Page 30 of Violet

“And where’s your Season’s mini tablet?” She grabs my small bag and pulls it out. “No one’s reserved a dance. You need to look welcoming yet mysterious.”

“Here.” Dahlia’s back.

I take one small sip from the fresh glass and make myself focus on the taste, the slide of the fiery liquid down my throat.

Iris says something about trying to mingle, before taking Dahlia by the arm and leading her away. They melt into the crowd.

I’m alone.

The nerves make me shake, but I force myself to get it together. I breathe, stepping back, then back until I’m concealed by a shadow, near a massive potted plant.

I almost scream as fingers touch me, feather soft, against my arm. And then I smell the earthy, slightly sweet richness of oak, and my stomach doesn’t settle, exactly, but the wildness there turns from wanting to throw up to something else.

The scent’s subtle, so subtle. Almost not there, and I wonder how I can smell it at all when wearing blockers isalways a requirement for the Season’s events. Either way, it makes me want to turn to find solace in the woodsy aroma.

“Violets.”

I spin. “Excuse me?”

He’s tall, broad, with dark brown hair, and the scruff of his short beard should be wrong with his wolf mask, but it isn’t. It gives him a devilish, creature of the wild look.

His eyes through the mask are…hungry.

It’shim.

“Do you know you smell faintly of a flower? I’ve been trying to put my finger on which one, and I finally figured it out,” he says in that voice with a hint of smoke. “Violets.”

I gulp in a breath. It isn’t enough.

“I-I shouldn’t smell like anything. My blocker?—”

“Only up close.” The nose of his mask whispers over my hair. “And I’ve got an excellent sense of smell.”

His hand slides down my arm, taking hold of mine, and everything in me lights up like a flare. It blankets out everything but him.

“Ilikeit,” he says.

Oh my god…

“I didn’t think I’d see you again,” he goes on.

It takes me a while, but eventually I’m able to find my voice, as small and pathetic as it may sound. “Well, here I am.”

Just then, whispers and giggles reach me.

“Look at her. She’s hiding in the bushes.” A group of three Omegas laugh as they stroll by arm-in-arm.

Face burning, I turn away, snatching my hand back from him. I’m coming apart.

“Calm down,” he says, his tone suddenly growing instrength and intention. I feel it down to my bones. He’s using his Alpha voice on me.

I’m flooded for a moment with peace. Calm. It’s an instant relief.

I glance at him.

“There. That’s better,” he says.

He takes my hand again, his fingers slipping mine open so he can hold it in his big, fiery hot one. It’s not a fire that burns, not in the usual way. It’s a fire that warms and unsettles things I didn’t know existed.

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