AllFreeNovel
Share Us
What do I do with that information?
I guess I thought I’d be going to this ball in sweats, the same way I go everywhere else since my clothing budget is zero dollars and my favorite place to shop is the lost and found bin.
The dress is sheer, small, and so heart-tearingly perfect, I can’t imagine anything making me more uncomfortable.
There’s nowhere to hide in a dress this gorgeous.
It freaking sparkles.
People will stare.
Alphas will see me in this thing.
I zip up the bag and hang it on the shower rod, hoping maybe it disappears. Jett picked that shit out like he has the password to my Pinterest vision board, and I can’t stop seeing him side-by-side with the perfect, precious JJ of my memories.
Ever since the day he dried my tears and gave me a chocolate chip muffin, I was in love.
That was before I realized I can’t afford to be soft.
I never spent much time around alphas, but JJ was the one who showed me they could be kind.
Back then, I still believed I could have love. I dreamed what it would be like if he were mine.
I just wanted to be around the beautiful boy whose rare smiles tipped my world upside-down, the only one who ever noticed my bruises or asked who gave them to me.
But he disappeared.
Just stopped coming to the OCC, or at least looking for me. Those were the saddest years. I had to accept the truth that I’ll always be fighting.
That I’ll always be alone.
No one bothers me the rest of the afternoon, but I run out of distractions as the clock ticks closer to the ball of doom.
Even sending invoices and watching the dollars drip into my accounts, there’s no rush of victory.
I’m too nervous for tonight and what it means.
Because Jett recognizes me, and I recognize him. I’m starting to think that Wyvern Pack knows I was meant to be theirs. That the second my perfume hits, they’ll realize I’m their meant-to-be mate.
But am I?
Orion has that spot locked.
So maybe I was supposed to be theirs, maybe I could’ve been, but not anymore.
I don’t want to be theirs.
I don’t want to be anyone’s until I can try on what it’s like to be myself, because all this time, I feel like I haven’t met the real, actual Lilah. The girl I might’ve become if Mom hadn’t thrown me away.
It helps to think of tonight as a play. A performance.
Getting into my role, I shower and slather myself with de-scenter. I have to be crazy careful to keep my secrets in a roomful of alphas. One hint of my perfume and I’ll be as fucked as the Kama Sutra.
Slipping into the gown feels like putting on someone else’s skin.
It’s amazing and it’s terrible.
I don’t need to see the tag to know it’s the most expensive thing I’ve ever worn. I sigh when I catch sight of myself in the mirror.
