They brought me here to hurt me. Tohumiliateme as publicly as possible.
A knock sounds at my door. “Hey! I need the bathroom. Are you coming out?”
I don’t say a word. There are only two stalls, and I desperately cling to the hope that whoever is in the one next to mine will finish up in the next two seconds.
Knock, knock.
“There are only two bathrooms here, and you’ve been in there forever. You can come out, or I can get someone to open the door.”
With a resigned sigh, I get to my feet, dread weighing me down.
I take a breath for courage and release it as I unlock and open my door.
A brunette in a lilac dress loses her scowl, and her eyes widen as I step outside. She knows exactly who I am and what I overheard them say about me. Wiping all expression from her face, she doesn’t say a word as I pass her on my way to the door.
The bathroom is silent.
My face is hot as I walk past the women standing in front of the mirrors, where they were busy reapplying lipstick and talking trash about me.
With every step I take, I feel them watching me.
As I push the bathroom door open and step out into the hotel lobby, the whispering starts up. The second the door slams shut behind me, they explode into laughter.
I walk down the hallway, toward the hotel’s ballroom, dreading taking one step back into that room. I’m going to find my alphas to tell them I’m ready to leave. If they want to stay, they can send me back with the limo, and the driver can return to pick them up later.
I amnotstaying here a second longer than I have to.
“Miss. Harrington?” A server approaches me before I can re-enter the ballroom.
“Yes?” I turn to face him.
An omega takes her pack’s name, yet I’m not Juniper Wells when I should be. My alphas made me theirs, but they couldn’t make it any clearer that they don’t really want me.
“Pack Wells has sent the car back for you.”
I stare at the server, struggling to believe what I’m hearing. “Theyleft?”
I knew it could be a possibility, but I never believed they would actually leave me here.
His expression remains a blank slate. All his judgment is happening on the inside, and later, will be shared as gossip with the other staff.
I reach for my polite mask, clinging to it with ragged nails. “Please get my coat. I’m ready to leave now.”
“Yes, Miss.”
By the time I reach the hotel entrance, a dark-haired beta is waiting to help me into my coat, floor-length black wool that my mother got me for Christmas. Another member of the hotel staff holds open the door of the limo, ready for me to slip inside.
I hesitate as an intrusive thought snakes through my mind.
You could leave.
I could tell the driver that I’m going back home to my parents' house. Pack Wells wouldn’t miss me for even a second if I walked away from them. And I know my parents. Reputation means more to them than I do. They might let me stay the night if I lied and said Pack Wells were out of town. But I couldn’t stay with them for good.
I get in the back of the limo. Someone slams the door shut, and I close my eyes and tilt my head back, suppressing more tears. Once I’m back in my room, I can let out all the pain and the hurt from all this public humiliation.
They’re in the games room, a door that’s almost always kept closed since it’s where they spend most of their time.
I track the sound of their laughter, unsteady on my feet from too much champagne and not eating nearly enough of the chicken salad Veronica made for my dinner. Maybe it’s the alcohol giving me the courage to do what I should have done weeks ago.
