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“Stop!” Nate shouts and we both turn to him, panting and angry. “We’re not doing this. Sit the hell down and let’s talk this out.”

“Why would I?—”

“Shut up, Connor.” The gentle giant I leaned on is gone and in his place is something wilder. Something angry. Dare I say, something on my side.

The moron opens his mouth and Dez shoves him toward a chair. “You’ve done enough. Let her talk.”

There’s a moment where I wonder if more than this fragile trust we built has splintered. Dez looks ready to throw his pack lead out the window and Nate…I’ve never seen someone look so fucking violent. Yet everything about him softens when he looks at me. “Please, Daph.”

How can I say no when he’s worked so hard to make me feel comfortable? He and Dez uprooted their lives to be here and unlike Connor, they’ve made it clear they’re happy to do it.

The least they deserve is answers. Maybe then they’ll realize this is hopeless and walk away for good. Even if I’m not sure I want them to go.

Nate kneels at my side, hand heavy on my thigh. “Tell us.”

His face falls when I push him away, but as much as I want to take the comfort he’s offering, I can’t. It doesn’t feel right with the coldness climbing up my body, trapping me. For once, I’m grateful for an omega’s fast emotional shifts. I need the numbness to steal the sadness, the shame. The pain.

It won’t last forever, but that’s okay. I just need to get through this colossal fuckup.

“I’m in the middle of a dissolution.” My voice is as empty and flat as I am.

“You’re packed up?” Nate’s cautious, obviously hoping I won’t prove Connor right.

“Iwas.”

Dez warily eyes their pack lead, who’s drilling his attention into my forehead. “How long has the dissolution been going on?”

“Ten months. I left a few before that, but my exes refuse to let me go.”

“Seems awfully convenient that you forgot to tell us all this. Like you knew we would’ve walked if you had.” Connor seems victorious, the alpha part of him so busy crowing at besting me that he doesn’t realize he’s made a mistake.

“Knock it off, Con.” Dez slaps his hand onto the table and I’m not the only one shocked. Connor’s head snaps up, body tense as the energy shifts to something volatile. Something similar to a dominance dispute.

Shit, are they going to fight for pack lead right now? That would be the sprinkles on top of a shit sundae.

While I’m scrambling to figure out what to do, Dez is the one to deescalate. Deep, calming breaths ground him until he can step back. Away from the table and the alpha pushing him too far. “Let her finish or walk away.”

Connor turns a petty glare on me. “Well?”

“I told you exactly what I’d tell a heat helping pack and no more. You weren’t required to know my life’s story before you fucked me.”

“No, but it’s common courtesy to let someone know he’s going where others have been.” His face clouds with regret the second the words leave his mouth.

He can choke on those feelings. It’s obvious he never cared about mine. I’m just an inconvenient lay who took too long to figure out she wasn’t welcome.

Well, message received.

All three alphas flinch at my dark, caustic laugh. Eyeing me warily as I lean over the table. “Did you expect me to be a virgin, Connor? Think I was waiting in some ivory tower for you torescue me? News flash, I rescued myself. And to be clear, Itoldyou I had a pack. We’re separated and have been for a year.”

“Yet you’re still theirs, according to the law.” It’s a weak argument, and he knows it, eyes scouring his packmates like they’ll back his bullshit. Neither holds his gaze.

“Which I don’t have a choice about!”

You know what? Fuck this. Connor doesn’t want to know the truth; he just wants to be right. No matter the consequences. No matter who he hurts in the process. Well, he can have the trophy. All the accolades. I just want to get out of here.

“Dissolution cases are public record. If you’re so concerned that you’re fucking with some other alpha’sproperty, look it up. You know what, I’ll even do it for you.”

Less than a minute. That’s all it takes to grab Connor’s phone, pull up the case on the county website and toss the device back. “There you go, asshole. You can read the transcripts and find out just how shitty of an omega I am straight from my exes’ mouths. Since you care so much about my mother’s opinion, you’ll get a kick out of what a disappointment of a daughter I am for walking away from them, too. It’ll be a real treat.”