Page 11 of Knot Their Girl
“The what?”
“And then I talked to this alpha for a while—”
If looks could kill, I’d be a goner right then and there. “An alpha? While you were alone? What happened to you needing me to scare alphas off? Isn’t that the whole point of me being here?”
“Yeah, but he was nice. Old, like you.” I giggle when I say that comment, and then I lean around Pax to take a look around the ballroom. My eyes roam over the tables, then glance to the doors that let out into the hall, half expecting him to stroll in at that exact moment. He doesn’t come in, though. “I don’t see him.”
“Maybe you made him up and he was never real,” Pax speaks with a frown.
“Maybe I did,” I go along with his joke. “Or maybe you’re a little jealous that I spoke to another alpha all alone. Maybe spending some time with me has warmed up that cold, dried-up husk of a heart inside your chest.” I layer on the sarcasm reallythick as I ask, “Have you felt it grow a few sizes? Because, if so, you should really see a doctor.”
The sigh he lets out right then is legendary—and totally hilarious. I’d laugh if I wasn’t currently double-taking and trying to see Gideon No-Last-Name reenter the ballroom.
Before that happens, though, another pack of alphas join me at my table, and I’m forced to pay attention to them. My disinterest is palpable, and yet it’s like none of these alphas care. I’m here, so I’m fair game. They don’t give a shit that this isn’t what I want.
And why would they? They’re only here to fulfill a supposedly primal, instinctual need to claim an omega, to find a mate. I can’t blame them for that… not too much, anyway.
The rest of the night is uneventful, spent artfully dodging the infrequent meaningful questions while trying to be wholly unappealing to every pack of alphas that dare sit across from me. A few times my comments make Pax chuckle, but every time he tries to hide it beneath an intense scowl.
I’m not going to lie, I keep looking for Gideon, curious why he doesn’t stop at my table. Maybe the run-in was too much for him, and I’m too much of a troublemaker that he won’t even consider me.
It’s fine, obviously. I’m not looking for an alpha, let alone one as odd as he was.
I keep telling myself that lie, even as the night ends and I get no offers.
Sitting before my spot in the dressing room, my reflection is lit up by the dozen or so light bulbs fixed around the mirror, and as Delilah walks away from me, after having shaken her head and muttering how she doesn’t understand me, I meet Pax’s eyes in that very mirror.
“Sorry you had to put up with me all night,” I say, my mask slowly slipping away and a strange feeling taking its place.Regret? Maybe my inner omega secretly wanted an offer or two, even if it means I’d have to deny them outright. “Hopefully it wasn’t too much of a challenge for you.”
“With the way you acted, you didn’t need me as backup,” he mutters, hard lines around his mouth as he frowns at me. “Those alphas might be desperate, but there are countless other omegas here who’d be happy to accept an offer from them, and they knew it. You got what you wanted, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” I say it without any hesitation, but the word falls flat. He almost looks like he wants to say something else, but I stop him by adding, “You’re relieved from duty. Good luck with that whole loner vibe you got going on. I’ll be sure to rate you five stars.”
He snorts and rolls his eyes at me, and then he walks away without saying another word, leaving me to clean up my station in peace.
He’s right, of course. I should be happy. I absolutely should be happy that I have nothing to report to my parents. God knows how many more times they’ll force me to go to one of these things, but eventually they’ll have to realize it’s a wasted effort and no pack wants me.
Am I happy, though? No. That’s the thing.
I’m never happy.
Chapter Seven – Raeka
My sister is waiting for me in my bedroom, on my bed, sprawled out, scrawling in some ridiculously fluffy pink journal with a feathered pen. She wears her equally fluffy pink pajamas, totally at home in my room. She sits up the moment she sees me, snapping her journal closed. “Well? How was it? Did you get any offers?”
I shut my door and head straight for my closet—a walk-in closet, obviously, where I hurriedly change into my own pajamas, although mine are a precious silk. I left the dresses and makeup and everything else in the car; the family butler, Ron, will grab them in the morning. I’m much too exhausted after trying to be perfectly bitchy all night to lift a finger to help.
My spoiled nature peeking through.
It’s only after I’m fully changed and after I went into my bathroom to wipe my makeup off and run a brush through my hair that I join my sister on my bed. All the while, she sits there, expectant, her eyes, more of a bluish color than mine, shine bright with eagerness. Her hair is a dirty blond color, pulled back in a messy bun. She has that wide-eyed, overzealous expression down pat—a perfect omega in the making.
Me? Not so much.
“Well?” she says. “Don’t keep me waiting! How did it go?”
“Shh,” I tell her, giving her a gentle shove on the shoulder. “Don’t wake Mom and Dad.” Our parents’ room isn’t exactly next door, but my sister’s loudness is legendary in this household. We don’t live downtown; we have a place in a nice suburb, where everyone’s property is gated and most are manned by a security guard all day and night.
She quiets, “Sorry. I’m just excited for you.”
