Darren lunges again, this time catching my wrist in a grip tight enough to bruise. "You're an asshole, Copeland."
"Always have been." I manage to hold the phone up with my other hand, the app open now. "Let's see who's got our omega all hot and bothered, shall we?"
The words die in my throat as I scan the messages. Not what I expected. Not at all.
"What the fuck, Malloy?"
By now, the commotion has drawn everyone's attention. The rest of the pack gathers around us, confusion and concern evident on their faces. Aidan hovers at the edge, looking worried.Dmitri stands like a massive stone gargoyle behind Jax, his expression unreadable.
Darren uses my moment of surprise to snatch his phone back, shoving it deep in his pocket. "Happy now? Got your show?"
"What's going on?" Aidan asks, looking between us.
"Nothing," Darren snaps. "Just Zayn being his usual charming self."
"Darren's been shopping for dates on some app," I announce, the bourbon making me reckless. "But not with alphas. With female betas."
The silence that follows is deafening. Everyone staring at Darren with varying degrees of confusion and... is that hurt? We're all so fucking pathetic.
Me included.
"Is that true?" Jax asks finally, his voice deceptively free of emotion.
Darren looks trapped, cornered. For a second I think he might deny it or tell us all to fuck off again. Instead, his shoulders slump slightly. "Yeah. So what? Since when does a guy have to fill out a form to report a hookup? But it's not for me. Notjustfor me."
"What are you talking about?" Aidan's question comes out quiet, almost wounded.
"What do you think?" Darren's laugh holds zero humor. "Look around you. Look at how you're all staring at me right now. Like I'm a fucking puzzle you can't figure out. Or worse, like a pack of dogs waiting for a slab of meat to drop. The last Cheeto in the bag. The?—"
"Okay, we get it," Jax says, wincing. "So we've been a little… distracted lately. You could have just said something."
"Said what, stop staring at my ass?" he challenges. "Dude, do you have any idea how fucking awkward this is for me?"
No one speaks. Because what can we say? He's not wrong.
"I need someone else in the mix," he continues, words clipped and confident. "Someone to take the heat off me. Literally."
"You can't be serious," I find my voice again. "You're bringing in some random woman to what, distract us? So we'll stop looking at you like you're an omega?"
"That's exactly what I'm doing." He meets my eyes, challenge written in every line of his face. "We may be a pack, but I amnotyour fucking omega. I'm your teammate who happens to have a fucked-up biology, and I need you all to remember that."
"This isn't the time to be introducing someone new into our dynamic," Jax says, ever the voice of reason. "We're still adjusting to?—"
"This is exactly the time," Darren cuts him off. "Before things get any weirder than they already are. Before you all start thinking I'm suddenly yours to protect, or claim, or whatever the fuck goes on in your knothead alpha brains."
The accusation lands hard. Because again, he's not wrong. Not entirely.
"And what happens when your suppressants wear off?" I challenge, anger rising to cover the sting of his words.
"Yeah, Darren," Aidan says quietly. "You think you can just throw a female beta at us and pretend this isn't happening?"
"When you go into heat?" I challenge. "You think having some strange beta around is going to solve that problem?"
Uncertainty flickers across his face. Maybe fear. "I'll deal with that when it happens."
"How far have you taken this plan?" Dmitri speaks for the first time, his accent thicker than usual. A sign he's not as calm as he appears.
Darren hesitates, then straightens, defiance in every line of his body. "I got us a date. When we get back home. Before the Vancouver game."