Page 17 of Pack Frenzy
Every attempt left another fracture none of us wanted to look at.
So Cassian kept his wall.Sweetheart. Darling. Omega.Words that kept distance between want and attachment.
And then Jess leans forward, meets him eye to eye, and says her name like a line in the sand.
Cassian inclines his head, conceding the point. "Jess, then."
She pops the roll in her mouth, holding his stare the whole time. Won that round, and she knows it.
I don't pretend to know what this means yet. But nine years is a long damn time for a habit to break itself.
That alone tells me this is different. Whether that's good or terrifying, I haven't decided yet.
I watch him lean back in his chair, that lazy sprawl that makes him look harmless when he’s anything but, and offer her another piece of tempura.
She takes it without hesitation this time, no testing the weight of the gift, no calculating the cost. Just takes it.
Eli must sense the shift too, because he tops off her tea without being asked, the gesture so automatic it’s like he’s already folded her into the rhythm of us.
Cassian’s still watching her with that hooded look he gets when he refuses to let himself care, but his scent’s gone warm—amber mellowing into something almost sweet.
The sunlight through the glass catches her hair, highlighting a few copper strands among the dark brown, and the tightness around her eyes eases. She doesn’t look like a new Omega being tested—just a woman sitting with three men trying not to stare too hard.
And for reasons I don’t examine, that feels like a win.
We get back on the road with the taste of spice still hanging in the air. Traffic hums steadily.
Jess sits back, eyes half-closed, soaking in the motion. “God, that was good food. Thanks.”
A glance back at Eli as I switch lanes. His beam tells me everything.
The farther we drive, the thinner the noise gets—city giving way to open fields, then to trees.
“You live in the woods?” she asks.
“Close enough,” he says. “Quiet. Room to think.”
“And wolves,” Eli adds.
Cassian grins. “Only if you’re lucky, you’ll see them.”
“Where exactly are we going?” she asks.
“Sounds isolated.”
“It is,” Cassian says. “You’ll like it or you won’t. Most Omegas like quiet once they realize no one’s listening through the walls.”
She smirks. “Guess I’ll find out.”
She watches the trees slide past. “You don’t worry about being way out here? If something happened?”
“We’re the thing that happens out here, sweetheart,” Cassian says.
“Jess,” she corrects automatically.
His grin is slow, pleased. “Jess.”
Eli catches my eye in the mirror, and I see the same thought reflected: she’s not backing down from her boundaries. Good. Maybe she’ll be able to handle Cassian.
