But Andrew Radcliffe is nowhere to be seen.
The string quartet starts playing around an hour before the new year, just as the last of our guests arrive, and the chatter turns to a dull roar. Dancers take to the floor to see and be seen. Only at a Rose gala are the hours before midnight of greater import than passing into the new year. Deals are made over canapés and priceless scotch, while daughters like me are paraded in front of eligible alphas.
Eligible alphas like Rad, who I smell but still don’t see.
This, this is the life I could have with the kind of alphas my father intends to mate me off to: a life of parties and designer clothes, of fancy champagne and gourmet food, of power and prestige. Of subservience. Of submission.
It’s so far from the life I’ve imagined for myself in my sweetest daydreams.
A long caress traces up my bare arm as Andrew Radcliffe leans in to whisper in my ear. “I like you so much betterleashed.”
Leashed by my father’s attention, his eyes on me as I represent our family in this pool of sharks.
I bristle but tilt my head, showing him my neck. “Mr. Radcliffe. How very nice to see you.”
“Dance with me, witch.” He says the slur just loud enough for me to hear, just quiet enough that none of the other alphas around us hear it.
My father’s eyes are on me, so I force a nod, letting Rad take my hand, draw me to the dance floor. His hand slips from my waist to my hip, his thick fingers digging into my flesh so hard I wince.
I press my lips together as firmly as I can without drawing his notice, trying to bite back the nausea rising in my throat as his scent wraps around me. I know I won’t escape it tonight, that it’ll cling to my dress, my hair, that I’ll smell it wherever I go until I scrub every last bit of it from my skin.
Like I have twice before. Like I did in a bath before Luca drew me out to watch the stars fall. Like Marcus helped me do after the alpha clutching my waist tried to rape me.
“Your behavior is much improved,” he says, his voice smooth. “Youdolisten. Good, very good.”
His hand slips lower and a whimper escapes me.
His thoughts assault me.How far can I take this here? She squirms so beautifully…
He traces a long touch up my neck and then tips my chin up, trying to force me to meet his eyes, but I turn away and show him my neck, just as I’m expected to. Just as he wants me to.
“Your behavior pleases me, omega.”
He truly does sound pleased—and the thought that I’ve done a saints-damned thing to please him makes me want to retch on his expensive Italian leather shoes. Vile alpha.
“Be this biddable and I won’t have to punish you too severely,” he says, low in my ear, his lips brushing against my skin.
I go stiff and satisfaction pours off of him at my discomfort.
“Because I’d much rather mate you than do what I did to Heather Lindstrom, sweetest.”
His hand tightens around mine and his thoughts fill my head, all of them unwelcome. He thinks of how much more he’d rather take my wrist, pin me down. He thinks of how much more biddable I’ll be when I’m his mate. How he’ll make it so.Dominate, degrade, defile.
He gets what he wants, the vile alpha whose fingers dig into my hip. I cower and shrink. I make myself small. I look for any means of escape I can find. I look for any ally in the crush of family and family friends and find no one.
“May I cut in?”
My shoulders pinch at my older brother’s voice but Rad gallantly bows out, passing my hand off to Aspen like it’s a treasure he’s won.
“Brother,” I greet, wariness seeping into my voice.
“Can’t you behave appropriately for a single fucking night?” he seethes, sharp blue eyes narrowed.
Strange, Rad found my behavior much improved. I let out a low whimper when he squeezes my hand so tightly my bones grind together.
“You’re hurting me,” I whine, because I know it’s what he wants to hear. Because if he hears what he wants, maybe, just maybe, he’ll relent.
“We are trying to forge an alliance with Pack Radcliffe and you can’t even bother to properly entertain their golden heir? Saints above, sister, he stands to inherit everything. The power that alpha will wield, and he had to practicallydragyou around the dance floor.”
