The alpha stopped mid-sentence. As he turned to face me, the crowd died down.
I crossed my arms and glared at Jade, waiting for an explanation. First of all, he hadn’t told mehewas this season’s bachelor. That was a pretty damn important piece of information.Secondly, why hadn’t he sought me out? We already had a rapport, however fraught and peculiar. It offended me that he didn’t even try to meet me in the crowd.
“Hello, there,” Jade said with a polite smile. “What can I do for you?”
My jaw dropped.
Was this bastard really acting like he didn’t know me?
My claws unsheathed. “Excuse me?”
“I’m terribly sorry, but I’m in the middle of a conversation,” Jade replied, half turning his shoulder to indicate our little chat was over.
I barely had time to process his icy words before he resumed talking to other people. I stood frozen like an idiot, too stunned to respond.
A surge of white-hot anger erupted in my veins. How dare that bastard blatantly ignore me? Me, a gorgeous specimen among a throng of miserable, hopeless omegas? I’d never wanted to rake my claws over someone’s stupid, beautiful face this badly before. I wanted to spit something in his face, and I knew just the topic: his bizarre pool toy bondage fetish.
The venomous jab was right on the tip of my tongue, ready to stab him the way he’d backstabbed me.
Then I paused.
Jade clearly didn’t want people to know that. And for some reason, his trust in my silence made me want to guard his secret. How many people in the world knew about it? Only him and me, I suspected.
In a fucked up way, that bond connected us.
My hand floated absentmindedly to my neck, fondling the collar. It represented our pact of silence. Our promise not to out each other.
So, I held my tongue—a brave and monumental achievement, to be sure.
But he was still an aggravating, green-haired asshole of an alpha. I wasn’t about to let this misdeed slide.
As I touched the collar, Jade’s gaze flickered in my direction. He looked slightly pained. He didn’t address me, or stop talking to a random contestant, but I saw the subtle gleam of desire in his eyes.
Well, tough shit.
I whirled on my heel and stormed away, throwing in a hair-flip for good measure. Let Jade watch my sexy ass as it walked off, since he had the gall to act lecherous after snubbing me.
“Oh, you’re back,” Poppy chirped as I stalked past him. “How’d it go?”
“Fine,” I replied.
“Um... where are you going?”
I shot Poppy a prim smile. “Don’t worry about it, wolf. You enjoy yourself. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He blinked in confusion. “Okay. Good night, Alaric.”
“Good night, Poppy.”
It would be a good night, all right. Because unlike last night, Iwouldget my revenge this time.
5
Jade
By the timeI returned to the castle, I felt ready to explode.
What a disaster. Now I finally understood why Crimson, Thystle, Cobalt and Aurum were so cranky after their respective meet-and-greets. Talking to droves of unfamiliar people was exhausting, especially ones with a one-sided relationship with the dragon brothers from their favorite reality show.
