Bianca hit the heavy bag with enough force to rattle the chains. How was it possible that her dads had used that stupid article about Serenity and omega safety as an excuse to become even more controlling, when they were exactly the type of family Genesis Valentine-Rossi had written about? Bianca had been raised to be a bartering chip in the Bonnycastle pack’s endless pursuit of wealth and power. Her family had made their expectations clear very early. Bianca would mate with a pack with something to add to the Bonnycastle name. It was her one purpose.
But Bianca was not a victim. There was simply a cost to the lifestyle she was accustomed to. She knew exactly what was expected of her and she would perform her duty, as long as she got what she wanted out of the deal. She wanted a comfortable home with a pliable pack that would leave her to her own devices. Being a trophy mate was fine with her as long as she controlled her own time and money, even if it was an allowance provided by the alphas who’d take her fathers’ places as her wardens. (Bianca would make sure it was abigfucking allowance.) Mating was her path to relative freedom and the only viable escape from her family’s control.
What did she care if that freedom came with saggy old balls? It would’ve been nice to have some virility in the nest, but the tradeoff was the potential for becoming a widow while she was still young enough to enjoy herself. Honestly, that was the best-case scenario. Maybe she should start being a little more attentive to Pack Bonnycastle’s more senior acquaintances. When Astrid’s first mates died off, she’d remated just a few years later, producing her only daughter, and only child with Pack Bonnycastle. Bianca thought it’d been pretty dumb for Astrid to mate again, especially since her first pack had left her with plenty of money.Bianca’s older brothers were already practically grown when their dads died, so it wasn’t as if they’d needed father figures. Astrid could’ve lived alpha-free for the rest of her life, having done her duty and satisfied high society’s expectations for well-bred omegas.
Bianca was not a romantic. She didn’t believe in happily ever after. She was a realist who had learned the ways of the world quite early. She believed in the things that had taught her those hard lessons: money and power. Those were the only things guaranteed to give you freedom, protection, and security. And that’s all that mattered in this world.
Bianca didn’t know how long she’d been working out when her assistants appeared just beyond the heavy bag, waving for her attention. She reluctantly steadied the bag, pulling her wireless earbuds from her ears, and fixing her gaze on the two betas with the usual irritated detachment she reserved just for them. They didn’t shrink away, which was why they’d lasted longer than any other assistant she’d ever had.
Amelia and Maude weren’t sisters, or even related as far as Bianca knew, but they could’ve passed for twins. Same wide blue eyes and simple brown fringe bob, Amelia’s made just a teeny bit edgier by the addition of auburn highlights. They’d come as a pair, highly recommended, and had served her well for over a year, which was twice as long as any of their predecessors. The two betas were efficient and discreet and therefore annoyed Bianca slightly less than most people did.
“Good afternoon, Ms. Bonnycastle,” Maude said brightly. “Sorry to interrupt your workout, but if we’re going to get you to the performance on time, we’ll need to get started. We have—”
“Several things to go over while you’re getting ready,” Amelia continued, finishing her partner’s sentences as she often did. “Now that you’re back from your heat holiday, we need to land on a pack to tend your next one so that we can come to terms and get the paperwork completed.We’ve prepared a dossier you can review after your shower. Your stylist will be here in an hour, so we want to have any confidential discussions prior to her arrival.”
“Then we have to meet with your new security detail,” Maude added, a little hesitantly.
Bianca, who’d been letting her assistants herd her out of the gym and through the hall, stopped abruptly to glare at them. “My security detail has already been hired?”
If Amelia recognized the venom in Bianca’s voice, she didn’t show it. She simply flashed a firm but sympathetic smile. “We have a dossier on them for you to review as well. They should be here in a few hours to inspect the property and get set up. We’ve taken care of all the arrangements and Maude will give them the tour. I’m sure you won’t even know they’re here.”
Bianca clenched her fists until the sharp bite of her nails in her palms grounded her, quieting the staticky rage that had temporarily replaced her thoughts. She turned and began to stalk toward her bedroom once more, Amelia and Maude scurrying to keep up behind her. There was nothing she could do about the security situation right now. It was too fresh, and she didn’t have enough information. She’d deal with it after she’d showered and read the files.
“Why are we discussing my heat tending?” Bianca snapped as she whipped off her gym clothes. Maude was already in the ensuite bathroom, setting the shower just the way Bianca liked it, while Amelia was laying out the night’s ensemble. “That last pack was fine. I told you I would be willing to use them again.”
