“Sinclair Parrish will be your alpha.”
Ms. Arkwright’s voice circles me like a shark, biting my ankle and dragging me under.
Wearing a darker, puffier version of the lilac dress I wore to the ball last night, I stare dumbly at the imposing head of Haven Academy.
Last night, as she marched me across the school grounds and back to the dorms, I told her about the alpha I met and us being scent matches. She nodded at all the right moments, thankfully not asking why I smelled like I had been up close and personal with an alpha. And I had been intimately rubbing up against one, but I didn't tell her that part. I just told her we talked and hugged a bit.
She seemed like she was listening to me, so this afternoon, while I packed my clothes and my parents' servants came to collect them, I wasn't worried about not seeing Torin again. Clearly, she understood that whatever alpha she had in mind for me wouldn’t work out. I mean, I have a scent match, and I found him. That changes everything.
So when she called my name, I left my parents and River, my little sister, standing near the back of the ballroom, nervouslysmoothing away the creases from my dress as I hurried to the front of the room, excited to see Torin again.
But she just… doesn’t care that I found my scent match? How can she not care about something so rare and precious that it doesn’t happen for everyone?
“But I?—”
She pats my arm condescendingly, and when she smiles, it doesn’t reach her eyes. “Trust us to know what’s best for you, Juniper. Sinclair is the perfect choice.” She nudges me toward the auburn alpha, a gesture that may seem gentle, but her firmness warns me there’s no use arguing with her.
Behind me, the omegas waiting for their mate bonding whisper among themselves. My parents and River are back there, and I swear I can feel my mom’s silent disapproval. It’s somehow louder than any of the whispers spreading through the ballroom.
My gaze moves from Ms. Arkwright to Sinclair, the man with the burnished red hair and the small brown eyes. I’m supposed to walk up to him and let him bite me.
Heisn’t the alpha I want. I don’t even remember dancing with him at the ball last night, yet I’m supposed to turn my back on my scent match for him?
“Miss. Harrington!” Ms. Arkwright snaps, her patience running out.
I jump. Swallowing around the object lodged in my throat, threatening to choke me, I reluctantly walk toward Sinclair. The long silk skirt of my dress rubs erotically over my thighs, and my thoughts keep drifting to sex. Since meeting Torin last night, my mood swings between desperate fear that I might never see him again and arousal.
He’s awakened something inside me, and I can’t turn it off. What will happen to that need—and my connection with Torin—if I let this alpha glancing at his watch as if he has somewhere else to be, bite me?
I think of Torin, and I feel my nipples pebble. Sinclair’s gaze drops, his eyes hungry as he licks his lips. But when I stop two feet in front of him, and his gaze lifts to mine, it’s cold again. Bored.
I want to kick off my heels and run away, but hundreds of eyes are on me, and this is what I came to Haven to do. If I let Sinclair bite me, Torin won’t want me. Not when I have another alpha’s bite on my neck, especially with Sinclair’s wild licorice pheromones marking me as his.
I wore my hair up tonight. All omegas have. Now I wish I had left my long, wavy blonde hair down to serve as a shield between his teeth and my throat.
Sinclair moves toward me. The scent of his skin suffocates me, his impending claim over me like a chain snapping around my wrist and panicking me.
I back up as he leans his head toward my throat. “Wait! Just…” I lick my dry lips, keeping my palms up to hold him back. “Just wait a second. This is happening too fast.”
All my life, rules have defined me, and I believed they always would. A Harrington omega attends Haven Academy, meets an eligible alpha, has omega daughters of her own, and the cycle repeats. That hasalwaysbeen what is expected of me, and of River, my little sister.
I have had the best money can buy. Private tutors at home and expensive nannies to care for my sister and me until we perfumed and came to Haven Academy. Those rules now threaten to separate me from the thing I’ve always dreamed of: love with my scent match. Something no amount of money can buy.
How can I turn my back on my dream for the empty future I’ll have with Sinclair Parrish, who looks at me like I’m property before he’s laid one hand on me?
“This is what we’ve been preparing you for the last four years.” Ms. Arkwright doesn’t even try to hide the bite in her voice.
I don’t dare look at my parents. I feel the sharp sting of their disappointment as I let them and the family name down. A Harrington girl does not disappoint her alpha, and shenevercauses a scene like the one I’m about to. I want Torin, and I can’t give him up. Not even to please my parents.
“I can’t do this,” I whisper, and a shocked gasp rings out.
Please don’t let that be my mother and please don’t let her faint. Dad will blame me, and he’d be right to.
“Thisis the alpha Haven has chosen for you.” Ms. Arkwright delivers her harsh whisper right into my ear as Sinclair’s lips flatten.
WhatIwant isn’t important. Whatshewants will happen.
She continues in a more persuasive tone when her threatening tone doesn’t get me moving. “This is what’s best for you, Juniper. He will give you everything you need and want.”
