Ruby flicks her hair over her shoulder with exaggerated confidence, the gesture so dramatic it could be its own Broadway show. "Yes, I am! Operation Get Myself A Pack By Knotty Summer is officially in motion, and nothing--and I mean nothing--is going to stop me. I've got a vision board on my bedroom wall. I've got daily affirmations that I say into the mirror every morning. I've got a carefully curated dating app profile that makes me look mysterious and unattainable but also approachable enough that men don't feel intimidated."
"That sounds like a lot of work," Elias observes.
"Finding a quality pack IS a lot of work," Ruby shoots back."Not all of us are that lucky."
"I wasn't lucky," I mumble from my bed. "I was strategic. I strategically saved and rewarded with a one night stand. That’s a win to me."
"That's not how strategy works," Julian points out dryly.
"Shh. I'm a strategic genius. The Rio plan proves it."
"Why summer specifically?" Tank asks, genuine curiosity coloring his voice. His hand is still on my face, thumb still tracing those soothing circles, and I lean into the touch like a cat seeking attention. His skin is warm against mine, and even through the medication haze, I can appreciate how nice it feels to be touched by someone who actually cares about me.
Ruby sighs heavily, like she's been waiting for someone to ask this exact question so she can launch into her prepared explanation. "Well, I clearly missed Valentine's Day," she says, ticking off points on her perfectly manicured fingers. "I was too busy helping rescue my kidnapped best friend to focus on my own romantic prospects, which was honestly very selfless of me and I expect to be recognized for it later. Maybe with a statue. Or at least a really nice fruit basket."
"Noted," Elias says, still wiping tears of laughter from his eyes. "I'll look into the statue options."
"St. Patrick's Day is a complete fail because I am not lucky at all," Ruby continues, completely serious. "Like, genuinely, I have the worst luck of anyone I know. Last St. Patrick's Day, I got food poisoning from green beer at O'Malley's pub and spent the entire night hugging a toilet while my roommate took unflattering photos for blackmail purposes. Very unsexy. Very un-pack-worthy. So that holiday is permanently crossed off my list. Fuck that."
"What about Easter?" Elias asks, clearly invested in this conversation now. "That's coming up. Bunnies, chocolate, springtime romance..."
Ruby throws her head back and laughs, a sharp bark of genuine amusement. "HELL no! Easter? Me? I ain't holy enough for some Easter fling! Can you imagine? Me trying to be demure and innocent and church-appropriate?" She gestures at herself--leather jacket, bold lipstick, general aura of chaos. "This is not Easter energy. This is 'got kicked out of Sunday school for asking too many questions about Lot's wife' energy."
"That's oddly specific," Julian observes.
"It happened," Ruby confirms without elaborating. "Besides, Easter has that whole hunting-for-eggs vibe, and I refuse to be hunted. If anyone's doing the hunting, it's me. So summer is my best bet. Summer has the right energy. Summer is hot and reckless and full of bad decisions that turn into great stories."
She shrugs, continuing her explanation with the confidence of someone who has clearly thought about this extensively. "I'm also way too hyper for the average pack. Like, I come on strong. I talk too much. I have opinions about everything and I'm not afraid to share them. My only hope is finding those summer fraternity boy types who match my energy, but make them older and hotter and with actual jobs and retirement plans."
"That's very specific criteria," Tank says, sounding impressed despite himself.
"Hell, they can be bounty hunters for all I care," Ruby adds with a dismissive wave of her hand. "As long as they're hot and they help me hide the bodies of anyone who pisses me off. That's really all I'm looking for in a pack. Looks, loyalty, and a willingness to commit light felonies on my behalf."
Elias chuckles, shaking his head. "You're planning to manifest a wild summer, huh?"
"Like how you guys are planning to somehow whisk your delulu fair maiden over here away on a private jet?" Ruby shoots back, jerking her thumb in my direction. "Don't think I haven't noticed all the whispered conversations and the suspicious amount of packing happening. You're not subtle."
Private jet? Wait. What private jet? When did private jets enter the equation?
I try to process this new information through the fog in my brain, but it's like trying to catch smoke with my bare hands. The words are there, floating around the edges of my consciousness, but they won't quite stick together into coherent meaning.
What does stick, however, is something much more important.
"You," I say suddenly, pointing at Ruby with what I hope is righteous indignation but is probably just chaotic arm-waving. "You. Stop talking to my Alpha like he's yours. He's mineeeee." I draw out the last word for emphasis, because it's important that she understands. "Mine. Not yours. Mine. All three of them. Mine."
I'm pointing very firmly at Ruby to make my point, except when I look at where my finger is actually aimed, I realize I'm pointing at the ceiling. There's a water stain up there that I've apparently decided to threaten on Ruby's behalf.
Everyone loses it.
The room erupts into laughter--Julian's restrained chuckles, Elias's full-bodied guffaws, Tank's deep rumble of amusement, even the doctor politely covering her mouth to hide her smile. Ruby looks like she can't decide whether to be offended or delighted.
"I just got that on camera," Julian announces, waving his phone triumphantly. "That is going directly into the permanent archive."
Tank sighs, but there's nothing but fondness in his expression. "She's going to kill you when she sees that."
"Probably," Julian agrees cheerfully. "Won't have any regrets either. Some things are worth the consequences."
Elias nods solemnly. "It'll be interesting seeing her expression when she watches this recorded moment later. Especially the part about Rio and multitasking."
