Page 195 of All Packed Up

“Well, the last time I checked, it’s your gym, and if someone is threatening you—”

“Hey now,” Nic warned. “In case you forgot who wiped the floor with you time and time again, I can take care of myself.”

Mostly thanks to the alpha sitting in the front seat. He spared a look toward Griffith, who was focusing hard on the road lit up by their headlights.

“Oh now he’s a big shot, huh?” Stella shot back.

It was quiet for a moment before they both began chuckling, and Nic sighed. “Seems cheap coming from the big shot himself. When’s your last match this year?”

“Stop it, you know I’m just me. Niles has two months scheduled in between each fight. I have a few weeks left.”

“Hmm. You gonna do less matches next year?” Six a year was good for someone starting out, but Stellan had come to the professional scene with years under his belt. Niles better not be overworking him.

“You calling me old?”

Nic snickered. “’Course I am.”

Wendy suddenly squeezed his hand, tugged it to get his attention. Her mouth was wide open. “Is Stella short for Stellan MacKey?” she hissed.

“That’s me,” Stellan answered over the phone. “Who’s asking?”

“M—Wendy.” He caught himself from saying my omega, barely. He held the phone out, but Wendy dropped his hand and started motioning back and forth frantically. “Uh…” He stalled, mouthing, “What?” at her. “I don’t think she wants to talk to you,” he guessed.

“No!” Wendy gasped and spoke louder. “That’s not it, Nic, don’t be mean!”

Stellan snickered, and Wendy reached over for the phone before putting them on mute.

“He knows them!” she finally bit out.

Confusion swarmed Nic. “Who?”

“The alphas! The Sterling Pack! Stellan, the new boxer, knows them.”

His brow furrowed. There was no way Stellan ran in the same circles as someone as awful as Wendy’s alphas. It just didn’t make sense.

“How do you know?”

“Hello?” Stellan asked, and Nic winced before unmuting just to say, “Hold on a second, man.”

Wendy answered quickly over the rustling from the other line. “Derek and the others would drag me to their fancy event functions, and he always ended up brushing elbows at the table with some other representative guy, and Stellan was usually there too!”

“What does Derek do for work?” he asked. It hadn’t ever occurred to him to ask, but Wendy had mentioned they had money and power, so he hadn’t questioned her.

“He’s a representative of some kind, I don’t even really know. But he’s always around a lot of celebrities which is why he was so adamant about following the rules.” Her tone soured by the end, bitterness seeping through.

Nic connected the dots in his head, mouth slowly forming an O shape. Maybe they’d met in passing but there was no way…

“Stellan,” he said, unmuting the phone once again under Wendy’s worried gaze. He twined their fingers together once again and began a slow rhythm over her wrist with his thumb.

“What’s up?” the omega asked. “Is everything okay?”

“You’re newish to the professional athlete scene, right? Do you know Derek Sterling?”

Maybe his friend could give them some insight into the alphas, help them figure out what they could do to end all this.

Stellan hummed. “I guess you could say I’m still new, because the name doesn’t ring a bell. Oh! Hold on.” He sucked at his teeth before the phone shifted and Stellan spoke in another direction. “Do you know Derek Sterling?”

Only a split second passed before the omega snorted, and Wendy chewed her lip in worry.