But worst of all was being the cause of Alaric’s disappointed and furious face. I knew I’d hurt him. If only I could’ve explained why.
I sighed as I walked through the great hall. I was ready to strip and decompress in a hot bath before I had to do it all over again tomorrow.
“Yo, Jade!”
I withheld a groan at Aurum’s voice. Getting back to your room was never easy in a house full of nosy brothers.
He sidled up to me with his regular posse in tow. Mylo and Saffron orbited him like moons while his twin daughters, Kiara and Desiree, relaxed in Mylo’s arms like a pair of fuzzy noodles.
“Hello, Aurum,” I said curtly. “Can this wait? I’m overdue for a break.”
He smirked. “There’s no breaks when you’re the bachelor, big bro. Now you know what you put usthrough.”
I sighed. At this point, there was no escaping the empathy crash course. “Yes, yes. What can I help you with?”
In a comedic gesture, Aurum and Saffron crossed their arms at the same time.
“You can help us by, I dunno, acting like a damn bachelor?” Aurum accused.
“I’m sorry?” I asked.
“Dude, you barely talked to anybody out there,” Saffron added.
Was that true? I’d felt like I’d spoken to half the world’s population.
I rubbed my temples. “Come now, don’t be so harsh on your big brother. I made an effort.”
Aurum snorted. “Yeah right. You were as cold as a popsicle, man. Even to Alaric!”
I winced internally. Had they seen that, too? If even my dense twin brothers recognized my apathy towards Alaric—however forced it was on my end—it must’ve been bad.
Alas, I couldn’t tellthemthe real reason, either. It was just one more secret to hold close to my chest.
“My apologies,” I said. “I didn’t mean to snub any omega in particular.”
Rolling his eyes, Aurum said, “You didn’t snub one. You snubbedallof them.”
“We know you didn’t wanna be the bachelor, but I thought you’d be interested in at least one person at the meet-and-greet,” Saffron said, sounding disappointed.
Mylo chimed in to save my hide. “It’s okay, guys. The Games have barely started. There’s still plenty of time for Jade to open up.”
The ferret omega offered me a sympathetic smile, which I gratefully returned. His marshmallow energy balanced out Aurum’s obnoxious attitude.
Not one to be quelled, Aurum grunted. “Youaregonna make an effort, right, Jade?”
“What makes you think I’m not making an effort?” I asked.
He vaguely gestured in my direction. “I dunno. You were just so... polite?”
I arched a brow. “Is that a bad thing?”
Saffron interjected, likely having the same train of thought as his twin. “No, but it makes you seem kinda fake. Like you’re not really interested.”
That was the issue. Iwasn’tinterested in the horde of omegas clamoring for my attention, and aside from surface niceties, I couldn’t pretend to be. That required an amount of social stamina I simply did not have.
There was only one person among the crowd who piqued my interest, and I’d upset him tonight.
“Very well. I’ll try to act more friendly,” I promised.
