I force a nod, my throat tightening. “Yeah. Wouldn’t miss it.”
Chad’s pouty smile is the next thing I see as he and Lakelyn reach us. His gaze flicks between me and Mason, and he raises an eyebrow. “You look like you’re about to puke,” he says, blunt as ever, his tone cutting through the tension like a knife. “You okay, or do we need to get you a bucket? Too much to drink?” His eyes go to my untouched beer, and he raises his eyebrows.
The comment is soChadthat I can’t help but huff out a laugh, even if my nerves are still rattling inside. “I’m fine.”
Lakelyn reaches out, touching my arm gently, her warmth grounding me. “Are you okay? You do look a little sick,” she says, her voice soft and full of concern.
I swallow hard, glancing between the three of them—Mason, Lakelyn, and Chad—my soon-to-be pack if I don’t screw this up. The tight knot of anxiety in my chest loosens a little, but the tension doesn’t fully leave.
Then I catch a glimpse of the marks on Chad’s neck, subtle but undeniable. A low growl bubbles up in my throat before I can stop it. My body tenses, the possessiveness rising to the surface. Chad’s eyebrow quirks up, and the smirk that follows isn’t helping. It’s cocky, taunting, like he’s daring me to say something, to challenge him.
The need to claim him, to prove my place, stirs in my chest, but I grit my teeth and hold back. If I wasn’t in this bar, surrounded by scent blockers, I’d probably lose my damn mind. I can’t smell them right now, and I’m thankful for that. If their scent was filling my senses—intoxicating and undeniable—it’d push me over the edge.
“I would say fancy meeting you here, but it sounds likemyalpha set this up,” Chad says, shoving the fact that he accepted Mason as his alpha in my face.
A dark pit forms in my stomach at those words.Myinner alpha bristles, hating the sound of him calling someone elsehis alpha. Even if it’s true. My teeth ache to sink into his flesh right over Mason’s mark just to prove to Chad that he can’t toss me out like yesterday’s trash.
I watch motionless as he closes the distance between him and Mason, then nuzzles into his neck like a needy omega. Mason’s arms wrap around him as if he’s always done it, holding him tight, accepting his closeness.
Maybe if I could have done that, to begin with, I wouldn’t be standing here watching someone else have what I’ve always wanted.
“Lake, Chad,” Mason begins, his hands sliding up Chad’s back as he holds him close. “I asked Dean to meet us because we’re a pack—all four of us. A scent-bound pack.”
The moment hangs in the air, and I feel time slow to a crawl. The pounding music fades into the background, and my breaths become shallow as if the air around me has thickened. Lakelyn shifts on her heels, her wide eyes darting to me, her pretty pink lips parting in a soft ‘o’ of surprise. Meanwhile, Chad goes completely still in Mason’s arms, his gaze locked on the ground as a tremor runs through his body.
He knows.
Or maybe he’s always known the truth. The silence that falls between us is heavy, and I can sense his reluctance to meet my eyes. Would he have just kept pretending? Continued to reject this scent match that’s been hanging over us? It’s a question that lingers, gnawing at me. Why wouldn’t he? He’s been doing it for years.
Lakelyn's voice breaks the suffocating tension. “Scent-bound?” She sounds both confused and desperate. “How do you know?”
Mason’s voice is steady, grounded. “Because when I found you two at the shop, you both smelled like Dean. It was overpowering, like nothing I’ve ever felt before. It called to something inside me. I didn’t just want the two of you—I wanted Dean too. Something primal woke up in me.”
Lakelyn’s brows knit, her voice tinged with disbelief, but there’s something else beneath it. “But scent-bound packs… that’s something from fairytales.”
Hope. That’s what I see flickering in her eyes—soft, fragile hope.
“So we aren’t soulmates,” Mason says, his voice low but sure. “But I’m pretty damn certain you and Chad are exactly that.”
Chad visibly inhales, his chest rising and falling in a way that tells me he’s trying to steady himself. Then, just as quickly, he pulls away from Mason, slipping out of his arms with that same cocky shrug and pouty smile that he always uses to mask whatever’s really going on in his head.
“Alright, cool,” he says, his voice light, almost too casual. “Soulmates, scent-bound packs, all that fairytale nonsense. What’s next, we hold hands and sing kumbaya?”
I can see the cracks in his mask, though. It’s there in the way his lips twitch and the tension in his shoulders. He’s doing what he always does—deflecting, running from the truth instead of facing it head-on.
“Don’t,” I say, stepping forward before I even realize I’m moving. “Don’t do that thing where you pretend none of this matters. You can’t just brush it off like you always do. Not this time.”
His eyes meet mine for a split second before flicking away, like everything is too much to face. But I keep pushing, my frustration bubbling to the surface. “You’ve been running from this for years. From me. From this connection. And I’m done letting you.”
Chad opens his mouth, probably to toss another snarky comment my way, but nothing comes out. For once, he’s speechless. I don’t miss the flash of fear in his eyes—the vulnerability he always tries so hard to hide.
“Dean…” Lakelyn’s voice is soft, a quiet plea for me to ease up, but I’m not stopping. Not now.
“You’re scared,” I continue, my voice rougher than I intended, but I can’t help it. “I get it. But you don’t get to act like this doesn’t exist. Not when it’s staring us all in the face.”
Chad lets out a bitter laugh, shaking his head. He looks around at the other people sitting at the bar. “You think I’m scared? I’ve had people telling me who I’m supposed to be, whatI’m supposed to feel, and how I’m supposed to act my entire life. I don’t need you adding to that list.”
The tension is suffocating now. Chad’s retreating into himself, slipping back into his well-worn pattern of avoidance, and I can feel it happening. His walls are going up, brick by brick, and I know what’s coming next.
