Page 141 of Why Cruise

“Okay. Here’s the deal.” She cracked the top of a bottle of ginger ale. “She’s going to ask you some blunt questions one day and you should lie.”

“I can’t lie to Mackenzie.”

“You can and you should. I know it doesn’t feel this way to you, but you hold this pack together. Her coming apart over things in her past she cannot change will cause her suffering and fundamentally change your pack in ways you cannot predict.” She tapped her fingers on the bar, considering the drinks like something wasn’t quite right. “Your alphas are going to take care of the problem. Find a way to be okay with that.”

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. They hadn’t said anything outright, but anytime Mackenzie mentioned Daryl, there was this sizzling sensation in the pack bonds. They said we’d get better at distinguishing who was feeling what. I could put two and two together and knew something was going to happen to Daryl. And I really hoped they’d let me watch.

While she ducked under the bar searching for something, I looked back at my pack. Was I really what held them together? Mackenzie maybe? Certainly not Ren or Justice.

“Ah ha!” Moxie came back up with a plastic bag and surveyed her work. She put the glass with the cherry in front of me and tore the corner of the bag open.

“We’re going to take these drinks back over there,” she spread her arms out wide on the bar and leaned towards me, “and just so you don’t have to lie, you can tell them I gave you a pep talk about being a male omega. You know it was all bullshit you let your mind run away with. It wasn’t that no one wanted you, it was that you were waiting for her.”

She dropped something into my drink and picked up the tray. She balanced it expertly on her fingertips and was already handing them out by the time I sat down. She handed the tray to a passing server and curled into the crook of her alpha’s arm. How the fuck did you deal with an auracle in your pack? I felt naked and exposed.

I settled myself next to Aria again, feeling a little unreal. Three weeks ago, I had been in my nest, ready to throw up from anxiety about my packing list for a cruise I’d saved for two years to go on. Now, I was sitting in a paragon bar with bite marks on my neck. Ren raised his drink to Moxie with a smirk. Justice accepted his with a thank you, but didn’t touch it.

I set mine on the table. Should I have taken a coaster or a little paper napkin? Frowning, I picked it up again. It appeared to be a Shirley Temple, with something white bobbing at the top that Moxie had added almost as an afterthought. A miniature marshmallow? How could she have possibly known about that?

“Wow,” Mackenzie snapped me out of my thoughts. Her drink was something creamy. She took another sip. “This is the best thing I’ve ever had.”

“Exactly,” Moxie turned, taking her alpha’s hand and walked away, like she had been waiting for that sign.

“So,” Aria started, lightly touching Mackenzie’s knee, “I’ve already spoken with Ellen Park, the lead product developer for Belle Èpoque. She’s willing to come on board to consult. She’s actually really excited. She said the combination of neroli oil and coffee extract was inventive, but there’s something missing from the bottom notes.”

“Sweet. But I don’t know how to do that. It needs sweetness, but not the scent of something sweet.”

“Oh, you can discuss that all with her. She’s looking for lab space right now.”

Mackenzie carefully put her drink down and folded her hands in her lap. Huh, she was confused. I could almost feel it.

“I’m sorry, Aria, but I’m not following you. A lab for what?”

“The formulations have to be set before you scale up for production. I, of course, want to start with branding, but you need products before you can create a product story.”

She looked at Ren and Justice like they could help her understand what was going on. I would also appreciate a clue.

Aria gasped and put a hand to her chest. “Justice Twill, are you ignoring my emails?”

“We’ve been a little busy.”

“Heat and fucking your brains out are no excuse.” She touched Mackenzie’s knee. “With the angel funding we’ve already secured, we’ll be launching an incubator for omega start-ups.”

Mackenzie nodded and then leaned all the way forward. “Justice, what does that mean?”

“I think that means you’re getting a skin care line.”

“Some of the paragons are tickled by this idea of ‘for omegas, by omegas’,” she said, splaying her hands like she was showing off words on a marquee. “We’ll be picking a few initiatives to invest in. It will be good press.” She seemed to say that last part to Justice alone. He got a strange smile on his face and nodded.

“My own line?”

“I think it will do rather well, actually.”

Mackenzie laughed once and covered her mouth with both hands.

“What are you going to call it?” I asked her. My smile was so big it hurt.

“I have no idea.”

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