Page 120 of Pack Frenzy
Cassian stops mid-stride when he spots me. “They asked if we wanted to keep you.” His voice cracks on the last word, just slightly—like the question itself was obscene.
Rowan’s jaw ticks. “Or if one of us preferred a different Omega.”
Eli’s voice stays calm, but his eyes are all steel. “We made our position clear.”
“And?” I ask, terrified of the answer.
“We said no.” Rowan closes the distance between us in two strides, his hands coming up to frame my face. “They don’t get to divide us. Not now. Not ever.”
I lean into his palm, letting myself take just this one moment to feel safe. “Good,” I whisper. “Because I told them the same thing.”
Can’t tell them about Blake telling Nexus he’s interested in me. If I do, they’ll go after him, and Nexus will call it aggression.
I can’t risk them turning this into evidence against us.
So I keep it buried, like everything else that might get us hurt.
Cassian slings his jacket over his shoulder. “Let’s get out of this marble tomb before I break something expensive.”
He shoots a quick, unhappy look at the elevator—barely a second, but enough. Cassian would rather fling himself down a stairwell than get in one of these metal coffins…but he stays right beside me anyway.
No one argues.
As the doors slide shut behind us, I realize I’m shaking. Rowan’s shoulder brushes mine. Cassian’s hand finds the smallof my back. Eli stands close enough that our arms touch. A quiet, wordless wall between me and the rest of the world.
Cassian’s palm is warm, but his breathing tightens. He hates elevators. I clock the way his fingers flex once against my spine, like he’s bracing, choosing to stay in this box because I’m in it.
Eli notices and catches my wrist gently. “You okay?”
I look up at him—at all three of them—and something settles in my chest. Something fierce and sure. “No,” I say honestly. “But I will be.”
Because this time, the shaking isn’t fear.
It’s anger. And anger, I can work with.
CHAPTER 29
JESS
The elevator ride down feels like falling in reverse since all the adrenaline that kept me sharp in that conference room is draining away, leaving nothing but the buzz of fluorescent lights and the hum of descending machinery.
My reflection in the polished chrome doors is someone I barely recognize: same dress, same carefully neutral expression, but my eyes look hollowed out. Scraped clean.
Rowan’s thumb traces circles on the inside of my wrist. I don’t think he realizes he’s doing it.
“They asked us if we wanted alternatives,” Cassian says into the silence, voice rough enough that I know he’s been holding it in. “Other Omegas. Better matches.”
The word better comes out like an accusation.
My stomach twists. “What did you say?”
“That they could go fuck themselves,” Cassian mutters. “Just, you know. Professionally.”
Eli’s mouth quirks, but there’s no humor in it. “We declined their offer.”
“And they still wouldn’t say which Nexus guard tasered you.” Rowan’s hands are clenched tight. “Only that they’re ‘handling it’.”
“I’ve already checked every channel I can; whoever is involved, they’ve kept it off the record.” Eli shakes his head. “It’ll come out somehow. Office gossip and someone will slip.”
