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“So, you were going to make us wait while you went and got it,” Jacob scoffs. “What a fucking waste of time.”

“I don’t want to make you late. I just wasn’t going to bring it.”

The impulse to bare my neck to my pack lead is overwhelming and I do, tilting just slightly so he can see the unmarked skin. Four years later and not a single bond, despite what everyone said.

Maybe they were wrong. Or maybe my pack is right.Only perfect omegas get bites and I’m anything but perfect.

Lance swipes through his phone until he flashes the calendar app at me. One of them cancelled date night and didn’t even have the decency to text or placate me with another make up event.

Since we got married, there have been so many make up dinners. So many moments lost to my alphas’ ambition and business. The desire to be anywhere but home with me. Today’s just another example of how little I fit here.

But I want this pack to work. I need my alphas to know I’ve done everything I can to keep us going. There’s no other choice. If I can’t make them fall back in love with me, what hope do I have for my future?

“I’m sorry for messing up, but I’m here now. Open the door and we can go.” I reach for the handle, desperate to prove I’m what they want, but the click of the lock sounds long before I can touch it.

“This is a business event, Daphne,” Jacob says slowly. My cheeks burn as the condescension. It’s his favorite way to tell me I’m stupid without saying it outright. My cheeks burn at the condescension. “It would be ridiculously unprofessional of us to bring adate.Not to mention tacky.”

Despite the merger of our parents’ companies, all three alphas remain corporate lawyers at a prestigious practice downtown, raking in the big bucks to secure huge conglomerations and sad sack CEOs more money than they’ll ever use.

I go to tell them that their pack omega is hardly a woman they picked up off an app, but his lip curls at my outfit and the confidence I felt when I looked at myself upstairs fades. Out of all my alphas, Jacob’s exacting standards are the hardest to reach. He wishes I was skinnier, that my hair wasn’t curly. That I didn’t speak up on the rare occasion I try.

Basically, he wishes I was anyone but me.

I hate how much it hurts that after so many years together, I’m still not enough and I’m not sure I ever will be.

“Don’t stress, babe. It would bore you. Besides, I barely fit back here. There’s definitely no room foryou.” Lance laughs, the others joining in, and I force myself to smile along too.

What kind of alpha buys a car his whole pack can’t fit into? The kind who allows others to make jokes at his omega’s expense. Who cancels date night for the fifth time in a month?

The kind I’m not sure I can stay with much longer.

“We’ll be back late. Don’t wait up.” Jacob waves his brother on, and Corey revs the engine and speeds off, nearly running over my foot as he does.

Disappointment sinks into my throat, strangling the words living there until all I can do is choke. I stand in that driveway until the chilly spring rain forces me into the shower to warm up and all I can think is,when was the last time theysaid they loved me?

Inside, the mirror shows exactly what I don’t want to see. My face is the same, body only slightly slimmer despite how strict Jacob is with my diet. But it’s the dullness of my eyes that catches my attention. The lack of light or love inside the dark blue that makes me wonder where everything went wrong. Where is that hopeful Daphne, the one who was so excited to pack up and be with the men she spent ages wanting? How long did it take for the rose-colored glasses to fade?

Was it when they forgot my birthday that first year? Or when I had to buy and wrap not only my alphas’ Christmas presents, but my own? Maybe it was how they left on a weeklong business trip, and I didn’t find out until I’d called the police after two days of silence. I thought they were dead in a ditch, only to find out they were enjoying the beach, scouting a new client while I was here alone.

The past year, there’s this tightness in my chest, like I’m trapped. It makes my omega instincts wild, but I can’t leave. Not just because I can’t afford to, but because there’s still a part ofme that loves them and wants to make it work. Whenever I think about sayingfuck it,I remember Lance putting my sheets in the dryer when I’m sick, so I don’t have to crawl into a cold bed. Or Corey sending home my favorites from a lunch spot he’s trying with a client. Jacob spoiling me with jewelry, even if our styles aren’t the same.

My alphas are good at pushing me to the edge of my sanity, then reeling me in with soft touches, sweet kisses, and the family I crave. Then, when I’m solidly on my feet again, they go back to their old ways. Over and over, the cycle repeats, but those pleasant moments are so good, it’s hard to walk away.

My head isn’t sure we’re not already gone, but my heart still beats for the possibility of more with the men who’ve spent nearly a decade promising it.

That’s the reality of scent-sympathy. The compatibility is there, but it’s up to the people involved to make a relationship work, and Pack Parker never figured out that making a life with me doesn’t mean squeezing me into the one they already have.

But I learned to find joy elsewhere. Seaport became my home in ways I never expected but desperately needed. Countless days spent hitting luxury stores with the girls, Mav guarding us like his own little flock as we prepare to burn through my alphas’ credit cards. Financial penance, Lacey calls it. They’re the one real rebellion I’ve stolen for myself.

See, my alphas hate the friends I’ve found. Not only are Lacey, Maverick, Mellie and Kai treated like trash, they’re prohibited from being in the pack house unless my pack’s out of town. Even then, I have to hire a professional industrial cleaning crew out of my monthly allowance just to air the place out before my men get back. If I stay at one of their apartments, I practically need a decontamination bath before I’m allowed in my own home again.

Seriously, Corey once stripped me down in the driveway and hosed me off until my skin was blue. It was fucking November. Yet, when I asked Mother if that counted as abuse, she and Father said no. That he hadn’t left marks. When I reached out to Taylorson to clarify for myself, not only did I not receive a response, but Jacob locked me out of my suite for a month and threatened to destroy everything I owned if I tried again.

Despite their attempts to make me small, my friends have kept me whole. Staying at my side through all the vitriol and bullshit. I could use some of their humor right now. And a hug or five.

You know what? Fuck it. I’m not staying here tonight when I could crash with any of them. The guys won’t notice I’m gone anyway.

Rushing the shower, I dry off and bundle into my comfiest clothes. My overnight bag’s nearly packed when my phone beeps. It’s the Pussy Power Group Chat, aptly named by Mellie even though Maverick’s in there too.