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“How do you know he hasn’t already found her?” WHAT? What the hell was I doing? Shut up, Jasmine, now! I mean, I didn’t say I was his mate. I could be talking about anyone, right?

Shit.

“He’s found his mate?” Ren asked, his face going utterly blank, gaze locked on me.

I shrugged again, not answering. “So where’s Breanne? You two are usually joined at the…” Lips? Genitals? “Hip.”

His expression went dark at my question. “Breanne and I are nothing and never will be.”

My pulse was going mad, and my palms were sweaty. “She’s saying otherwise.”

“She’s full of shit,” he bit out.

Stop talking. “You obviously made her think you wanted more.” Apparently, there was no shutting me up.

“I told her what I wanted. She said she wanted the same. We fucked a few times, but that definitely won’t be happening again.”

My heart slammed into the back of my ribs, stupid, dumb relief filling me. “Okay, well, thanks for the update.” In trying to hide my misplaced relief and the unwarranted glee I’d suddenly felt that they weren’t an actual item, I went too far the other way and ended up sounding like a sarcastic brat instead of the cool and unaffected I was going for.

He frowned. “It’s just that you told Willow that Bree and I were together, and I wanted to…I don’t know, clear it up.”

“Oh, you did.” It was as if some alternate version of me had taken over and I was watching from a distance as I opened my mouth and more venom poured out. “You don’t catch feelings. Fucking is just fucking, and if someone is stupid enough to catch feelings for you, you’ll dump them like a hot flaming turd? Noted.”

He shifted in place, his biceps bunching again, the muscles in his jaw doing a dance as he gritted his teeth.

I felt like a giant asshole. “Ren—”

“Sounds like you got me all figured out, Jaz. I guess we’re done here,” he said, then strode away, back toward his house.

I inwardly screamed as I watched him go, wondering what the hell had just happened.

Ren

* * *

Fire burned in my gut as I strode through the tunnels under the clubhouse and toward the fighting pit. I could already hear the hounds, their howls and cheers at whoever was already fighting. Aggression pumped wildly through me. Images of Jasmine filled my head—the way she’d looked when I’d followed her to that field, her sitting under the oak tree, her feet bare, her blond hair still streaked with pink disheveled around her delicate face, giggling as butterflies fluttered around her.

What the fuck was wrong with me? Why had I followed her? Why did I give a fuck what she thought? But I did, and the urgency to tell her there was nothing between Breanne and I had ridden me the entire way there. I was a fucking idiot, desperate for her approval. Why? I jammed my fingers through my hair and sucked in a breath, trying to gather some control, but then my brain hit me with a greatest hits of what she’d said, and “Roman’s one of the best males I know” was a personal favorite.

They couldn’t seriously be together. She couldn’t be Rome’s mate. Willow would know, right? But then she’d been so busy with Violet she could have missed it.

I walked into a large cavern. The pit was in the center, dug into the ground, the walls blackened and charred. Hounds surrounded it, watching as Relic and Fender went at it. Powerful blows landed one after the other, smacking against flesh. Blood sprayed the wall as Relic slammed his fist into the other male’s face. Fender grinned, spitting out a tooth, and opened his hand, flames igniting across his fingers before he sent a blast at Relic. Snarling, Relic dodged it, then delivered a final blow, knocking Fender on his ass.

The hounds stomped and howled, and Relic walked over and helped his brother up. I searched the room. Rome stood at the edge, shirtless, ready to go next. When the pit was empty, the hound jumped in. Jagger was about to follow, but something came over me, the aggression in me reaching all new heights, and I jumped in before Jag could.

Rome’s head tilted to the side, taking me in, not missing what I was giving off. He grinned, amused. “You think you can take me, fox?”

“Not in here to make out with you, hound.” I wasn’t as big or powerful as the hounds, and I’d never fought Rome before. I’d sparred with him, he’d been at some of my training sessions, most of the hounds here had at different times over the years, but we’d never fought in the pit, not like this. I’d watched him, though. He was brutal, relentless, and like all the hounds merciless in a fight.

I wasn’t arrogant enough to think I could take Rome out easily, or at all. But I was fast, and I could shift quickly and cause a lot of damage before I was knocked on my ass. I could make him hurt. Bleed. And I didn’t care how much damage was inflicted on me for that to happen.

Edward’s laughter rang through my mind. Rome can protect her. You can’t even look after yourself. You make her skin crawl; she told you so herself.

I jerked my head from side to side, shaking the voice from my head, and focused on Roman. My fox was right there with me, just below my skin, ears pointed, springing on his hind legs, going against every one of his ingrained instincts to flee. Something was driving him to fight as much as me.

Rome’s eyes narrowed. “You got a problem with me, pup?”

Yeah, I wasn’t hiding anything from him. The hounds used the pit to blow off steam, to keep their fighting skills sharp, and to settle scores. Kicking each other’s asses amused them. Now that I was standing opposite the other male, I knew exactly why I was here.