Page 4 of Sunshine

I swallowed hard and smiled. “Rob. Hi.” I was proud that my voice sounded only a little strained. Mentally, I was trying to ignore the panic that had started clawing in my chest.

There was no reason to be this upset. Pack Beneventi had broken up with me… after they’d started dating my ex-best friend Becca behind my back. I’d had my pity party, my crying over ice cream, and rage over being jilted, months ago. I had moved on.

Mostly.

Maybe it was over and done with, but my stomach still clenched like I’d been punched in the gut.

“What brings you here?” Rob looked around as if to say I didn’t belong in a room full of the rich and powerful.

I stood up straighter. I would never be ashamed of the work I put into my event planning. “I’m the event coordinator.”

“Oh. Well done.” His voice was cold and cultured.

I prayed that Rob had come by himself even though I knew better…and, sure enough, Becca materialized from the crowd. She smirked at me as she slid under Rob’s arm.

Becca was beautiful, with glossy brown hair, big brown eyes, and curves. For a moment I saw the beta girl that had befriended me on the playground in ninth grade. Becca and I had been inseparable in school, along with Talia, our other best friend. The three of us had weathered boys, proms, and family tragedies together.

But all that went up in flames when Becca started sleeping with the pack I was dating behind my back. I hadn’t suspected a thing until I’d caught them all in bed together. Like the cliché I was, I came home early to bring surprise presents to Rob, only to find them all mid-orgy.

“Hello, Sunshine. Nice to see you again.” Becca smiled, her expensive lipstick glossy under the lights. She and Rob looked ready for a photoshoot. “I see you’re still doing event planning.”

“Of course she is.” Julian slid in next to me, handing me my drink then putting his arm around my waist. “There’s a waitlist a mile long.”

I hid my surprise and relief, and tried to act like it was normal for him to cuddle up next to me.

Julian beamed at me, like we were the only two people in the room and then took notice of Rob and Becca. “Julian Kahele.”

Becca’s smirk grew bigger, and my stomach twisted with knots. I knew that look. It said: “I have the upper hand”. I’d been used to seeing it on her when she destroyed the competition. I just hadn’t realized I was the competition until it was too late.

Isaac, the other alpha in the pack, came over to stand next to Becca as Mason, the pack omega, walked up on the other side of Rob. I looked at him with regret. I’d tried so hard to win Mason over.

But he was quiet, and intense. I’d never known what he was thinking, and he’d go days without talking to anyone.

The reality was that I could date alphas all I wanted, but if their omega didn’t like me, there was no getting into a pack. Simple as that.

My attention went back to Becca as she introduced herself to Julian, “I’m Becca Beneventi.” And I realized why she was looking like the cat that ate the cream.

Becca had taken Mason’s last name…which meant she’d been bonded into the pack.

All the air rushed out of my lungs. I leaned on Julian a little bit more than I should have, but my knees felt like they were going to give out.

I couldn’t stop myself from looking at her neck. Becca obliged me by tossing her hair off her shoulder. A shiny bondmark showed pale white on her tanned skin. It was months old.

My skin prickled, and black spots formed at the edges of my vision. They’d refused to bond me after almost two years of dating but had bonded Becca soon after they’d dumped me.

“Julian, this is my pack. Rob, Isaac, and our omega, Mason.” Becca gestured around her, like I didn’t know these men intimately.

Like I hadn’t fallen completely in love with them.

Isaac at least had the decency to look uncomfortable, rubbing the back of his neck. “Nice event, right?”

Julian moved close enough that the heat of his body pressed into my side. I felt ice cold.

I tried to swallow, but my mouth was too dry. The room seemed too small, the lights too bright, as everything hit me. The whole time we’d been together, the pack had told me they weren’t sure if they would ever bond a beta.

And yet Pack Beneventi had bonded Becca within months of dating her. Some of those months were when they were supposed to be dating me.

“Hello.” Luca’s smooth voice cut through some of the noise in my brain. Then he was at my other side, surrounding me with his cinnamon and vanilla scent. “Luca Kahele.”

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