Maude guided her toward the shower, wearing the same firm but sympathetic smile Amelia had used moments earlier. “Unfortunately, they’re not interested in repeat heats.”
With you. Maude didn’t say it, but she didn’t have to. They all knew.
“You know some alphas are concerned about getting attached,” Amelia called from the bedroom. “Until they’re ready to settle down, a lot of them won’t risk spending too much time with unbonded omegas. Pack Thorpe must’ve felt in danger of claiming you after your second heat together.”
Bianca stepped beneath the scalding water, letting the waterfall from the rain shower head drown out her assistants’ voices. She knew full well that, like so many packs before them, Pack Thorpe simply didn’t want her. Usually, it took only a single heat cycle for her carefully vetted alphas to decide they didn’t enjoy her company. They signed their NDAs, took their generous tips, and disappeared forever. Bianca didn’t care. Alphas were only useful to soothe the ache during heats, otherwise they bored her. Even during her heats, she couldn’t manage to be submissive enough to suit their fragile egos.
If they wanted her surrender, they had to earn her respect. They had todemandit. They had to take it. She would never give it easily. Never again.
Bianca washed her hair, knowing she’d already sweated out her silk press. Raette would grumble, but the stylist would still make sure it was perfectly coiffed again for the evening’s fundraiser. Bianca’s mother had always complained about the texture of her hair, inherited from whichever of Pack Bonnycastle had sired her. It was anybody’s guess since all three were of African descent.
Her mother liked that Bianca could’ve almost passed for white, with her fair skin and gray eyes. She’d inherited both traits from the Norwegian ballerina who’d always insisted Bianca call her Astrid rather than mom—both because she didn’t want to sound old and because she didn’t much like Bianca. Bianca was Astrid’s greatest disappointment.As her mother so often reminded her, by her age Astrid was already a world-famous omega with incredibly wealthy, much older mates. She couldn’t seem to understand why her only daughter hadn’t already done the same.
Wouldn’t Astrid love to hear that yet another pack had essentially rejected Bianca? Of course, none of the heat tending packs were actual contenders for Bianca’s hand, but they should’ve been grateful for the chance to serve an omega of her pedigree. Instead, she could hardly get the same alphas to tend her twice, even through the elite agencies families like hers used to ensure both their omegas and their precious reputations remained untainted.
Bianca should’ve never hinted at her kinks with Pack Thorpe. She’d just been so fucking heat-crazed that she’d forgotten to keep her true self carefully concealed. The alphas’ attempts to satisfy her hadn’t been convincing, even in her heat haze. Gods, why were alphas so fucking useless?
Bianca stepped out of the shower, finding Maude waiting with a warm, fluffy towel. A tablet was set up on Bianca’s vanity, loaded with the files of packs for her to consider for her next heat. It could feasibly be her last heat as an unbonded omega, her last real romp before she settled on the old balls she’d drain for the next few years. It was clear from the day’s conversation that her parents were prepared to make her life increasingly unpleasant until she mated, meaning she was running out of time. One way or another, she’d be wearing some pack’s claim mark soon. Her stomach soured at the thought. She rubbed a hand anxiously over her neck.
If this was her last hurrah, Bianca didn’t want another boring, milk toast pack.
She would take what control she could and be proactive, rather than letting her parents decide the entirety of her fate. She was going to end up mated and crated regardless of her feelings on the matter. At the very least she could pick out the bars of her next enclosure.
“Find me completely new alphas for this next heat. Go outside of the agency if necessary. I want men who are nothing like the ones we usually contract. I don’t care where they went to academy, just find me a pack with some real dominance,” Bianca demanded, rubbing the towel roughly over her skin. “And I need a list of every pack of widowers in our circles over the age of seventy with a net worth over half a billion. Another list between sixty and seventy, but worth at least a billion. I want to personally invite them to our next few charity events.”
“Right away, Miss Bonnycastle.” Maude tapped rapidly on her phone as Bianca settled in front of her vanity. “I’ll have that information for you before tonight’s event.”
Bianca stared at her reflection in the mirror, taking in the cool cunning in her eyes and the tight set of her jaw. In a few hours, she would meet her temporary captors, the alphas who would babysit her until she mated. Bianca was determined to make that as short a period of time as possible.
She was ready to escape this fucking cage.
Chapter two
