I looked down at her hand, and then back up at her, getting lost in her blue-grey eyes. We were so close, and her eyes dipped down to my lips, making goose bumps pebble on my neck.
For a moment, she leaned closer, as if she was going to close the distance between us, but then she blinked, and the warmth in her eyes shuttered, her face becoming polite again.
She stood up. “Can I get you a drink, then?” she asked in a perfectly pleasant voice.
“Water’s fine,” I said, trying to hide my disappointment.
Right, she was a duchess and the host here. She was just doing her job.
The thought pained me, though I wasn’t sure whether it was the fact she did this with other alphas or that she was only giving me a customer-service act.
It was obvious now, the way her expression was fixed, her movements practiced. That in itself wasn’t really surprising, but that’s what had been off about her scent.
It was flat, unvaried, too perfect—how did someone manage to get a customer-servicescent?
But I’d seen a glimpse of the real her, hadn’t I? When she’d blushed? That moment she’d leaned closer?
Could she fake that?
I looked up as she set a glass of water in front of me. “Keep impressing Jag,” she said. “I’d like to see you up here more often, Ocean.”
My heart fluttered as she said my name again before she turned and left. Her scent was still here, but faded, and I missed it already.
I needed to hold her and make her blush and give me a real smile.
I needed to peel off that dress?—
My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I pulled it out, trying to focus as I scanned the message.
Finch: What was that? Report.
Mission.
Right, I was here on a mission.
But my pack had surely felt that.
The pull of something beautiful.
My fingers were shaking as I typed out my reply.
Me: I found our scent match. It’s Laurel.
EIGHT
KAOS
He was there tonight because of me.
It always came down to that, in the end.
Shame constantly gnawed at my edges, making my brain feel like it was always on edge. It was better to just retreat into my fog.
But today, I had to be present. I had to sit here with my heart pounding in my chest as Ocean walked into the Blood Well.
I was a record, jammed, stuck looping the same useless notes for years now.
Rogue.
