The crowd parts, and my heart squeezes at the way she’s smiling up at Callum.
Callum shrugs. “She’ll find some way to entertain herself.”
“Isn’t that your job?” She inches a little closer to him.
I’ve never had a jealous bone in my body before. Until now.NowI want to shove her away from my scent match.
He takes a sip from his glass, and his eyes flick to me as if he’s always known I was there watching. “That seems to be the thing with Haven Academy. They say they produce an elegant, polished omega. I find them to be empty-headed and clingy.Nowyouhave a little more going on. What did you say your name was again?”
“Liana,” the woman says, practically purring.
The sound of my pounding heart fills my head.
With tears burning my eyes, I push my way through the crowded ballroom, desperate to get away from Callum and words I wish I could forget. On my way out, a smiling server offers me more champagne that might dull this pain.
Snatching up a glass of champagne from his metal tray, I’m lifting it to my mouth when a hand grips my wrist. My eyes fly to Archer.
He leans toward me. “Control yourself,” he hisses. “You’re making a fool of yourself.”
I stare at him, breathing hard. They were the pack of my dreams until they weren't.
What changed? What did I do to deserve this?
I want to fling my glass into his face. But I settle for pulling my arm from his, passing my glass of champagne to a server, and walking away. The whispers follow, an endless wave of questions wondering what I must have done to turn my alphas cold.
In the bathroom, I put my head in my hands, trying not to cry.
“They were all over Liana,” a female voice says from right outside my door.
Another woman laughs. “Must not be not getting what they need fromher.”
I lift my head to stare at the door, hoping it isn’t me they’re talking about.
“Juniper went to Haven Academy, and that finishing school is known for training omegas well.”
I briefly close my eyes, dreading having come into the bathroom and not left this party while I had the chance. Nowthere’s no way of leaving without humiliating myself by having to pass by the women talking about me.
“Maybe the training didn’t take.” Water starts up. “Maybe she’s dull. That’s what else Haven is good for. Elegant but dull.”
Laughter rings out, and my cheeks burn.
“She has the looks but doesn’t know how to please her alphas. Two weeks since their bonding, and they look bored out of their minds. They’ll be out fucking a beta before the month is out if they haven’t already started.”
My heart clenches when I remember Callum talking to the beautiful Liana, seeming not to care that I was listening. In fact, he’d looked right at me before he told her I was clingy.
“Juniper’s pretty, though.”
“Pretty? Maybe she was once.” Another woman snorts. “Not with those bags under her eyes. She looks like she’s been ridden hard and put away wet.”
“And not even the good kind of ride,” another woman adds with a giggle.
Laughter rings out just outside my door, and I lower my head to stare at the floor.
A tear rolls down my cheek. I scrub it away, blinking away more tears as I will those women to justgo away.
I never understood why my alphas wanted to come tothisparty. My parents sent invitations to other parties, but my alphas showed no interest in those. But this, held in one of the city’s most exclusive hotels, is the one they said yes to.
Now I know why. They didn’t want to come dance or catch up with friends.
