Page 6 of Pack Baby for the Silver Foxes

“I can’t come back to the room.” I pressed my forehead against the bark, which didn’t help. “Our corridor has eleven alphas on it.”

“Twelve. Josh moved across the hallway.”

“That’s not the support I was hoping for. Please say something useful.”

“Did you find Damien?”

“Yeah, with a girl called Kyla. She wore a cheerleader outfit.”

“Ah, Kyla. She was the one who was caught with two footballers last month.”

“She’s moving on to hockey players. He had lipstick smeared across his lips. I just missed out on catching him kissing her. Though he said she was just being friendly.”

I expected Nina to laugh, but she went quiet for a second. “Are you okay?”

“Damien and I are finished.”

“Finished, finished?” she asked.

“He told me we never agreed we were exclusive.”

“He said what? Bastard. I’m going to key his car.”

“He’s not worth it.”

I swallowed back a sob. I wasn’t going to cry. I opened a browser instead and tapped the name of an online hotel app.

“I’m getting a hotel room until I can get into a heat clinic,” I said. “It has a lock and no witnesses.”

“Is that a good idea?”

“I’m not waiting with my scent drifting through the dorms when I can book a hotel room. Anyway, I have a relationship break-up to drink over.”

“In the room, by yourself?”

“Yes.”

“You need alphas. You could save a fortune by skipping the heat clinic and making yourself available to the alphas in the dorms. That would hurt the bastard.”

“I need—“

“Alphas.”

“Men, not boys. And I’ll be fine. I need to find a good Irish whiskey. But I have an emergency heat bag under my bed. Can you grab it and I’ll get the cab to swing by?”

“Marli…”

“See you soon, Nina.” I hung up, booked a last-minute offer in a hotel a fifteen-minute ride away, and ordered a car before I could talk myself out of it.

Seven minutes away.

Jeez, seven minutes is an entire historical era when you’re trying to will away your heat under a tree.

I walked to the edge of campus with my coat pulled tight and my chin down. Every step pulsed between my legs. My breasts ached under the sweater, and I hated the sudden loudness of my own body. I hated that some ancient piece of biology could reach into a sensible life and make me question everything about modern medicine.

Damn suppressants. I only missed one… maybe two.

At the curb, I leaned against a lamppost and waited.