Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
Blitz
I stepped out of the nest, my muscles still burning from the marathon session we'd just survived.
The hallway felt wrong. Too bright, too cold, too empty of Callie's sugar-and-spice scent that had been drowning me for hours.
My wolf whined at the separation, but someone needed to check the outside world.
Make sure it hadn't burned down while we'd been. .. busy.
I opened my preferred social media app first. Big mistake.
#TrueMateMatch was trending worldwide. Not just in the streaming category or entertainment, but worldwide. Between COVID and some political scandal, our faces were plastered across the trending page. The video from the convention had 14 million views and climbing.
"Fuck me sideways," I muttered, scrolling through the chaos.
The footage was everywhere. Some angel, or devil, depending on how you looked at it, had captured the exact moment Callie's scent hit us.
You could see it ripple through our pack like a shockwave.
Nova's hands clenching, my whole body going rigid, Crash literally stumbling backward, Milo's eyes dilating so fast it looked edited, and Ghost..
. Ghost actually looking up from his phone.
The comments ranged from swooning to cynical:
THE WAY THEY ALL MOVED TO PROTECT HER I CANNOT
This is staged marketing bullshit and y'all are falling for it
Medical professional here - that's a textbook true mate response. The pupil dilation alone...
Callie built her whole brand on being independent and then falls apart for the first pack that shows up? Disappointed.
LOOK AT BLITZ'S FACE AT 0:23 THAT MAN IS GONE
That last one made me pull up the video.
Sure enough, at twenty-three seconds, the camera caught me mid-scent, and.
.. yeah. I looked completely fucked. Eyes rolled back, mouth open, whole body angled toward her like a plant toward sunlight.
My mom was gonna see this. My sisters were gonna see this.
My high school gym teacher who said I'd never amount to anything was gonna see this.
“Dammit,” I groaned, switching to check our individual accounts.
My follower count had jumped from 2.8 million to 3.
3 million. The DMs were a wasteland of thirst, threats, and business propositions.
Dick pics from Alphas trying to prove they were better, marriage proposals from Omegas wanting to join our pack, and about seventeen different supplement companies wanting to sponsor my "Alpha journey. "
But Callie's numbers... Christ. She'd broken a million subscribers. The girl who'd been standing outside that dating event, terrified of losing her independence, was now the most talked-about Omega creator on the platform.
I scrolled through her mentions, protective instincts flaring at the negativity mixed in with support.
People calling her a sellout, a fake feminist, a cautionary tale.
Others defending her, saying she was brave, revolutionary, showing that Omegas could choose their own paths even if that path included a pack.
My phone buzzed. Michelle.
You better be taking care of her.
She's safe. Still in heat. We've got her.
I'm handling the media shitstorm. DO NOT let anyone near that house. Security team is parked outside.
Also, congratulations? I think? This wasn't exactly the collaboration I had in mind but the numbers are insane.
I snorted. Leave it to Michelle to congratulate us on viral mate bonding while probably calculating the revenue potential.
She needs food and water. Been going hard for...
I stopped typing, realizing I had no idea how long we'd been in that nest. Time had gone liquid, measured only in waves of need and satisfaction.
It's been two days. Her heat should peak soon then start tapering. Dr. Yates is on standby if you need medical intervention.
Two days. We'd been fucking for two entire days. My abs hurt in ways that had nothing to do with working out.
Tell her Kara reached out. Offering support and a safe place if she needs it after. Pack Wrecked knows what you're going through.
That was... actually really sweet. Kara Quinn, the gaming streamer who'd gone through her own public heat situation, reaching out to help. The creator community could be toxic as hell, but when it mattered, people showed up.
I screenshot the message to show the pack later, then noticed another DM notification. This one from an account I didn't recognize: ZiaFoxAudio.
Opening it, I found a wall of text from someone with a vtuber avatar, a fox with purple fur and too many tails.
ZiaFoxAudio: Hey, you don't know me but I'm friends with Callie.
We used to hang before she got big and became too busy (not bitter, just happens).
I know she's probably going through it right now.
She gets really bad about not eating when stressed—like scary bad.
Used to have to physically put food in front of her during exam weeks.
ZiaFoxAudio: If you're really her pack now or whatever, make sure she eats.
Real food, not just her candy vapes and energy drinks.
She likes those kids' dinosaur nuggets when she's vulnerable but would die before admitting it.
