If it wasn’t for the passcode scare I had earlier, I might’ve felt a burst of pride, but the adrenaline still pumping through my system dampened it.
“Yeah, we do,” I said.
Taylor nodded. “I guess that answers my question.”
Before I could ask, Saffron yawned as he walked up beside me. “What question?” he asked sleepily.
As subtly as possible, I sneaked a glance at his hand. The phone was still there. What the fuck? I had the urgeto ‘accidentally’ smack it with shifted dragon claws and ‘accidentally’ destroy it.
“I met with Poppy this morning to chat,” Taylor said. “He wanted to double check something.”
“About us?” Saffron asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
“Yeah. He remembered you two looking different before—which you did.” He glanced at my head curiously.
It wasn’t a secret, but I figured nobody ever told Taylor I dyed my hair. He’d assumed that we naturally had different hair colors—until one day we didn’t.
In the end, I didn’t have to explain anything. The tiger shifter was smart as a whip. “So, I guess one of you stopped dying your hair?”
“Yup. I did,” I confirmed.
That woke Saffron up like a cold bucket of water to the face. When he squinted at me, I practically heard the gears turning suspiciously in his mind.
But I shrugged it off. It was my body and I could do whatever I wanted with it. The choice to dye my hair was mine alone. Not even my twin could force me to do it.
“He sure did,” Saffron remarked, still staring at me.
I met his gaze evenly. If he was gonna stare at me, I’d stare right back. See how he liked it.
“As I’ve said a thousand times, I lost my dye,” I said. “And you know what? Even if I found it, I wouldn’t use it.”
Saffron’s brows shot up. “What?”
“Why’s itmyresponsibility to dye my hair? Like, why have I been doing it all my life? Just to differentiate myself from you? It’s not my fault other people can’t tell us apart.”
Saffron had no comeback for that because I was right.
To my surprise, Taylor agreed with me. “You’re right, Aurum. That’s on us. And the omegas vying for your affections.”
I held my expression steady when Taylor brought up omegas. Did he harbor suspicions about my evil scheme? Or was he just being blunt and realistic?
Taylor turned to leave. “Thanks for the info, guys. And good luck on the first challenge today.”
Shit. I’d forgotten about that. As if I wasn’t dealing with enough crap, we had to face whatever nonsense Jade cooked up, too. He hadn’t told us in advance what the challenges focused on, so they’d be as much of a surprise to us as they were to the contestants.
But I hadn’t forgotten about Saffron’s unusual phone habits, or his mystery man. That lit a spiteful fire under my ass.
Time to ruin the challenge—and all of Saffron’s love prospects.
Eight
Mylo
My racing heartlodged in my throat. The first challenge was today, and I was so nervous I could pass out.
At least I wasn’t hungover like Alaric.
He trudged alongside me and Poppy towards the edge of the beach, where the white sands changed to grass and forest. I was grateful the two experienced omegas accepted me into their little group. None of the other contestants gave me a second glance. If they were anything like the guy who’d been kicked off, they were too busy judging my appearance.
