Page 52 of Harley & Her Ferals

I send Laurent a pleading look.

Please don’t crush Feral.

He’s always done the best that he can for me.

Laurent clears his throat. “Of course, what am I thinking? I couldn’t see the roses before. They’re truly beautiful. I wish that I had one like that to add to the clips in my hair.”

Feral glances at me, questioningly.

I nod.

Feral selects a rose with great care, before handing it between the bars to Laurent.

Laurent doesn’t let go of me but reaches to take the rose like it’s more valuable than the priceless gifts, which he must have been given throughout his pampered life.

He lifts it to his nose, then takes a deep breath of Feral’s scent. His long eyelashes flutter.

He looks embarrassed at himself, before hurriedly fixing the rose behind his ear. “Perfect, thank you.”

Feral growls, deep and rumbling in his throat in satisfaction.

I don’t hate the look of the paper rose in Laurent’s hair. It’s like Feral and I have marked Laurent as part of our pack already.

Yet we need to win him in the Championship Special match for that to be true.

“You don’t hate me then?” I force myself to check.

“Why would I?” Laurent pulls at his high collar like it’s too tight for him. I’ve never seen anyone in such restrictive clothing. Is that the fashion Above for male Omegas? I feel seriously underdressed. “You don’t get to choose who your parents are. I’d never judge someone because of who their Head Alpha is, only on their own actions. I have some experience of suffering under a brutal parent, until I escaped. Mom only saw me as a beautiful honey pot for investors. She’d dress me up in flimsy, transparent clothes and drag me around the globe. She’d keep me at her side for dinner parties and events, teasing who I’d bond with.Of course, she’d beat me, if I disobeyed.”

Feral’s expression darkens.

Well, that explains the flinching. Also, why Laurent was able to so easily charm Dad.

Laurent was trained in those skills, as much as I’ve been trained to fight.

I was wrong.So fucking wrongabout the life of this elite Omega.

“How did you escape?” I ask, intrigued.

“Mom was cruel to the Betas who trained in her ballet academies. My brother and I schemed for years to save them. We were always five steps ahead of her without her knowing. Mom never suspected that an Omega like me could take her down.” Laurent’s smile is dangerous. “She was wrong.” But then, he sighs. “Shame that the moment I went to celebrate my first freedom in a bar, I was snatched. I never should have listened to my sister’s Alpha, Vito, about how good beer tastes. Typically, I never even got to taste it for the first time.”

“Aren’t you too young to drink in the world Above?” I demand.

“That’s what the bartender said.” Laurent rolls his eyes. “I’m busy saving and reforming America’s entire dance industry, while risking my life, but I can’t even drink a beer…? I’m twenty, you know. If he hadn’t thrown me out, then I probably wouldn’t have been kidnapped.”

He would have been.

If Dad wanted Laurent, then Vinnie’s men would have been stalking him for weeks.

I don’t think that it’ll make him feel safer to tell him the truth that Dad makes his selection of who to take ahead of time.

“You can drink in th-the Underworld.” Feral grins, looking devilish.

“Hey, don’t corrupt him, he’s only just arrived,” I protest.

But it’s true. You can drink from eighteen.

Except, only Alphas are usually allowed to drink and only then, after fights.

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