Page 173 of Sweetheart: Part One

A sense of foreboding settled over me.

I’d expected a fight from her after what I said. Instead, I even felt the pang of concern from Rook through the bond as he watched her.

She wouldn’t give me a fight at all. Instead, those frightened glances she was shooting my way were going to get noticed by the others.

Shit.

I knew exactly how this was going to play out. One fight, and she was acting like I was a monster. But her claws were deep, andI’dlet that happen.I’dsigned her in.

I’d fucking fallen for her.

I pulled my phone out, not willing to waste another second. There wasn’t room for my own weakness in this, for time to slip by in which I forgot tonight, swept up in her beauty again.

I sent a text to Eve.

Me: Terminate renewal contact for Vex Eden. I don’t want it on the table. If there’s anything we can do to speed up her exit, do it.

Me: I’m overruling any other requests from my pack regarding this matter.

Two months. That was all, and then she was gone and we’d be in Germany, and my brothers would be so consumed with the Dragon Hunters filming that they’d forget she ever existed.

This had been a massive mistake.

Eve’s reply came within minutes.

Eve: I have a way. Terminating current and future contracts now. It should go through by tomorrow barring appeals, but I doubt she’ll fight what I have on her.

I stared at the text, hating how my heart sank. But Vex wasn’t who I’d believed she was. The person I’d fallen for didn’t exist. She was the same as every other scheming, manipulative person who’d tried to use us for fame or money.

I’d let my guard down, and I never should have.

Anyone outside of this pack who was good—truly good—they were long gone.

When we got in, Vex went straight to her room and shut the door behind her.

“What about what that omega was saying?” Drake asked. “Should we—?”

“Pack meeting,” I growled before he could finish, because even Ebony looked primed to follow her into the room and take care of her.

I had to talk to them now.

FORTY-FIVE

VEX

I needed to fix this.

I hugged my knees to my chest in my room, cycling through a dozen solutions, shoving back the fear and rejection. The heat suppressant had hit fully, my hormones dampened, the agony of Love’s rejection now only a faint buzz in the back of my mind. Present, but not howling and making me want to curl up under my bed and cry for days.

He still hated me, though.

And now I’d taken my suppressant, I didn’t have much time. It was powerful, but it would give me weeks, or a month if I was lucky.

I’d also have to tell Alastor what had happened with my heat. That command was an undercurrent, a tug on my mind, but I could hold it off if I set my intention to do it. I just needed to figure outwhatI was going to say. How I could frame it to buy myself more time.

And then there was Ebony.

Fuck.

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