Page 32 of Last Pack Standing
Leo had once joked that I looked like I could snap a man in half. Judging by the expressions around the room now, I didn’t need to. They already looked broken, terrified of what I could do to them.
The main producer looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him up. “I can assure you, we will find the person who did this and hold them responsible. We didn’t know it happened until we reviewed the footage.”
“You don’t know who it is?” I bellowed, wanting to tear whoever was responsible apart.
“N-no, they hid their face. But I can assure you we will find the person who did this and hold them responsible.”
“If anything like this happens again,” I said, straightening, “we walk. No cameras. No finale. No ratings. And if any one of us so much as smells sabotage again, I swear I’ll turn this entire set inside out to find who’s responsible.”
I turned toward the door, letting my presence burn behind me like smoke. As I walked out, a camera operator stared at me, his mouth hanging open in shock. I hoped he caught every moment of my time reaming the producers.
Let them filmthat.
Chapter 30
Rys
There was a new connection between everyone on our team, now that we’d all been through a heat together. And not just any heat. Adoubleheat. Something that would fatigue even the best alphas. To be fair, I was feeling pretty sore, although I was satisfied and complete. More than that, I was happy.
And I could feel the growing bond between the omegas as well. The two of them had been so beautiful together, with Ash and Cassie almost as desperate for each other as they were for our knots. I was so pleased that there wasn’t a rivalry between them, and that they wanted each other. Because I wanted both of them, and I’d never be able to choose just one.
Now that we’d cleaned off from the heat and had our senses come back, we were all realizing that this went way beyond the game. We were the real deal.
Cassie and Ash were curled up on the couch, nuzzled into each other as Leo and I sat on either side of them. We were enjoying the last few minutes before we would go back out into the villa. Jace opened the door, stepping in and emitting full alpha pheromones as he strode toward us. The omegas noticed instantly, both of them straightening up as their pupils grew in size, tracking him as he made his way toward the couch. His gaze softened when he saw them, and he reached out, cupping each of their cheeks briefly before settling in on the couch, joining the huddle.
“Everything okay?” Cassie asked, noticing that he was emitting strong alpha presence, enough to fill up the room.
“Yes, just talking with production about why you and Ash went into heat. I want to get to the bottom of it so that nothing else unexpected happens.” He said with assurance, and she settled down at his words.
“Yeah, that wasn’t normal.” Ash added, lacing his fingers with Cassie’s. “I can’t imagine the producers would do something so stupid as to let two omegas go into heat at the same time, but if they did…” He let his words trail off. It could have been a disaster.
“I don’t think the show did it, at least not intentionally. But they didn’t stop it either.” Jace added, rubbing his chin as his eyesdarkened. I hadn’t seen this side of him before. He was fully in protective mode now that the omegas had accepted him.
“We’ll make sure nothing else happens.” Leo added with a smile. “Anyway, we need to go out and face them at some point. Let’s take control of our own narrative.”
“What do you mean?” Ash asked, and Leo squeezed his shoulder.
“Oh, the show might have an angle now that all this happened. Clearly they wanted two omegas on a team so there would be competition. But they never expected the two of you would get along so well.” He said.
Ash was quiet for a moment, then lifted his chin. “Then let’s go out there and show them how strong we are.”
We all turned to look at him. There was a new weight in his voice, a true confidence I hadn’t heard before.. This wasn’t the same Ash who was used to putting up walls - he was finally stepping into his own power.
“You’re right. Bring it on!” Cassie added, leaning into Ash playfully. They were right. It was time to face the cameras, and emerge as a pack.
________
We were piled onto a long couch together, with Ash and Cassie in the middle, flanked by alphas on all sides. It sent a clear message- the omegas are protected, and could not be divided. The host and crew, along with the producers, glanced around nervously. I could smell the sterile scent of synthetic calming sprays they pumped in to “soften” the tension. It didn’t work. Not when they had the audacity to smile at us like nothing had gone wrong.
The producer’s assistant gave us the signal to start. Cassie and Ash were the most calm out of all of us, but that was to be expected. Their omega hormones would have them on cloud nine now that three alphas had spent the last few days catering to their needs.
“So…” the host began, his voice already making me irritated, “the double omega heat was unexpected, to say the least.”
“You expected a disaster,” I said flatly. “You expected fighting and chaos to boost your ratings.”
The host smiled nervously, caught off guard. “Well, it was certainly not ideal. We were a bit worried with two omegas in heat, that someone would get left out.” He offered, fishing for details. He would get very few from us.
“That’s not what happened,” Leo cut in, more graciously. “Cassie and Ash supported each other.”
