Page 4 of Pack Plus One

Did you check out the website?

I type back:

I might have done something crazy.

Her response is immediate:

OMG DID YOU BOOK A PACK???

Not exactly. Posted in their discount classifieds. Can’t afford the real thing.

Three dancing emojis appear, followed by:

I’m so proud of you! Eric won’t know what hit him!

I flop back against my pillows, staring at the ceiling. “What have I done?” I whisper to my empty apartment.

But even as anxiety flutters in my stomach, I feel something else too—a spark of excitement, of possibility. For the first time in two years, I’m taking action instead of hiding. Even if that action is completely bonkers.

I grab my phone and type one more message to Zoe:

If they turn out to be axe murderers, I’m coming back to haunt you.

She sends back a string of laughing emojis and a simple:

Worth it.

Maybe she’s right. Maybe it will be.

2

LEAH

Iwake up to my phone buzzing so insistently that it vibrates itself right off my nightstand.

“What the—” I fumble for it on the floor, squinting at the screen.

Forty-two unread notifications. All from PackPlus.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I mutter, sitting up and running a hand through my bedhead. I tap on the first notification with a growing sense of dread.

Alpha (38) - I’ll be your pack. Just me. And my roommates (they don’t know yet).

I blink. Hard. Then scroll to the next one.

Beta Pair (31) - We’re twins! People will think we’re TWICE as pack-like!

There’s an attached photo of two men in matching wolf-print pajamas. The image is so blurry it could be used as evidence in a Bigfoot documentary.

Another message pops up as I’m scrolling.

Omega (26) - I’ll pretend to be your pack’s OTHER omega. We can fake-bond over hating your ex!

By the time I’ve skimmed through twenty messages (each more concerning than the last), my phone rings. Zoe’s face fills the screen, and I accept the video call with a groan.

“Morning, sunshine,” she chirps, sipping from a massive coffee mug. “Sleep well?”

“I think I accidentally posted on a fetish site,” I say by way of greeting. “I’ve got alphas offering to ‘put me in my place’ and show my ex who I ‘really belong to.’”