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“You’re drooling, brother.”
Theo’s whispered tease pulled me from my daze, and I cleared my throat before crossing the final steps to the group. Ethan gifted me with a shy smile as he sipped at the last of the champagne in his glass.
“Sorry for being late. Jade let you all know I was coming?”
Ethan nodded and Theo wrapped an arm around his waist, pressing a kiss to his temple. I swallowed hard, wondering what Theo was getting from the bond with Ethan. Was that kiss to give him comfort because Ethan was feeling uneasy with me here? Should I leave? I was about to ask when Aubrey sucked in a breath and nearly squealed with delight.
“Ooo, there’s Georgiana Chambers! There was just an article about her in Designation Today, she said she was going to leave her band because she found her scent match but her bandmates loved her!”
“Sounds like a riveting article.”
Aubrey stared daggers at Daniels before squaring off with him.
“Keep your judgmental shit to yourself, Debbie Downer. E, come and get a drink with me.”
“You can’t have any alcohol, Miss West?—”
“Oh shut up, Daniels. I wasn’t going to get any champagne. I just want to see if I can talk to Georgiana.”
Ethan was tugged along by his sister with Daniels on their heels. Theo cracked a smile.
“Can’t wait to see what pack she ends up with. Are you good here for a minute?”
“Yeah, I’ll look at the art. Maybe spend some of the pack’s money on a new piece.”
“Ethan’s nest could use some art.”
My jaw clenched and my pulse spiked as Theo clapped me on the shoulder and followed the others. Ethan’s nest. I hadn’t been up to see it yet, and I wouldn’t know what to get him even if I had. Art was so personal. Not just in preferences of styles and mediums but what a piece said to one person could be completely different to someone else. What if the emotions that one of these evoked in me, ones I would want to convey with it as a gift, would be perceived in a completely different way by him? No, that was too risky. I could do with another piece in my room though.
I was so lost in the paintings in front of me, that I didn’t notice someone approaching me until the stale shortbread scent hit me like a sledgehammer. My heart began to race and my palms started to sweat. I prayed I was imagining it but when I turned around, I discovered that, unfortunately, it wasn’t all in my head. Standing right in front of me, wearing a skintight purple dress and a vicious smirk, was the Omega from my nightmares. Poppy Cabot.
“Well, well. Trevor Owens. Looking as good as ever. Too bad it looks like you’re still as defective as ever.”
My mouth was dry and my throat was tight. I wanted to tell her to fuck off. Wanted her not to affect me, but my body was betraying me. Just like it had that night. Her nose wrinkled as she scented the fear and anxiety coursing through my body.
“Thank god you couldn’t be a real Alpha and bite me when I presented myself to you on a silver platter. Looks like even your Beta brother has an Omega now. So fucking pathetic.”
My shoulders curled in, and my chest began to heave as my vision darkened at the corners. Jade was reaching for me in the bond, desperate to soothe me and find the source of my panic but I just couldn’t stop it.
Warm hands cupped my cheeks and I flinched for a moment until my senses registered the scent of warm cinnamon rolls. I looked down into hazel eyes that were full of concern. Hazel eyes, not blue like Poppy’s… Ethan.
“Breathe for me, Trevor.”
His voice was soft and I nodded once as I kept my eyes locked on his. Fighting the tightness in my chest I took a deep breath in, then blew it out. Ethan’s blunt fingernails gently scratched into the trimmed edges of my beard along my jaw as he breathed with me. The breath that moved over my lips was minty but with a slight tang of the champagne that he’d been drinking. I wanted to taste it from his lips.
Brittle laughter broke through my focus on Ethan and his eyes hardened. His hands left my face and I wanted to whine at the loss until his fingers threaded through my own and his other hand held my wrist.
“I’m not leaving you. You’re not alone. We can all leave.”
I nodded again, not quite capable of speech yet, and looked to where Theo and Daniels were blocking us from Poppy and an Alpha who looked only mildly interested in what was happening.
“Get your Omega under control.”
Theo’s rage vibrated through his voice as he spoke to the Alpha with Poppy, his scent electrified. The other Alpha scoffed and slowly lifted a glass of amber liquid to his lips, sipping from it before he responded to Theo.
“That’s not my Omega. Those aren’t my bites on her neck. My pack made me come.” His eyes shifted back to Poppy for a moment and his nose wrinkled as though he smelled something foul. “Can’t let you fuck her up though. Reputation and all.”
He scratched the side of his nose, causing the cuff of his shirt to slide down and reveal the head of an Anubis tattoo. Theo stiffened and I knew this was about to get ugly. Even though we’d been in a less crowded area of the gala, we were drawing attention.
