Page 184 of Broken Omega

Ichange into the dress and heels for Erika, and she buttons up the back. Like every other dress that’s ever been custom made for me at the academy, it fits like a glove and makes me look like a spoiled princess.

“Well, the dress is beautiful,” Erika tells me, as if that might make me feel better.

It has a neckline that covers my mark, and there are so many buttons on the back that I know it’s going to be a nightmare to take off, or even to sit down in.

“The dress is always beautiful,” I tell her.

“Well, that’s true,” she says. “If you want some support, I can be your bridesmaid.”

It’s a typically sweet offer from someone who might have been a friend in another life.

“I think I’ll swallow this bullet alone,” I tell her. “I don’t want my father to think I changed my mind about wanting to get married.”

That’s definitely what he’d read into me deciding to have a bridesmaid.

I won’t give him the satisfaction of thinking he’s winning.

Whatever happens today, I’ll fight the fate he’s trying to force on me with every step I take.

“Well, if you change your mind …” Erika starts, shrugging.

She’s one of the less easy to read Omegas, but I can tell she feels sorry for me.

“Mrs. Sawyer asked me to make you up, too, but I assumed you would have your kit.”

“They took everything away,” I confess. “I don’t know where they put it.”

She nods. “That’s okay. I’ll go get mine. We have time.”

I guess we do. I step out of the shoes, not caring that the skirt of the dress is creasing a bit without the added height. Erika winces, but she doesn’t say anything.

She knocks on the suite door to be let out, and I hear her talking to the guard before she leaves.

I pace around, working out the best way to walk in the dress with its more restrictive top half.

It’s not possible to walk very fast, which I presume is the point.

I can’t run away if the dress makes running impossible.

Erika comes back before one p.m., knocking lightly before the door opens again.

She steps back into the suite with a small makeup case that she takes over to the kitchen counter.

“Well,” she tells me. “I guess we’re doing this standing up.”

She steps out of her heels to match my height out of mine.

“I think you might be taller than I am,” I tell her.

“Probably,” she says, before she taps the side of her head. “Of course, my hair always adds an inch when it’s up like this.”

She opens the makeup case. “I’m probably not as good with this as you are, but I’ll do my best.”

FROST

The lawyer explains what we’re doing here to the guards who approach when we get to the end of the road into the academy. She’s authoritative and demanding for a Beta, but the guards seem more impressed by her hired muscle. It probably gave their ego a good boost to see someone bring in protection. I bet she does that on purpose. She seems like the kind of person who doesn’t do anything without a reason.

“Call Marissa, and ask her to meet with us,” Tessa says. “If she refuses, we’re within our rights to bring in a police escort with a warrant. I’m sure she’d much rather avoid that sort of unnecessary unpleasantness.”

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