Page 139 of Citius

I didn’t hesitate to escape.

However, my freedom was short-lived. I was soon surrounded by a different crowd—my siblings and the rest of Pack Redmond.

“Should have charged per photo,” Rory teased, wearing his hair half-up and dressed in an ensemble of trendy separates he’d pilfered from Jacobi’s closet for a New Year’s Eve party and never returned.

“Brilliant idea.” Piper smirked into her champagne, having changed into a plunging gold dress after her showcase solo. “I’ll pitch it to the fundraising team for next year.”

Worried glances from Alijah and Kelsey hit me from both sides. Not good. I tightened the screws on my smile. “Has anyone found our table?”

“Forty-one.” Owen nodded to the opposite end of the lobby-slash-banquet hall, as far away from the dance floor and bar as possible. The event-planning fates had been kind.

I led the way, choosing the seat closest to the wall. Rory darted to snag the chair to my left. A vision in seafoam tulle, Kelsey settled beside him, forming a protective bookend for our baby brother.

“You can’t see anything from here. Want me to get us a better table?” Piper asked, placing her clutch on the chair next to Kelsey.

“No,” I said, taking a long drink of water. “This is perfect.”

Cal and Wyatt both reached for the chair to my right, sparking a silent showdown. Wyatt’s expansive chest somehow swelled even more, straining the front of his dress shirt. Cal, adjusting the round frames of his glasses, maintained an air of deceptive congeniality, his complacent smile betraying his utter disregard for Wyatt’s shorter stature and lacking dominance.

Uninterested in their alpha posturing, I took another sip of water and turned to ask Rory about his mid-terms. But he was engrossed in conversation, picking Kelsey’s brain about what to get Jenna for her birthday.

“That seat is for Alijah.” Owen’s proclamation deflated the alphas in an instant.

Alijah shimmied between Cal and Wyatt, happily plopping down beside me. Owen claimed the chair beside Alijah, leaving Wyatt and Cal scrambling over the leftovers.

Wyatt snagged the chair next to Piper, leaving Cal stuck between the brothers.

I met Cal’s pleading frown with a cynical grin and mouthed, “Serves you right.”

Scrunching up his face, he grabbed a dinner roll, slathering it with copious amounts of butter before biting into it with a grudge. Carb-loading, no doubt, for the intimate revenge promised in his heated hazel gaze.

“Well, I’m off to schmooze for a bit.” Piper leaned down to fix a piece of my hair. “And if you’re feeling generous, lots fourteen and fifty-five would makefantasticChristmas presents for your favorite sibling.”

Rory knocked her hand away, wrapping himself around my arm with endearing possessiveness.

“She’s wrong.” He batted his thick eyelashes at me. “I want a new 3D printer.”

Piper gave his half-ponytail a vicious flick. “As if she could possibly love you more than me.”

“Isn’t Kelsey the favorite?” Alijah asked, his attempt at a stage whisper failing miserably. The result was a bubbly effusion of laughter from most of the table.

Only Owen held back, his gaze fixed on the glass in my hand—the empty glass. When did that happen?

Kelsey reached around the back of Rory’s chair to rub my shoulder, asking in a quiet voice, “Status check?”

I gave her what I hoped was a reassuring nod and a smile—neither of which could technically be considered a lie.

***

It took every ounce of my concentration to follow Alijah’s lead across the dance floor. The whirling spotlights, bursts of loud conversation, and heavy bass thudding through the air all conspired against me, aggravating my headache.

I was also flustered by the surprising amount of rhythm in Alijah’s slim body. He moved with fluid confidence, fingers brushing the exposed skin of my back as he guided me across the floor, stroking slow, curious patterns along my spine.

“Thank you for this,” he whispered against my cheek. “I’ve been waiting for two years. We’d only been dating for a few weeks the firsttime around. Then, the Narwhals had a home game last year…and now here I am.” His smile was achingly sweet. “With you.”

“It’s not a big deal.”

“Yes, it is. You didn’t have to do this—especially since I’ve…” His voice trailed off, at odds with how deftly he steered me away from an alpha woman dipping her flustered partner. “I know I’ve been distant. It’s not that I don’t love that we’re neighbors, but when I found out the others are—that there’s…”

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