Page 78 of Pack Frenzy
“The bruises told a different story. That was rage. Pure fucking rage, not passion.” The images are burned into my brain—purple-black marks around her throat, finger-shaped, too tight, held too long. “We were supposed to be out that day. All three of us, picking out an engagement ring because that’s what you did back then, made it legal and official even though we all knew the bond was already there.”
My hands are shaking, and I grip the rail harder to stop it. “Blake said he’d stay with her. Said she was tired, that she’d been working too hard on the house and needed rest. That he’d make sure she ate something, took a nap, had everything she needed while we left to buy an engagement ring for her.” The words taste like poison. “We believed him. We fuckinglefther there with him.”
My vision blurs. I blink it clear, focus on the wood grain under my hands until the world steadies. “By the time we got back, she was gone. Ambulance was already there. Blake standing in our driveway with this look on his face—not grief, not panic. Annoyance. Like we’d interrupted something.”
Jess makes a sound in her throat. Small. Broken.
“He tried to tell us it was an accident. That she liked it rough. That she’d asked for it, wanted it,beggedhim to go harder.” My voice drops, goes cold. “But I could smell the lie. Could smell her fear still in the air, thick and acrid under the scent of death. She’d been terrified. And he’d kept going anyway.”
Jess hooks her pinky around mine on the rail. The touch is light. Grounding.
“Cassian hit him first. Broke his jaw in three places before I even processed what was happening. Then I was on him too—fists, elbows, didn’t fucking matter. My knuckles split open on his teeth. Felt his ribs crack under my hands and wanted more. Wanted to kill him. Wanted to make him hurt the way she hurt.”
The fog seems thinner now, but I still can’t see far past the bay.
“Eli pulled us off. Called the cops while Cass and I stood there bleeding and shaking and useless. The paramedics wouldn’t let us see her. Wouldn’t let us say goodbye. And Blake—” The rage threatens to choke me. “Blake walked. His father’s money made sure of it. Hired lawyers who made it about her choices, her desires, who painted us as jealous and controlling and probablyabusive ourselves. Six months later, the case was dropped. Self-defense, they called it. Tragic accident.”
“Nine years ago, but it still haunts me.” I drag a hand over my face. “Part of Cassian hates me for not letting him finish the job. Most days, I think he’s right and hate myself that I didn’t kill Blake right there.”
Jess swallows. “You loved her.”
I nod because I can’t say yes, or I’ll fucking break down. “And after that, every Omega we tried with just… didn’t fit. Some were scared of Cassian. Some couldn’t handle what we are together or accept Eli both with me and in their bed. Meredith was the last time I believed it could work.”
“And that scares the shit out of me. That one of us will fuck this up and lose you, too.”
I glance at her then. The fog softens everything—her hair, her mouth, the way she’s biting her lip.
She looks down into her coffee. “Because I could leave.”
“Because you could stay.”
The silence that follows isn’t empty—it’s full of heartbeat and salt air and the kind of grief that still tastes like guilt. She reaches out then, not a full touch, just her pinky brushing mine on the railing. It’s enough to ground me. Enough to make the ghost I’ve carried for nine years quiet for a second.
“You didn’t fuck it up,” she whispers.
“Not yet.”
She lifts her chin. “You won’t.”
The certainty in her voice hits me sideways. Faith I haven’t earned. Faith, I’m terrified to accept because what if she’s wrong? What if I miss something again, let my guard down for five fucking minutes, and lose her too?
But she’s still looking at me like I’m not broken. Like the blood on my hands twelve years ago doesn’t make me a monster. Like she trusts me anyway.
I should fucking tell her that she shouldn’t. Want to warn her that we’re damaged goods, that we’ve been playing it safe with Omegas ever since, because we’re terrified of getting it wrong again. That last night when I heard her laughing with Cassian, I was relieved and jealous and scared shitless all at once because it means she’s real and this is happening and I could lose her a thousand different ways.
Instead, I just nod. Swallow hard. Let her pinky stay hooked around mine for three more heartbeats before she pulls away.
Eli steps out, reading the moment like only he can. He hands her a coffee in a purple mug, and doesn’t comment on my wrecked expression or the way Jess’s eyes are a little too bright.
“Cassian’s still asleep. Looks like someone threw a blanket over a sea lion.”
Jess giggles, and the sound hits me in the chest, loosens something that’s been locked up since three a.m. She tips her face toward the fog, closes her eyes, just breathing. She looks devastating. Looks like a pack is forming around her, whether she’s named it yet or not.
“I’m going for a run,” I say, because I need to move before I do something stupid. “Beach loop. Anyone want in?”
Eli passes. Jess hesitates. “I don’t have good shoes for running or sand.”
“Later then. After breakfast, we’ll fix that. Shoes. Jacket. Hat. Whatever you need.” It comes out like an order. I soften it. “If you want.”