Also allergic to most fabric softeners—makes her break out in hives. Stick to unscented everything.
ZiaFoxAudio: I have my own recording studio with soundproofing if you need a neutral space after all this dies down. No cameras, no audience, just somewhere to breathe. Callie knows where it is.
ZiaFoxAudio: Also if you hurt her, I'll destroy your audio quality on every stream for the rest of your life. I'm not kidding. I have the technical skills and spite necessary to make your life hell.
ZiaFoxAudio: But if you're good to her... thanks. She deserves good things even if she doesn't believe it.
The mix of threat and kindness made me grin. This was someone who actually knew Callie, not the brand or the personality, but the real person. I screenshotted this too.
Me: Noted on all counts. Especially the dinosaur nuggets. We'll take care of her. Promise.
ZiaFoxAudio: You better. She saved my career once. Long story. Just... be good to her.
I kept scrolling through the chaos, documenting the important stuff to show the pack. Brand offers that actually seemed legitimate, messages from friends checking in, and a surprising number of other packs sharing their own stories of finding each other.
Among the noise, Dr. Yates had sent a clinical but caring message with heat management tips and a reminder that this kind of intense bonding was normal but to monitor for dehydration and exhaustion.
My phone buzzed again. This time, our group chat.
Nova: Status report?
Me: The internet exploded. We're viral. Callie hit 1M subscribers.
Crash: HOLY SHIT REALLY?
Me: Michelle's handling media. Security outside. We're trending worldwide.
Milo: Is it bad?
Me: Mixed. Some support, some hate. Standard internet.
Ghost: Coordinates?
I dropped my location pin, even though he probably already knew exactly where I was. Ghost was weird like that.
Nova: Take a break if you need it. We've got her.
But even as he typed it, I could feel the pull back to the nest. My skin felt too tight, like wearing clothes after a really good massage. Everything in me screamed to get back to our Omega, to make sure she was safe, satisfied, protected.
I grabbed water bottles from the fridge, protein bars, and, with a grin, a pack of dinosaur nuggets from the freezer that Milo had bought for some kid-friendly content that never happened.
The walk back to the nest felt like swimming upstream, fighting against the current of the outside world trying to pull me away. But then I hit the wall of pheromones coming from the room, and everything else ceased to matter.
Callie was awake, sprawled across Milo and Nova, with Crash playing with her hair and Ghost... was Ghost reading to her? His voice was so low I could barely hear it, but Callie's eyes were half-closed, listening with this soft expression I'd never seen on her face.
"The internet's losing their minds," I announced, setting down the supplies. "We're either the greatest love story ever told or the biggest marketing scam in streaming history."
Callie laughed, the sound raspier than usual. "Can't it be both?"
"Michelle says Kara offered support. And someone named Zia threatened to destroy my audio quality if we hurt you."
Her eyes flew open. "Zia? Zia messaged you?"
"Yeah. Said you forget to eat when stressed and like dinosaur nuggets."
Pink flooded her cheeks. "That absolute traitor."
"Also said you saved her career once?"
Callie shifted, uncomfortable with the praise. "She's being dramatic. I just... helped with some stuff. Audio engineering for female vtubers is rough. Creeps with voice fetishes everywhere."
Of course she'd helped. Under all that savage independence was someone who cared so deeply it probably terrified her.
"The nuggets are in the freezer," I said, climbing onto the bed. The nest embraced me immediately, like coming home. "For when you're ready."
"My hero," she murmured, but there was real warmth in it.
Nova's phone buzzed. He checked it, frowned. "Some idiot named Rex is making posts about 'fake pack bonds' and 'marketing manipulation.'"
The mood in the room shifted, all of us bristling at the threat to our... whatever this was.
"Let him," Callie said firmly. "I've got receipts on that asshole from college. He wants to play? We'll play."
But that was future Callie's problem. Right now, heat Callie was already reaching for me, her skin flushed and eyes dilating again.
"Later," she breathed, pulling me down. "Everything else is for later."
She was right. The internet, the drama, the business opportunities? All of it could wait.
We had an Omega to take care of.
And somewhere in the back of my mind, as I lost myself in her scent again, I made a mental note to thank Zia properly. Anyone who cared enough to threaten us over Callie's wellbeing was good people in my book.
The rest of the world could wait.