Page 135 of Pack Rivals, Part One

"It's okay," I say again, hoping the words will eventually sink in and I'll believe them. Because really, am I okay?

I'm tipping into heat. Soon, if all those pamphlets are to be believed, I'll be a blubbering bundle of hormones with no sense of time or place, my flesh riddled with pain, agony searing through every nerve, my body begging to be rutted.

I need a new plan, and a new plan quick.

As if reading my mind, Courtney asks, "Do you want me to call Aunt Julia, see if she could arrange an alpha or a pack for you?"

"No, no way," I say firmly. "I'm done with alphas and I'm done with men in general. I'm going to the clinic."

28

Axel

We fileinto our apartment like a pack of defeated dogs, our tails hanging between our legs. I certainly feel like a beaten one. My jaw throbs, my ribs are bruised and my knuckles raw. It's my heart that's aching the most though. I thought last night was bad. I thought that was painful.

No, this is agony. The look on her face. The way it cracked right in front of us like a pebble hitting glass, fissures racing across the surface.

And all that pain, all that heartache she's been keeping hidden, buried deep down in her soul, came flooding up at that moment.

Shit, we did that. We did that to her. We hurt her.

"Man," Nate says, pacing the room at such speed, he's making me cross-eyed. "Man, we fucked up. We fucked up big time. Goddamn."

"Who the fuck let it slip in the first place?" I growl. "She was never meant to find out about the bet."

Nate stops in his tracks and spins towards me. His face is murderous, that special shade of white it turns before he unleashes the hounds of hell. "That stupid bet was your idea," he growls out between his teeth.

"It was Angel's."

"You agreed to the dumbass idea."

"I don't remember you complaining about it when I told you, Nate. In fact," I draw myself up to my full height, squaring my shoulders, "I seem to remember you rubbing your hands together and claiming it would be fun."

It was a stupid idea, Nate's right. At the time, it seemed like the perfect way to solve our land issue and the omega conundrum in one easy stroke.

The first pack to rut and knot the little omega, would win her and all the land out by the beach.

Now I realize the entire thing was childish. However, I'm not about to admit my mistakes to Nate.

"It was fucking stupid," Connor says, sounding tired and exasperated. A shiner's forming around his right eye. It'll be black by nightfall.

"It's that feud. That fucking feud," Nate says, pacing again, throwing me murderous looks as he does. "I don't give a shit about it. Never have. But I've always had your back, Axel. Always been dragged into your bullshit regardless." He halts and thrusts his finger in my face, making me growl. "I couldn't give a shit about Angel Boston and his pack."

I grab Nate's finger squeezing it in my fist and the next thing I know we're wrestling on the floor.

Nate lands two hooks on my already bruised cheek before Connor grabs him by the nape of his shirt and hauls him off me.

"What?" Connor barks. "Now we're fighting each other?"

"Looks that way," Nate spits bloody saliva onto the floor, onto my fucking Persian rug.

I launch for him again, but Connor yanks me away.

"I'm leaving," Nate announces.

"What? Nate, no. What are you doing?" Connor says.

"Need some space, man. Need some space."

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