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She smiled and dropped into the chair across from my desk. “Look at you. Pack Lead Justice Twill, eating a homemade lunch like a regular person.”

“Shut the fuck up.” I tried hard not to smile. She stretched a hand across my desk and snagged a pickle, making an appreciative sound.

“No, it’s cute. You’re all domesticated now.” She crossed her legs, her expression shifting from teasing to serious. “Which is actually perfect timing for this conversation. Since you won’t answer my fucking text messages.”

She tossed a folder onto my desk, careful not to disturb my lunch. I frowned, picking up the chopsticks and taking another bite.

“What’s this?” I said with my mouth full.

“CVs. For the CTO position.”

“I’m the CTO.” I finished chewing and swallowed.

“And the CEO. And now a pack lead.” She leaned forward. “Justice, we’ve put this off for too long. You know it was always supposed to be temporary, you wearing both hats.”

“I’m handling it fine.”

“Are you?” She gave me a look that said she knew better. “The demo started late because you had to personally inspect the code.”

“It needed to be fixed.”

“It needed to be fixed by someone whose job title includes ‘technology officer,’ not by the fucking executive officer.” She sighed. “Justice, you have a pack now. That’s a full-time job in itself. CEO is another full-time job. You don’t need a third.”

I felt a familiar stubbornness rising in me. The CTO role was mine. I’d built this company line by line from my dorm room. Every piece of our technology had my fingerprints on it.

“I’m not ready to give it up,” I said finally.

“Tough shit. Co-founder,” she said, pointing a finger gun at her own head. “I already have interviews scheduled. There’s a press release.”

I stared at her in utter disbelief. I took in a deep breath to let her have it, but she cut me off with a wave of her hand.

“I know, ‘how dare I?’ right? Suck it up. You started a pack without my permission. I’m hiring a CTO.”

“Are you… jealous?”

“Cupcake, we tried that, remember? We went a whole two weeks trying to pretend we had romantic feelings. And the sex? It was just bad. You never let me be on top.”

I snorted. It had been an awful two weeks.

Daisy’s face went still in a rare flash of… love. I loved Daisy, and she loved me. It wasn’t romantic, or pack, or even platonic, really. It was something else, something more.

“This is the best thing that’s ever happened to you. Despite fucking Ren.” She rolled her eyes. I might have forgiven him, but she probably wouldn’t. “And you’re being a dickhead. Work, even this empire we’ve built, comes second to pack. You know it, you feel it in your bones. And you’re too fucking stubborn to do anything about it. So,” she brushed invisible lint off her shoulder, “as usual, I have to wear the pants in this relationship and do it for you.”

My pack. The words still sent a thrill through me, even as they complicated everything.

“This isn’t about your capabilities,” Daisy said. “It’s about what’s sustainable. You, of all people, should appreciate the importance of scalable systems.”

I hated when she was right.

“Well, nice chat.” She snagged another pickle and stood. “Interviews will start next week. They’re all betas, by the way.” She tapped the folder twice before turning toward the door. “Wedon’t need any more big dick alpha energy floating around here,” she said over her shoulder on the way out.

I flipped the folder open and scanned the first applicant. I pushed it away to focus on my lunch.

The whole point of going on that cruise had been that I was losing my shit. Filling both roles was killing me, and the company. Letting go of the CTO role felt like letting go of a part of myself, the part I understood best.

CEO? Pack Lead? Those were things I didn’t quite understand. And now everything depended on me getting it right.

I looked down at the bento again. It could have been a PB & J on whole wheat and it would have still outclassed the 4-star meal our cafeteria made downstairs.