Her gaze slides to Isadora. “No, I suppose I don’t. She knows right?”
I nod. “She does.” Not that it makes her treat me any different than shit on the bottom of her shoe when no one elseis around. She’s made it clear she’ll tolerate my presence, but I won’t be welcome in her bed, in her nest, for her heats.
Not that I want to fuck her. But it doesn’t feel good to be excluded from something like that when the rest of my pack will be welcomed with open arms. They’ll be expected to spend days tending to her. And I’ll be alone.
Always fucking separate.
The omega in front of me must see something flicker across my face, some emotion I’m not able to lock down. Her gorgeous face crumples into sadness, for me.
“Piers.” Ren lifts my hand and presses a gentle kiss to my knuckles that makes my throat go tight.
“It's okay, little bird,” I croak out. “I knew what I was signing up for.”
Another press of her soft lips. “It doesn’t make it right, dimples.”
God.
God.
This woman. This is the greatest tragedy in the world, that she came into my life—our lives—now, like this when we don’t have the ability to choose her. When I can’t scoop her into my arms and cradle her close and promise to always, always take care of her.
A warm broad palm slides onto my shoulder and a second later Court is all but draped over my back, smiling down at Ren right alongside me. She squints up at him, giving my hand a final squeeze before she releases me. I have to keep myself from reaching for her again. “Can I help you, pretty boy?”
There’s a moment where I feel him tense, feel the hurt Ren has no idea she just caused. Court hates being reduced down to his looks, to his playboy persona. And yet that’s all he presents to the world. It's what they expect to see. He can’t really fault her for calling him out on it.
And honestly, I don’t think she means it as any kind of an insult. More like she’s just stating a fact.
He knows it too, because in the next instant he smiles down at her. “I love it when you call me that. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside knowing you think I’m pretty.”
Florence hums, looking unimpressed. “As if you need the reminder of how hot you are. Maybe I should come up with something else-”
“No,” Court’s quick to cut off that thought. “No, don’t. I have the feeling anything else you come up with might be less flattering.” Ren’s brow wrinkles. And her lips part, likely to say something sweet, but Court cuts her off. “I thought I’d take you up on your offer to teach me yoga?”
“Really?” She doesn’t bother trying to hide her surprise, or any of her emotions really, which is refreshing when we’re constantly surrounded by people curating their feelings, hiding things away behind a polite veneer.
He nods, hair brushing against my temple, making goose bumps and my cock stir. “Yep. I have to warn you that I’m probably not going to be very good.”
Ren laughs, soft and sweet. “How refreshing to hear you admit that.” Her kaleidoscope eyes find mine. “You wanna join us?”
I want to say yes. Every second I can spend with Florence I want to grab onto. But I glance over to where Forsythe is watching us, his face set into a disapproving frown. When he glances at the production crew pointedly, I sigh.
Of course I can’t say yes. If I do, they won’t be able to use any of the footage of Ren’s first real interaction with one of my pack members.
Which wouldn’t be a bad thing, some small niggling part of me whispers. It feels wrong to have cameras catching our conversations with Ren, to have eyes on us while we get toknow her. Something deep inside me screams that this should be private, cherished, that Florence deserves more than to be paraded around for the pleasure of the cameras and the viewers at home.
I give her a soft smile. “I can’t.”
All humor fades from her eyes and she scowls at the crew. Court reaches out and strokes a finger over her brow, smoothing the wrinkle there before I can. “He’ll be okay, Pixie.”
An exasperated look crosses her face as she rolls her eyes. “Of course he’ll be okay. That’s not the issue. The problem is that he shouldn’t have to-” She cuts herself off abruptly, hands fisted. Her eyes squeeze closed as a big breath makes her chest rise and then fall when she lets it out.
“Fuck,” Court mumbles against the side of my head. “She’s so fucking cute. Getting all worked up on your behalf.”
I swallow thickly. Cute isn’t the word I’d use. Though Florence is without a doubt ‘cute’. What it is to me is endearing. Sweet. A welcome relief that someone cares how I feel about this entire fucked up situation.
The problem is that it shouldn’t only be her that’s willing to rail about the injustice. My pack should be doing that too. Sure, we’d cuddled this morning and Thayer had made love to me and whispered in my ear how much he needed me. But that was behind closed doors.
Theyalwayslove me behind closed doors.
