“I’m sorry,” I said. I was sorry for all of it. For not being the omega he deserved. For never being enough.
“You have nothing to be sorry about,” he said gruffly. “I shouldn’t have pushed.”
My throat was too tight to respond. Finally, he pulled away enough to kiss my forehead. “Let’s see this soft launch, then.”
We sat down on the bed while I edited the photo and wrote out a caption.
“We look fucking hot together,” Bear said, leaning his chin on my shoulder. “Send it to me.”
I grinned. We did look good together. His thick, tattooed arms were firm around me, making me look tiny in comparison.
“What do you think of the caption?” I asked.
He read it out loud. “Being in Sol never looked so good. You should know better than to believe everything you read.” He frowned. “And then some weird winky emoji.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t get it. It doesn’t mention your uncles or anything.”
“Yeah, but everyone who sees it will know the news stories are bullshit.” I added some hashtags before posting it. I knew social media didn’t really matter, but I’d never posted a photo of me and a guy before, and it felt a little exciting. I hoped my uncles took the post for the giant “fuck you” that it was.
“Holy shit, how many followers do you have?” Bear asked, grabbing my phone and scrolling through my account. “Why are all these people following you? And why are you posting all these photos of you looking fucking hot?”
I grinned and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “You’re cute. I’m going to change for the fair.”
His responding growl made me giggle, and I walked into the closet feeling lighter than I had all day.
73
GRAY
Henry and I huddled together in one of the guest rooms all afternoon, figuring out a plan to get back at Westin’s uncles. Henry was reaching out to his legal contacts in both provinces, while I contacted my friend, a former FBI hacker, to get dirt on the uncles. My hatred towards them was personal—they had tried to turn me against Westin from the beginning, and now they were pulling this shit. I’d always resisted the part of my alpha who thirsted for violence, but I wanted to hurt these men. I might not have gotten anywhere on finding Westin’s stalker or who hired the alpha to attack her, but I could do my best to make her uncles’ lives a living hell.
I would have continued digging into them all night, but Westin pulled me away, insisting we had to go to the fair. She was in a bubbly mood—proudly showing us the picture she’d posted of her and Bear, which now had over ten thousand likes.
“Who are all these people?” Liam’s eyes widened as he scrolled through the comments. He’d wound up in the back seat of the car with me and Westin, to my irritation.
Westin snorted. “How am I the only person in this car on social media? Gray’s the only one with an excuse since he’s ancient, but the rest of you?”
I lowered my lips to her ear. “Are you begging for punishment, princess?”
My omega just grinned.
“Half of these comments are guys who want to be with you,” Liam growled.
Westin snagged her phone away from him. “But the other comments are all in support of me. They’re calling out my uncles and the news article.”
She looked so damned proud of herself I couldn’t resist kissing her forehead. “You did good,” I murmured.
Westin beamed as she scrolled through more of the comments. I had to admit the post was a good idea, even though I found myself jealous I wasn’t the one in the picture with her.
“Oooh, we’re here!” she said, putting her phone down.
I glanced out the window as we pulled into the fairground parking lot. Rides with flashing lights stretched towards the sky, looking rickety, unsafe, and fucking terrifying. The last time I’d been on any sort of ride was half a lifetime ago, and I had no desire to repeat the experience.
“We’re going to go on all the rides, right, baby?” Bear asked.
“Yes,” Westin said, bouncing in her seat. “This is going to be so much fun.”
I scrubbed my hand down my face.
We finally found a parking spot and headed in. I ended up behind Westin, which allowed me to take in the way her jeans shorts highlighted her long legs. I caught a group of betas—teenagers by the look of them—ogling her. I crossed my arms and scowled at them, and they quickly averted their gaze.
