Andrew Smythe stood in front of me dressed in a clean cut tuxedo, his short black hair pushed up so that it stuck upwards in stylish spikes. He was a handsome alpha but I would rather throw myself down several flights of stairs than be in the same space as him.
‘You’ll be a part of our pack soon enough Eloise.’ The smell of rosewater and rotting vegetables made me gag as he pushed me into the corner next to the women’s restroom.
I shook my head, my voice gone as panic set in. Everything had been going so well, they’d forced me to go on dates with this pack of alphas and they seemed nice enough. I thought maybe I could even convince them to let Link in the pack with us once he came back next month when I turned eighteen. I’d stayed up imagining all of us in a house together and being a family.
Those thoughts were gone from my mind now and were replaced with fear. The alpha in front of me didn’t like me. His eyes which I’d previously thought of as pretty were looking down at me as if I were a worm that had wriggled into his path.
‘No.’ I managed to choke out, attempting to duck under his arm. A firm hand found my collarbone and shoved me roughly back into the corner. My shoulder banged a little shelf that was next to the bathroom and a picture frame fell to the ground with a crash.
‘You don’t have a choice. You omegas never have a choice. Present your neck to me Eloise.’
I shook my head, fighting against his will.
‘NOW.’ He barked at me and I trembled as my chin began to tilt upwards.
‘Hey! What’s going on back here?’ A man stood at the end of the hallway wearing an apron. ‘Back off from her man. She clearly doesn’t want you boxing her in like that.’
A hand grabbed Andrew’s shoulder and yanked him back and away from me. I sucked in a ragged breath of fresh air and fought back the urge to vomit as Andrew turned to begin arguing with the man. A gentle touch made me jump and I looked up at the sympathetic eyes of one of the servers, a beta. Safe.
She led me away from Andrew who was beginning to shout and I knew that there would be no place for me or for Link in Pack Smythe.
“What are you doing here?” My voice was high and thready and I could feel a cold sweat breaking out across my forehead as I stared at the alpha who had used his bark on me and nearly bound me to him and his pack.
“I’m a guest at the Worthington’s gala. I see you are still as unbonded as ever.” He sneered down at me as his eyes raked their way over my neck and down to my hips and shoulders. It felt disgusting to be looked at by him—so different from the heated stares from the Pack Russo men when I’d come down the stairs in my dress earlier. His stare made me want to crawl into a hole and hide.
“I see you’re still as much of an alphahole as ever.” I was totally bluffing with my confident tone. Everything inside of me was shaking. Owen slipped his hands into mine and stepped slightly in front of me. Andrew towered over both of us.
“Back off dude. She obviously doesn’t want to talk to you.” Despite my currently panicking state my heart still gave a little squeeze at Owen’s defense of me which was quickly crushed by the gravelly laughter that was rumbling out of Andrew.
“And what are you going to do about it, beta?” He spat the word beta like it was a slur and stepped closer to us, grasping Owen by his jacket lapels and tossed him to the side like he was a ragdoll. Owen landed in a heap in the gravel at our feet with a grunt.
“Leave him alone!” I shoved at Andrew’s chest and was pleased when he stumbled backwards, though it was probably more out of surprise than my actual strength. “I haven’t seen you in six years, why would you even come up to me? All the other omegas reject you and your pack too? It’s not surprising when you treat us like second-class citizens.”
“At least I’m not fucking betas in the garden for everyone to see. Have some self-respect.” Andrew grabbed my arm, his fingers digging into the flesh and making me yelp.
“It’s 2021 you asshole, not the 1950’s. Betas aren’t people who you can look down your nose at anymore. In fact I’d rather screw a million betas before I’d ever touch your tiny caterpillar dick.” With that I lifted my foot and slammed my heel down onto the center of his foot and was happy to hear a tiny little crunch. He roared and released my arm and it took everything in me to stay steady on my feet.
Andrew drew his hand back like he was going to slap me and I closed my eyes tightly waiting for the burn of it across my face. But it never came. I opened my eyes and stared at a broad back and a mane of golden blond hair that had come out of the tie that had kept it tied back for the gala.
Gage stood in front of me, completely blocking Andrew from my vision. But I could hear a yelp and a crunch.
“You will not touch one more hair on her head.” Gage’s voice was dangerous and low. Normally when he spoke to me (which was admittedly rare) his voice was soft and caressing like he was afraid to scare me.
“You broke my fucking hand!” Andrew shouted, pain evident in his voice.
“Good. Maybe you’ll learn not to touch what isn’t yours.” Gage turned away from the alpha who had given me nightmares for years and scooped me up into his arms bridal style.
“I can walk, Gage, I’m fine.” I protested but one look from his hazel eyes told me to shut up and deal with it.
We passed by Leon, Ric and Dominic who were glaring at the alpha behind us.
“Handle it Leon.” Gage growled out and strode out of the party with me in his arms, ignoring all of the curious, silent stares of the people in the party as we passed.
16
I was barely hanging onto it.
My rage.
