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I glance over my shoulder at Yasmin, before turning back to him. “Yes. I’m sure.”
They let me go, and Yasmin pulls me to the corner I’d indicated. Our alphas and my beta follow, stopping at a safe distance, and spreading out like a barrier between us and the rest of the room.
Yasmin sinks down onto a small loveseat, her cream-colored skirt fluffing up around her, and she tugs me down onto the cushion next to her. She doesn’t let go of my hand. I expect her to start talking right away, but she doesn’t, instead she regards me closely, maybe taking in the changes the years and RMD have wrought on me.
When I arch my brows at her, she lets out a sheepish laugh. “I was trying to figure out where to start. I don’t apologize all that often.”
I stare at her, gobsmacked. “You want to apologize? To me?”
Half her mouth quirks into a little grin. “I do. I know I should probably do more than just apologize, but I don’t really know what that would look like, so this is a start.” She takes a deep breath, straightens her shoulders and angles her body toward mine, making our knees bump together. “Vee, I’m sorry for the part I played in the events of seven years ago. There is no excuse for the way I treated you in the months leading up to… The announcement,” she says delicately, but winces like she knows that word doesn’t do the event justice. It’s far too benign.
“It’s not an excuse, more of an explanation, but I was scared. Terrified out of my mind of what would happen if my family found out that I would never settle with a pack that had any males, that their perfect omega daughter wasn’t so perfect after all.” Her gaze flicks to the alphas around me. “When I met Jackson and the others, when I saw how obviously in love with you they were—are—I saw a chance to keep my parents happy, while also not actually settling with a male pack. I knew they would never try to pressure me into bonding. I knew they would keep my secret.”
I nod, because they already explained this to me. And she’s right, it’s an explanation, not an excuse. “I’m not really sure what you want me to say, Yasmin. I understand you were scared. But I don’t think that gives you the right to have treated me the way you did. I-I-” God, how do I say this? “I think the real problem here is that not one of you told me what the hell was going on. If I’d known why you were spending so much time with them, why you were going through with the fake pack announcement, why I had to take a back seat with my pack, I might have actually understood, gone along with it. But as it was. No one told me. And because of that, I was rejected, heartbroken and have spent the last seven years sick.”
Her brows jump. “Sick? What do you mean?”
Well, shit. I didn’t mean to say that, but now I have, and so I begrudgingly whisper, “I have RMD.”
Yasmin’s brows lower at that, like she hadn’t really thought about the consequences of her actions. By protecting herself, using my pack to do it, she royally fucked me over. “Holy shit,” she hisses, grabbing my other hand and squeezing. “Holy fucking shit. You’re fated mates? And those assholes didn’t tell me. If I’d known.” Tears shimmer along her lower lashes. “If I’d known Vee, I never would have gone along with it. I would have found a reason to turn them down and let my parents set me up with a different pack. I swear.”
I shake my head. “None of us knew, Yasmin. It didn’t click until I presented a week later. And even then, it took a few years and my first heat for it to become clear. They didn’t know.”
“They should have,” she scowls. “What kind of alphas are they to not recognize their fated mate?” She tugs me closer, wraps her arms around me and hugs me into her soft floral scented body. It makes the omega in me prickle, being this close to another omega, or maybe it’s just her, but either way, I grit my teeth through her hug. When she pulls back, she wipes a hand under her eyes. “That’s why I can’t smell you, isn’t it? You’re on suppressants to keep your RMD under control.”
I nod. “It is. But…” I hesitate and she leans closer. “I’m thinking about stopping them. Spending time with the pack has really helped with the symptoms.”
She beams at me. “I think that’s a wonderful idea.” Her smile drops as she peers at me. “But you’re not sure about it?”
I shake my head. “I’m not. What if…”
“What if it all falls apart again?”
“Exactly.”
Her smile is soft and sweet and I can see why everyone but me thought she was the perfect omega. “I really don’t think that will happen, Vee. After you left, I saw the agony that they went through every day, not knowing where you were. I saw how gutted they were every time a lead on where you might be turned out to be false. They were ghosts, Sylvie. Zombies. Half dead without you.” Her eyes move up to take in the men around us, who are no longer turned away from us, but watching our quiet conversation. And I know they’ve heard every word.
Yasmin smiles fondly at them. “They aren’t going to fuck this up again.”
“How can you be sure?”
The other omega pats my hand and then stands, smoothing her hands down her dress. “Because you brought them back to life.”
The eight of us stay huddled together after that, chatting and talking, catching up. Yasmin is very interested in my book binding business and we spend fifteen minutes just pouring over pictures of the ones I’ve done so far.
By the time dinner is announced, I’m more relaxed than I thought I would ever be in this house.
But when the seating arrangements at the long table are revealed, the ease disappears. The tension is back, making my shoulders ache. Belinda loops her arm through mine, tugging me away from my pack and toward the head of the table. “Sit by me, Sylvie,” she demands, not unkindly.
But Maxim and Harry are directing my pack to seats at the other end of the table, and every single one of them is protesting. They’re going to cause a scene, and Maxim will undoubtedly find a way to make it my fault.
So I mouth ‘I’m fine’ over my shoulder at them, and try to look as reassuring as possible. Jackson’s jaw tightens, but he nods, saying something to Davis that has the other alpha slumping down. Ford begrudgingly slides into his chair, never taking his eyes off me.
Actually, they’re all watching me, and I have a feeling they will continue to do so throughout the entire dinner.
That gives me the strength I need to approach my chair directly to Maxim’s left with my chin held high. I drop into it as Belinda slides elegantly into hers. Harry takes the chair across from me and Adam settles into the one next to Belinda.
I am surrounded by the elder Werth Pack and I’ve never felt more like prey than I do at this moment.
