Page 26 of Pack Coffey

"Actually, we have the academy literally in our backyard," Keaton offers, taking my hand and leading us toward the back again.

We go outside where it's still pouring rain. Thankfully, there's awnings over the walkways to where he's leading us. There are several buildings back here. One of which looks like it's been on fire before. There are rope walls and a huge towerwith lots of stairs. I look all the way up to the top, reminded of the way I have to look at Lawrence, making me chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Banks asks, also looking up to see if he can spot it.

"The tower just kind of reminded me of how I look up at Lawrence," I answer honestly, making both of them laugh.

"That's fair," Banks says. "Know what that is for?"

I shake my head and take a guess, "Exercise?"

He does that thing where he licks his bottom lip before grinning. Jumping in front of me, he leans down and presses his shoulder in my stomach before lifting me off the ground and taking off running toward the stairs.

"Oh my god, Banks," I shout, slapping his ass. "Put me down. Don't do that. Don't go up there."

"You better not let her get hurt!" Keaton calls after us. "We'll both be dead men."

The yelling has attracted a small crowd. One blonde head sticks out in particular. I see her shaking it back and forth in disbelief.

"You're not scared of heights, are you?" Banks asks as we're halfway up.

"Hell...of...a...time...to...ask...me...now," I tell him, each word broken by the heft of his shoulder into my gut. It doesn't hurt, but in this position it's easier to see the ground and people down there growing further away and smaller by the second.

By the time we make it to the top, I'm clinging to his back for dear life. I trust that he won't drop me, but we're high up. He sets me on my feet and has to steady me with a hand before letting me go. And to make matters even worse, I'm pretty sure I'm more out of breath than he is.

I smack his hard stomach with the back of my hand. "Don't ever do that again."

"Why?" he asks. "Don't like the rush of not knowingwhat's going to happen?"

His question gives me pause. "Is that what it's like?"

"Every single time," he replies quietly. "Any given fire on any day has the potential to get out of hand."

"Are you trying to warn me?" I ask.

"That's not what I set out to do by bringing you up here," he admits. "but now that we're addressing it. Yeah, I guess I am. You have the right to know what you're signing up for with us."

I step into his space and weave my arms around his middle, raising my chin to look him square in the face. "I might be an omega, but I'm not a weak one. If you guys can handle being heroes, then I make the promise that I can handle the stress of not knowing."

Taking my face between his hands, he kisses me again. Softer this time. Slowly savoring the moment. When we finally pull away from each other, we stand together in our embrace for a little while longer, listening to the rain on the roof of the tower.

"We should probably head back down," he says. "Aurelia probably already called Saint to try to get me in trouble."

Hearing her name out of his mouth makes my nose scrunch up. The earlier feelings of her being perfect fly off the side of this tower as jealousy rears its ugly head.

He makes it down a few steps before realizing that I stopped. Turning around, his brows furrow as he frowns. "What's wrong?"

"Are you guys' good friends with her?" I ask.

It takes a moment for his mind to catch up to what we're even talking about. Then he laughs, trying to hide it as he comes the few steps back up to me. He hugs me around the middle, pressing a kiss to my lips. "You're cute when you're jealous. Baby, when I tell you that you've got nothing to worry about with her, trust me, you've gotnothingto worry about. It's you we should be more worried about. Her pack is on the prowl for anomega. She's got no use for your beta or alpha. I can promise you that."

I love the way that he phrases that and calls them mine. It soothes down the bitter taste of jealousy, and we start walking down again. This time hand in hand like he doesn't want to let me go.

We're about halfway down when I ask him, "What is this tower even for?"

He chuckles. "Exactly what I showed you it was for. Except, we don't usually use real people. We'll use weighted dummies sometimes. Mostly, we race to the top carrying our truck's water hoses."

"Other than all the steps, that doesn't sound so bad," I tell him

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