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“And which are you?” Caroline asked Iris.
“I am Iris. If you wish to know my credentials, I am sure my aunt would be most happy to supply them.”
Silence reigned.
“This is my sister,” Iris looked around the room, catching each person’s eye before shooting me a reassuring grin. “Sister. Omega. Her name is Viola.”
Syon reacted as if he had been slapped. I tried to move to him, to explain. This was not how I had planned the deception to be revealed. I needed to get him away. Explain in private because his eyes were no longer mirrored gold. They were deadly angry.
“She is not the alpha you are looking for, Your Grace,” Iris smirked. I wanted to slap her for daring to provoke the dangerous alpha duke. “Neither am I but for now, I will settle for her freedom from this farce. Come, Viola.”
I’d never seen her so alpha before, but it would not protect her from Syon, whose growl was near loud enough to shatter the windows.
“Prove it,” Caroline said through clenched teeth, causing my head to whip towards her. I wanted to scream. She was intelligent enough… Could it be that impossible to tell the difference when we stood next to each other?
“Syon,” I pleaded. “Syon, say something.”
“Very well,” Iris spoke right over me. “I shall demonstrate without a shadow of a doubt that I am an alpha.”
She shrugged out of her jacket, handing it to me along with her waistcoat and cravat, and only then did she begin to strip off her shirt.
“Iris!” I hissed, horrified by what she was about to do. Everyone watched her with eager eyes now that my sister was halfway nude, her chest bared to the cold air. Her breasts were smaller than mine but it was the port coloured mate stain between her breasts that marked her as an alpha. All the while my eyes were on Syon. Syon at his most closed off and unreadable. Syon whom I could not reach.
“Satisfied? You can check the alpha registry to confirm where my mate stain is,” Iris told the room. “Should Viola also stip down to prove she does not have a mate stain? Or shall I show you my alpha tie? ”
She reached for the fastenings of her breeches. I squeezed my eyes closed, not desiring to see the tie of muscle at the opening of her sex that would prove she was a female alpha. Olivia gasped and her too sweet scent spiked.
“Iris! Put your clothes on!” my aunt snapped. “You’ve caused enough trouble already.”
“Hartwell, follow me,” Syon barked.
“Viola, you don’t need to go with him,” Iris stood in front of me.
Over her shoulder, I saw that Syon’s face was a thundercloud, and didn’t doubt he’d burn the place to the ground if I didn’t follow him.
“I must. I must go with him.”
Our eyes met. Clashed, and everything that had happened came rushing back. Slick gathered between my thighs and a soft whine escaped my lips. He searched my face for something and whatever it was satisfied him. With a vice-like grip on my upper arm, he dragged me down the stairs. I almost tripped on my skirts, but he held me up. I would have cried out because he was leaving bruises, but I was too afraid that his temper would fracture even more.
“My cloak!” I protested as he shouted instruction at his coachman and crowded me into his coach. It smelt of him, and I moaned. In anticipation, in fear. Anticipation fled when he wrapped a hand around my throat just tight enough to remind me that the beast could crush me if it so chose.
“Let me explain,” I tried.
“Explain?” he snarled. His eyes were all mirrored gold. The civilised alpha was gone. In his place was a feral beast who acted on instinct and would resist all reason. “Confess, more like. You betrayed us, our friendship. You betrayed your principles. For what? A joke?”
“No. Not like that.”
“You played this prank. To what end? Did Olivia know? Were you laughing at me? Is the whole world laughing at me? Tell me, Viola,” he sneered my name, and tears leaked from my eyes. If he had shouted it would have been a million times more bearable than his sneering anger.
“No. Let me go. Let me explain. You will never forgive yourself if you hurt me. We will hate each other… Syon. Don’t do this.”
“Why?” he roared. “Why did you come to me?”
“The votes,” I whimpered. His hand around my throat went slack. “I needed your votes for the bill. I approached you as Iris because I knew you would never hear me out if I came as an omega, as myself. But I stayed as your secretary because I loved the work. I’ve never been happier before than when I’m arguing...”
“You lied about who you were. Every day for weeks... Or doesn’t that bother you? All to get a few measly votes? All of it was a lie. Everything we said and did together was a lie.”
“Syon, no! Other than my name and dynamic everything was true. I did not lie about who I was. I am sorry… Whatever you want, I’ll do it.” I’d never meant anything more in my life. So long as he did not look at me like that. So long as I knew he would smile again, even if I would never see him again. I wanted to do whatever I could to make things right.
