I would ever want to change the outcome.” He added. Rys and his superhuman hearing was the next to join us.
“You think this was a set up?” He asked.
“Can’t have been anything else. We need to find out why both of them went into heat at the same time.” I replied, already clenching my jaw at the idea that someone had messed with our omegas and their suppressants.
Rys nodded, his expression grim. “It could have gone very badly. Two omegas, in heat, in the same room… we’re just luckywe weren’t feral and that they turned out to be a match for each other.” He shook his head, the weight of what could have happened hanging heavy between us.
“I’m going to find out who’s behind this.” I growled.
Leo slammed his fist into his palm, eyes flashing. “Hell yeah we are. And when we do, someone’s going to regret ever messing with our pack.”
I glanced over at Ash and Cassie, still blissfully wrapped in each other as they got dressed, unaware of the storm brewing behind them.
“Keep an eye on them. We don’t want any more sabotage. I’m going to confront the producers.” I said. They nodded, the unspoken promise thick in the air. No one messed with our omegas and got away with it. Not on our watch.
I walked toward the door to our suite, then braced myself as I opened it. The door hadn’t even clicked shut behind me before the cameras pounced. As I expected, several camera crew jumped up and quickly moved their equipment toward me as someone used a radio to speak to a producer.
The crew members looked at me, their eyes wide and their breaths shallow as they encountered an alpha fresh from a double omega heat. My scent was still thick with the evidence of what had happened - charged and unmistakably dominant. Every beta in that hallway flinched just slightly as I straightened to my full height and glared into the lens.
“Get that camera out of my face.” My words weren’t shouted, they were deadly quiet. One of the techs stumbled back, almost tripping over a light stand. Another lowered his boom with shaky hands. Good. They’d seen the polite, reserved side of me all this time. Now I wanted them to know exactly who they were dealing with.
I stormed down the corridor, and yet I could still feel the heat on my skin, Cassie’s moans echoing in my ears, Ash’s trembling body curled beneath mine. They’d been overwhelmed, pushed into a biological storm they hadn’t chosen. And someone had made that happen.
The control room door flew open with one shove, slamming into the wall hard enough to make the nearest assistant jump. There they were - the producers. All betas, content with their smug smiles. That changed real fast when they saw me. One of the main producers stood slowly. I caught the way his throat bobbed.
“Jace,” he said, carefully. “Everything okay in there?”
“Why did both of our omegas go into heat?” My voice was low, dangerously calm. “You assured everyone they’d be safe.”
The room went quiet. I could almost see them flinch as the waves of alpha pheromones rolled off of me, filling the room.
“Jace, I promise, we had nothing to do with that.” He started, taking a step toward me. A quick warning growl put him in his place, and he raised his hands up as if he was trying to placateme. “We obviously require suppressants for all unbonded participants. And in the rare event that a heat does happen, we have plenty of security measures in place to deal with it. We had guards at the entrance of your suite the whole time to give your team privacy.”
I nearly roared at his response, and he backed up, shaking. A young producer - Cynthia, I think - stood up. “We have reason to believe someone entered your suite the night before Cassie and Ash went into heat.” She said, her voice trembling. I nearly saw red. Someone had sabotaged them.
“So someone messed with their medicine?” I slowly circled the table like a predator. “You let strangers handle their chemistry without telling us? You didn’t warn us. And you let it all play out with a double heat.”
