Don't sweat.
Don't react.
Don't even blink.
Adam slips an arm around my shoulder, and holds me tight, like he can feel me unraveling.
“I’m getting really tired of this fucking conversation.” Cliff's voice drops. "There was no goddamn omega.”
“I was carrying Elowen,” Raff says, like it’s obvious. “Your trigger-happy guards almost killed us and practically caused a riot over nothing.”
“Elowen?” Angelica's eyes cut to me, and I have to wonder if this is the first time she’s ever heard my name. “You expect me to believe that abetasmelled like that?”
"I don't expect shit from you," Cliff snaps.He sounds so done right now.“But the fact is that whatever they smelled, wasn’t her.” His brows lift. “Unless you think Raff had an omega stuffed down the front of his pants?”
"Careful, Cliff.” Angelica’s white teeth flash as she speaks. “The fact is, theentirecamp scented it. I’ve spent two days questioning every alpha that was there that day, and they all smelled a fresh omega hanging off your man’s shoulder.”
“The alphas standing in front of the stage?” Perrin speaks up, and every head turns toward him. “Duringtheauction? Wasn’t there an omega on stage? It could have been her.”
I see the corner of Raff’s mouth lift, like Perrin won us a major point.
“They’re drugged,” Anton snaps at Perrin, before looking at Angelica. He opens his mouth, but before he can say a word, Cliff speaks up.
“Look.” Cliff spreads his hands, the gesture so unbothered it's almost insulting. "I don't know what to tell you. I was sitting with my sick girlfriend.” He motions to me. “One of your guards decided to make it his problem. Raff grabbed Elowen to get her to safety, and the next thing we knew, everyone was shooting." His voice shifts, growing lighter. "You might want to look into better security."
“And to cause that kind of chaos around omegas?” Raff looks at Angelica. "It’s not safe. I hear omegas are very sensitive.”
Angelica's jaw tightens, then she turns and looks at Anton.
Anton looks back at her and his nostrils flare. "Something is off here," he says quietly as he looks at Cliff. "I don't know what it is yet." His gaze slides to Raff, and something in them sharpens. "But I'm going to figure it out. And when I do?—"
"Whenever you're ready," Raff says simply.
The silence that follows is sharp enough to cut glass. I feel like I might scream from the pressure circling around me when a sharp ringing sound cuts through the room.
Angelica’s sharp blue eyes leave Raff as she lifts her purse and pulls out her cell phone.
She glances at the screen and lets out a short, sharp breath through her nose. “Anton.” She slides her phoneback into her pocket. “It’s time to go.” She looks at Cliff one last time. "This isn't finished.”
Then she turns and walks out, her heels clacking loudly the second she steps outside.
Anton lingers.
He doesn't say anything else. He simply looks at me. One long, slow, deliberate look that starts at my face and moves over me with an ungodly amount of focus.
It lasts maybe three seconds, but it feels like an eternity.
Then Anton moves.
He cuts a glare at Cliff as he follows Angelica out. His hand grips the edge of the door as he goes, making it swing shut behind him with a sharp bang.
And I fall apart.
My knees go soft and my chest caves in. The breath I've been holding for the last forty minutes comes out in a sob that sounds nothing like me. My hands are shaking so badly my notebook falls, and it hits the floor. Instantly, the rubber band snaps, and papers explode everywhere.
Notes, names, and tiny scraps of paper scatter across the shitty carpet.
"No!" The word tears out of me as my knees hit the floor too.
