Page 19 of Pack Deception: Part One

I am due for my heat soon. Maybe I'm feeling the symptoms of preheat, and my omega recognized an eligible alpha nearby and felt threatened by the beta. A sigh escapes me at my internal rationalization. That has to be the reason I felt and behaved so strange.

Feeling vindicated, I roll over in bed, only to lock eyes on Dillan Doherty's manuscript.No time like the present, I think and pull it over to finish the last half of edits before work tomorrow.

Nine

Hudson

My heart breakswith each step Summer takes away from me. She could feel it. The mate bond. I know she could. Even if it was just for a second, she felt something. Then she ran away from it. The whining, ear-grating voice coming from behind me being the reason. I could throttle Amanda for making my mate uncomfortable. For thinking she has any right to touch me anymore. Goddess, I can't imagine what Summer thinks of the situation. Probably that I'm nothing but drama. Surely she won't want to shackle herself to me now.

"Baby..." Amanda's slender hand burns as it touches my arm. Before I can even pull away from her, Mason reaches our side and yanks her none to gently away from me. Amanda stumbles in her ridiculous five-inch stilettos that she paired with jeans and a low cut shirt before righting herself. Seriously, who wears that on a Sunday morning? My mind flashes to the casual leggings and sweatshirt Summer was wearing. Even dressed down, she's one hundred times more attractive than Amanda could ever hope to be.

"Keep your hands to yourself, Mandy," he sneers, knowing she hates being called Mandy.

"Mind your own business, Mason. This is between me and Hudson," she retorts, wiping her hands down her pant legs like she just got dirty, and ire in her high pitched voice. Maybe I never noticed how annoying her voice was until I heard Summer's sweet, lyrical one.

"There is nothing between us. You need to get lost and stay that way. We're done." There is no room for argument in my no-nonsense tone.

"You don't mean that. We're just going through a rough patch. Every relationship has one," she pouts, tears lining her eyes that make me feel nothing. "You don't mean it." She moves like she's going to step closer to me again, and Mason inserts himself between us.

"Fuck. Off. We found our mate. Hudson hasn't called you back in a month. Stop calling him, stop texting him, and stop showing up. It's disrespectful to him and our mate." To anyone else, Mason's attitude may seem over the top. Aggressive, even. But he loves and cares so fiercely that, to me, it's not at all surprising. He will only ever care about Mav and Summer. Sure, he loves me and Brooke, too. But they're his whole world, and Amanda has just threatened part of that.

"Who? That fat cow that just ran off?" she hisses incredulously. Mason growls at the same time as I do, and Amanda flinches back like she's been assaulted. Mason's growl, as a beta, may be little more than a grumble compared to mine, but she's still facing two pissed-off men who are much larger than she is.

"Amanda... I've never hit a woman, but fuck if I'm not standing on that ledge right now," Mason says in a calm voice that is more aggressive than if he'd screamed at her. Right. Time to de-escalate.

"Mason." He looks at me, and I shake my head. He huffs but heads to the car to wait on me. I watch him until he slides into the passenger seat and slams the door, and then I turn back to Amanda. She's got a hopeful look on her face now that Mason is gone. Like that helps her chances somehow even after she just learned I found my mate. She's seriously delusional.

"Listen to me and listen good. I found my mate. She's it for me for the rest of my life, and even if she rejects me, you and I still wouldn't be together." Just the thought causes an unbearable ache in my chest, but I push it aside. "I don't want to see you again. If you can't leave me alone, I won't hesitate to get a restraining order." I keep my tone as calm and level as I can, even though I'm seething inside, and all I want is to go to Summer's apartment and demand she face what I know she feels.

While Amanda stands there, looking shocked and hurt, I walk past her to the car where I can almost feel Mason's impatience from here. When I slide into the driver's seat, sure enough, Mason is sitting with the box of pastries in his lap and the cupholder full of drinks on top of it. The three coffees and orange juice are sloshing around and almost spilling over thanks to Mason's incessant toe tapping.

"Can we go before she decides to chase down the car?" he grumbles, finally stopping the toe tapping once I put the car in drive.

"She's not going to be a problem anymore," I declare, glancing over at him from the corner of my eye to see him staring dubiously back at me. Yeah, I'm not sure I believe myself, either.

* * *

We pull up to the gate at the house, and this time, it's me tapping my foot—or fingers against the steering wheel, really—as I watch it crawl open with the speed of a sloth in quicksand. I feel wired, and I haven't even touched my coffee. Just interacting with Summer is enough of a stimulant on its own, but add in the moment where she growled at Amanda for being in my space, and I feel like I'm on a high I won't come down from for weeks.

Mason just sips his orange juice in the passenger seat and stares out the window, looking contemplative. Orange juice because he doesn't like the taste or smell of coffee. He even makes Mav brush his teeth after he drinks it before kissing him again. The weirdo. But surely our bubbly beta should be showing a little more emotion after the morning we just had. Rather than sitting stoically and drinking juice.

After what feels like an hour, the gate finally opens enough for me to drive through. In my haste, I hit the gas a little too hard, and the drink carrier in Mason's lap tumbles back onto him. I wince when he curses.

"Sorry," I say, looking over at the damage. Only one coffee lost its lid and spilled half of its contents on his old college sweatshirt. At least I know the coffee has been sitting long enough that it is only warm at this point. I could have spilled the coffee on him fresh from the pot.

"You're paying for my dry cleaning," he mutters, grabbing a napkin from the center console and patting his sweatshirt and neck dry. Or as dry as he can make it.

"That sweatshirt isn't worth the dry cleaning bill. I'll just buy you a new one," I laugh at his outraged face.

"It's vintage!" he yells, and I can't help the second round of laughter. Vintage, my ass. Raggedy is more like it. The pack makes well into seven figures a year, and he still shops like he's little orphan Annie. "This coffee is yours then," he grumbles, and I shrug. I don't even need the caffeine boost anymore.

I park in the garage beside Mav's forest green Wrangler and hop out, pressing the lock button when Mason shuts the passenger door. The two-toned car honk as it locks echoes in the garage, loud enough that I'm sure Brooke and Mav heard. Sure enough, Mav is opening the garage door that leads into the house before I even make it there. He's shirtless with a thin sheen of sweat coating his torso, arms, and face. Our home gym is right off the garage, so he was close by when he heard us pull in.

"You guys need any help?" he asks, reaching just into the garage and hitting the button to close the main garage door.

"We just got breakfast," I say, brushing past him. He stays where he is to greet Mason by taking the drink holder from him and giving Mason a chaste kiss on the lips. I frown at the pair.

They've been like that since we found out about Summer being our mate. They still sleep in the same bed occasionally and cuddle on the couch. They'll share a few intimate touches like that kiss, but it's like they're scared now. Like they think our mate won't want them if they're together. I don't share that same fear, but then again, I know for a fact she's the only one I will ever need or want from here on out. Mason and Mav, I'm not so sure. Mav, for as long as I've known him, hasalwayswanted to find his fated mate. He was willing to wait forever if he had to. Even if that meant not getting serious with anyone else. Then he met Mason. I wouldn't say his plans changed exactly. He still wanted to find his mate, but now, he had someone else he can’t live without.

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