Page 44 of False Catch

"Don't." I cut him off sharply. "Don't say something you can't take back."

He deflates slightly. "I know. I know she's not... I know it's more than that. But watching her with them, smelling them on her, knowing I can't..."

"Can't what?"

"Can't claim her. Can't mark her. Can't make her mine in the way that matters." He looks at me, and for the first time since I've known Gray Lockwood, he looks lost. "What are we going to do, Beckett?"

"I don't know."

"We're going to lose everything. The team, our season, our futures. All because we can't control ourselves around one Omega."

"She's not just an Omega," I point out. "She's Reese."

"That makes it worse." He slumps against a brick wall. "If she was just any Omega, we could manage. But she's... she's ours. All of ours. And that's not possible. Not in any way that doesn't destroy us."

We stand there in silence for a moment, watching normal people have normal Sunday afternoons.

"Kinsley's not going to stop," I say eventually.

"No."

"She'll escalate."

"Yes."

"So what do we do?"

Gray looks at me, and for the first time in four years of rowing together, our captain says: "I don't fucking know."

The admission hangs between us, heavier than any weight we've pulled. Gray always knows. Always has a plan. Always maintains control.

But control is slipping, and we both know it.

"We should get back," he says finally. "Make sure the others haven't done anything stupid."

"Like what?"

"Like anything that makes what's happening more obvious than it already is."

We walk back toward campus, but the damage is done. Kinsley played her hand, and we played ours. She knows Gray's compromised. Knows the team is protecting something.

It's only a matter of time before she figures out exactly what.

"Beckett," Gray says as we near the house.

"Yeah?"

"When this falls apart - and it will fall apart - I need you to keep the team together."

"Gray—"

"Promise me. When I can't lead anymore, when I'm too compromised to think straight, promise you'll step up."

I've never wanted responsibility. Never wanted to be the guy others depend on. That's Gray's job, Bo's job. I'm just the charming one who makes people laugh.

But looking at him now, seeing the cracks in his perfect control, I nod.

"I promise."