Page 32 of Promised to the Alpha Prince

We didn’t even drink that much, honestly. I pulled us in for shots maybe three times, when we also downed large glasses of water, and I think we sweat all the alcohol out of us.

By the time we got home in the wee hours of the morning, we were all laughing and pleased and happy. The evening, rather than a night of debauchery, had felt practically wholesome, just good exercise and upbeat music, nothing even remotely rebellious.

I liked the omega.

In the car on the way back, she sat in the middle and leaned up against me, her face pressed into my (albeitly sweaty) chest. We were all sweaty. I don’t think any of us minded. I wormed my arm around her.

She yawned and stretched and preened. “Ilse says I should just start ordering Dmitri around,” she said in a sleepy voice. “She says that alphas are designed to please omegas.”

“Don’t think about Dmitri,” I muttered.

“What came up for him tonight, do you know?” she said. “Why couldn’t he see me?”

I didn’t say anything. Nikolai had cornered me earlier and given me a long lecture about how I was screwing everything up for no good reason, and I’d gotten pissed at him and told him not to come along tonight, which wasn’t typical, because he usually did come along.

Now, in the wake of the dancing and the wholesomeness and the scent of wildflowers, I felt things draining out of me.

The omega wanted Dmitri.

What?

I was going to deny her that? Wasn’t that what I was doing? Nikolai was right that I couldn’t have her to myself. I didn’t even want her to myself. I… whatever it was that was going on with me, with the jealousy and everything else, it wasn’t fair to hurt the omega because of my issues.

“It’s my fault,” I said softly, into the crown of her head. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” she said.

“It is. I told him to do it.”

She lifted her head to look up at me. “What?”

“What?” echoed Ilse, who was laughing on the other side of Aurelie. “What’s going on with you, Johannes?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I thought maybe it was the omega, but it’s… I wouldn’t blame this on you. You’re too sweet and good to be causing this. This is just me being a dick, I think.”

“You’re not a dick,” said the omega, sure of this, laying her cheek back down against my chest.

I sighed. I kissed the top of her head. “Dmitri wanted me to tell you that he’s just flustered.”

“I think I knew that,” she said. “I am, too.”

“I…” I sighed. “I don’t want you with him.” It all came out in a rush.

“Johannes!” said Ilse, not laughing anymore. “What the fuck?”

“I know,” I said softly. “I know.”

“What do you mean?” said Aurelie, yawning again. “Like, at all?”

I didn’t answer.

“Well, I signed a contract,” she said.

“He’s…” I paused for a long time. “He’s not a bad person, in the end, Aurelie, but he’s a complicated person with complicated issues. I mean, maybe everyone is that, but he’s also going to be the King of Valhn, and I don’t know why he picked you. I can’t help but feel, if he had your best interests at heart, he wouldn’t have forced you into this life here, with him, and with all his—”

“Like there’s some life for her that’s not royalty,” broke in Ilse. “We have designations. We don’t get an easy life. And you can’t be serious. You think an alpha would be attracted to an omega and then decide, like, this omega shouldn’t be around me for her own good? Would you do that?”

“I think so,” I said softly. “We could, like, fake your death, Aurelie, and send you somewhere, anywhere, and no one would know who you were and then you could just be, you know, and—”

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