"Thirty-two hundred," I push out through clenched teeth. We’re getting close to our limit and I’m not sure what I’ll do if Chad wins. He’ll never let us live it down, for sure but Iris...
"Thirty-five!"
Kevin raises his paddle. "Thirty-six—"
Chad turns in his seat to yell at him. "Kevin! I swear to God—"
"Sorry! Sorry! I'm out!" Kevin drops his paddle.
My hands start shaking around the paddle in my lap as I grip it a little tighter. We’re too close to our limit, and I don't know how much higher Chad is willing to go. His family has money, more money than us. What if he just keeps pushing? What if we came all this way just to lose to him because he can outspend us?
"Q—"
Quentin's hand closes over mine. He lifts it himself, and when he speaks, his voice carries through the noise without him raising it at all. "Four thousand."
The room goes silent, so quiet I can hear my own heartbeat pounding in my ears. Chad's mouth opens and closes a few times, but nothing comes out. The lacrosse guy sinks back into his seat, and Kevin puts his head in his hands.
The announcer recovers before anyone else. "Four thousand dollars. Do I hear four thousand one hundred?"
Nobody moves or speaks. The silence stretches on, and I hold my breath, waiting for someone to outbid us, waiting for Chad to pull some number out of nowhere and crush us at the last second.
"Four thousand and—and one dollar!" Chad's voice comes out strangled, dripping with desperation.
The announcer blinks at him. "That's... not how this works."
Laughter ripples through the crowd, and Chad's face darkens from red to something closer to purple. I almost feel bad for him.Almost.
"Sold! To the Vark twins for four thousand dollars!"
The room erupts into applause. People stand up and crane their necks to get a look at us, but I'm not paying attention to any of them. There’s always one high-profile Alpha in each of these auctions, sometimes a few in which it becomes a bidding war.
Declan, last month, was one of those but only because his stepbrother won the bidding war. Letting out a little sigh, I turn my attention to Iris, who is walking off the stage. The crowd parts for her as she moves through the room. Her eyes scan the rows until they find us, and that soft smile I've been thinking about for months spreads across her face. She walks straight toward us, passing Chad without so much as a glance in his direction.
"Iris, wait—" he starts, but she doesn't slow down.
She stops in front of us, close enough that her scent hits me. Warm vanilla and sandalwood with something floral underneath, nothing like the sharp, aggressive scent most Alphas put off. This is soft and inviting, and it makes me want to lean closer. I manage not to, stuffing my hands in my pockets but my scent sweetens a little anyway.Fucking biology.
"The Vark twins." She tilts her head. "Should've known."
"Should've—what—you knew?" My brain struggles to form coherent sentences with her standing this close to me.
"I had a hunch."
"A hunch." I turn to Quentin, who tenses against my side. "She had a hunch, Q."
He ignores me completely, his attention fixed on Iris. "You were expecting us?"
Her smile widens just a little. "Let's say I was hoping."
Hoping. She was hoping for us.
Behind us, Chad's voice rises loud enough for everyone nearby to hear. "This is bullshit! They're not even—he's a Beta and an Omega—"
Iris doesn't turn around or acknowledge him. "Ignore them. They've been doing this for a year, and I've gotten good at tuning it out."
"A year?"
"Fourteen months, technically." Something almost playful crosses her expression. "Chad proposed once. With a protein shake."
