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“Owen’s outside,” she said quietly.
My stomach twisted violently. “Right now?”
She nodded.
I thought I’d have more time to figure something out. He was going to do this now? I wiped my hands on a towel, then headed toward the front door to take a peek. To my horror, Owen was standing outside with a group of other shifters. A band was set up on the sidewalk to my right and on my left was someone holding a huge bouquet of roses.
Owen was busy talking to people and didn’t see me peek my head out. I closed the door quickly and sucked in deep breaths. He was going to make a whole scene out of this. Did he think it would guarantee my compliance or was he really that confident that I’d marry him?
My dad.
He’d talked to my dad.
Which meant he was certain that I was going to go along with this and pretend to be thrilled that he was offering to marry me.
“What do you want to do?” Jasmine asked. “You want to go upstairs and I’ll tell him you’re sick?”
I shook my head. There was only one thing I could do, even if it was going to cost me. I had to hope my dad wasn’t as cruel as I thought. Sure, he’d be pissed, and maybe even cast me out, but would he really harm me? I had to hope he wouldn’t because there was no way I could marry Owen.
Music sounded beyond the door and the bar got quieter as everyone began to realize something was going on outside. Chris hopped down from his bar stool and strolled to the door where I was still leaning against it.
“What’s going on out there?” he asked.
I stepped aside, feeling numb, body moving as if controlled by someone else.
“You okay?” Jasmine asked.
I shook my head. I was most definitely not okay.
“I’m here,” she said.
She’d hidden when my dad was here, but that was our agreement. I asked her to do that, so I didn’t have to worry about her when he stopped by. This was different. I knew she’d have my back. I nodded, then stepped away from the door.
Chris opened it. “Holy shit! What’s all this?” He turned back toward the interior of the bar. “Hey, all, there’s a party out here.”
Curious patrons stood, their chairs and stools scraping across the floor. I kept my distance from the door as they all made their way outside, adding to the already sizable audience. My chest hurt, breathing was getting difficult. Even if I did want to marry him, I’d never want a proposal like this. Proposals should be simple and intimate and about the love the two people shared.
Okay, so maybe there’s a bit of a hopeless romantic buried under my cold heart. But it was true. There was a difference between marrying someone because you couldn’t imagine life without them and marrying someone because they could bring you power.
I felt so stupid for thinking I could avoid this as the alpha’s daughter. Of course this was going to catch up to me eventually.
“Morgan, come on out, I have a surprise for you.” Owen’s voice felt like claws scraping against my insides.
“I’m here,” Jasmine reminded me.
I took a deep breath, and somehow, I managed to make myself walk outside.
Music played, the gathered crowd cheered, and Owen dropped to one knee on the sidewalk in front of my bar. Someone threw rose petals that caught in my hair but I ignored them. My focus tunneled in on the handsome shifter on the ground before me. The music faded, the crowd no longer existed; it was just me and him.
“Morgan, will you make me the happiest shifter in the world and be my wife?” Owen asked, a cheesy grin on his lips.
The whole thing was a show. A performance to demonstrate how in love with me he was. It was a farce. He knew it. I knew it.
The difference was that he thought this was going to end in his favor.
I reached a hand down to him, and he took it, rising to his feet. He adjusted the ring in his grip as if he was going to put it on my finger. I pulled my hand away. “I can’t marry you.”
His brow furrowed. “What?”
