Page 95 of False Catch

"Mine too," Tyler admits. "You think my traditional Korean parents are going to be thrilled about their son in a poly pack? They're still hoping I'll mate with a nice Beta girl from their church."

We stand in silence for a moment, both wrestling with family expectations we've never quite escaped.

"It would solve the administrative problem," Tyler continues. "But create about a hundred personal ones."

"You think the others would go for it?"

"Jackson and Eli are already basically there. Bo would probably be relieved to make it official. Zane follows his heart, so yes. Beckett..." He pauses. "Beckett would surprise us, I think. And Cameron goes where the pack goes."

"And you?" I ask, studying him. "You'd be willing to claim her?"

Tyler's quiet for a long moment. "I'm not like the rest of you."

"What does that mean?"

"You know what it means." He looks uncomfortable. "I don't... feel things the same way. The whole Alpha drive thing. I can go months without even thinking about sex. Watching Jackson and Bo with her, the way they need her physically... I can't give her that."

"Maybe that's not what she needs from you."

He looks surprised that I'm not mocking him.

"Tyler, you're the one who makes sure she eats when she's stressed. You notice when she's pushing too hard. You sent Zane to get her migraine medication last week without her even asking."

"That's just being observant—"

"That's being pack," I correct. "Not everything has to be about knotting and claiming bites."

"My family wouldn't see it that way."

"Neither would mine." I think about my father, about the carefully arranged dinners with 'appropriate' Omega daughters of his business partners. About the expectation that I'll mate strategically, produce heirs, continue the family legacy. "They're already pissed about me rowing instead of joining the company immediately after graduation."

"So what do we do?"

I look out at the water, still perfect in the evening light. Tomorrow we race. Tomorrow we show everyone what we're capable of, or we fail spectacularly. Either way, we're running out of time to pretend.

"We survive tomorrow first," I tell him. "Then we have a team meeting. A real one. Put everything on the table."

"Including the pack bond option?"

"Including everything." I meet his eyes. "But Tyler? This has to be unanimous. All eight of us or none of us. And Reese has to want it too."

"She's got Jackson's bite. She's sleeping with Bo. She held us together through all of this." Tyler adjusts his glasses again. "I think she wants it more than any of us."

"Maybe."

We head toward our cars in companionable silence. The weight of captaincy feels different somehow. Not lighter, but shared. Like maybe I don't have to carry everything alone.

"Gray?" Tyler says as we reach his Honda. "That was a good practice."

"It was better," I agree. "Not good yet. But better."

"Better might be enough for tomorrow."

"It has to be."

I drive back to the team house, Tyler following in his own car. When we pull into the driveway, I can already hear voices coming from the house. Zane in the living room, his voice animated as he explains something to someone. Probably another one of his documentary obsessions - last week it was competitive tickling, this week it's historical rowing victories.

"No, but seriously," his voice carries, "the 1936 US Olympic eight - all working-class guys from Washington who beat Hitler's crew in Berlin. Tell me that's not the perfect underdog story."