Page 85 of Beauty's Monstrous Demons

“And yet… I do,” I mutter. “If you don’t get yourself figured out, you’ll be the reason I die. I hope you’re this high and mighty on your high horse then too.”

Lifting my dress, I turn and walk toward the restrooms that I saw when I walked in. I need to catch my breath. All I can smell is his chicory scent, and he’s no longer hiding from me. It just makes me sad, because I refuse to guilt someone into being with me.

It’s not right and I’m disgusted with myself. He doesn’t know me, yet he enjoys tormenting me, kissing me when he has no intention of pursuing anything real. I’m an omega with a mate who seems to hate her.

It would be just my luck. My other mates are wonderful, even if Phenex was a dick to me at first and Alecto tried to kill me. No one’s perfect.

A tear escapes my eyes, and I pinch my lips together in anger. I’m supposed to be having fun, and yet here I am, fucking crying.

“Lorelei,” Bast growls, grabbing my hand just as I reach out to push open the bathroom door.

“Leave me alone,” I whisper. Tugging me until I turn, he gazes down at me.

“What is this?” he asks, smoothing away the leak I currently have happening.

“I haven’t the faintest idea,” I sigh. “I need to go deal with it.”

“With the crying?” he asks. “God, the way you talk, it’s just a minor inconvenience.”

“Isn’t it?” I ask in return. “I’m just a silly girl. I’ll work on that.”

“You make me fucking crazy,” he grunts, looking over his shoulder. “Walk with me.”

“Phenex will lose it if he can’t find me,” I remind him.

“Can’t he do that little mind meld thing to speak to you?” he asks, chuckling when I just blink at him. “I could tell he said something to you before he walked off with President Christa. The poor male nearly choked at your response, yet neither of you moved your lips to speak.”

“Was it that noticeable?” I ask, wincing as he takes my hand as he begins to walk toward the courtyard beyond the hallway.

“Only to me because I was paying close attention,” he reassures me, pushing open the door into the fresh air. “Now, why are you upset?”

“Seriously?” I ask. “I have this thing about not using emotional blackmail to get guys to care about me.”

“I don’t understand,” he says. “I’m a theater and music professor, Lorelei. Emotional blackmail may be the only kind that works on me.”

“You’re impossible,” I sigh, my heels clicking on the pavers.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wear heels before,” he says.

“I can wear them, it’s just not often that I have a reason to,” I say.

“Look, I want to believe this thing that Phenex told me about, but you’re not supposed to exist,” Bast says.

“I don’t know you, which means that whatever Phenex told you is what he trusts you’ll keep to yourself,” I say.

Fuck, I sound like a broken record.

“Fair,” he mutters. “Why are you at this university of all places?”

“I was led here. Four schools, four semesters,” I explain. “Toward the end of each semester, I would have all of this pain and need to apply somewhere else. It wouldn’t disappear until I did. I know that doesn’t make much sense…”

“I’ve been obsessed with your scent since you moved in, Lorelei,” he says with a snort. “I didn’t know what you looked like or anything else. It makes sense to me. If all of this is true, the question remains as to how safe you are here.”

“I’m not safe anywhere,” I say, rolling my eyes. “My entire life has kind of been a bit of luck and intense work to hide who and what I am. Hiding from the world entirely isn’t any kind of life, though.”

“So you wear descenter and just hope for the best?” he asks.

“Why did you ask it like that?”

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