“She knows we’re just having a bit of fun,” Stacy simpered, sidling up to Leon’s side despite Marjory’s firm grip on his opposite arm.
Elena swallowed hard against the bile climbing up the back of her throat, her nails biting deep into the soft flesh of her palms. The burst of pain doing nothing to lash the fraying strands of her temper back together.
“Not everyone can be as lucky as I am.” Marjory’s voice dripped caustic venom, the flash of her teeth parading as a smile as she drove Stacy back. A wiggle of Marjory’s fingers brought Elena’s focus to the massive diamond decorating her ring finger.
“Oh, how beautiful,” Linda sighed, head tilting as if she were seeing off Prince Charming and his lady love to their happily ever after.
Of course Linda would find it all so lovely. All of these women were Betas and would marry a man of means and importance. They couldn’t care less for the plight of an Omega at the mercy of her father’s whims, traded like cattle to the highest bidder.
“Yes, congratulations,” Elena muttered, tugging on Linda’s arm. “We really should be going.”
“It’s a shame you’ll never know what it’s like, Elena.” Marjory hummed and squeezed her arms together, pushing her breasts forward as she turned a dazzling smile up to Leon. “To belong to a virile Alpha in his prime.”
“Eat shit, Marjory,” Elena snapped, letting Linda’s arm go in favor of stalking past the tight knot of glittering fabric and aghast painted faces. “At least the Alpha vying for me hasn’t fucked half the city, and I damn sure mean a hell of a lot more than a good suck. Which, by the way, is still in the library bathroom regarding you. Maybe if you actually read, you would have noticed why they all ran after you like a bitch in heat.”
Elena’s lungs worked like bellows as she walked as fast as she dared down the sidewalk, leaving Linda to stumble over apologies amid their squealing demands for retribution. Jamie fellinto step beside her, guarding her flank as he had since she turned twelve and her dynamic had presented itself in glorious chaos.
By the time they reached the brilliantly lit doors, Elena’s breaths shuddered. The last vestiges of her control over the rage of emotions were becoming ever more tenuous. She’d sworn she was done letting those mindless bitches hurt her, but they knew exactly what cut deepest.
“We should wait for Linda,” Jamie murmured as Elena came to a stop in the lobby. His hand added the slightest pressure to her elbow, steadying her when she began to sway.
“Just…” Elena shook her head and very near latched onto the arm of a passing waiter. “Ivanov? Party of three.”
The waiter nodded, brows rising at Jamie’s perturbed grunt though the young man turned and guided Elena through the sea of linen draped tables towards a booth situated at the back.
“Miss Costanzo, you look stunning.” Pyotr Ivanov rose and came to Elena, taking her hand to make a stiff bow over it. He didn’t even try to place a kiss on her fingers. Standing tall, he looked at the empty space at Elena’s side as if only just now noticing an absence. “Where is your chaperone?”
“She… She’ll be along shortly. I’m sure nothing will be amiss. We’re in a restaurant, after all, and there are so many people…” Elena’s smile shook as she tipped her head back to bring her gaze somewhere around his chin. “Please?”
Pyotr considered her for a long moment before he made a gruff sound low in his throat, his hand inviting her to sit opposite. Smoothing her skirt, Elena situated herself on the long bench, feeling Linda’s absence with every moment ticking by. She hadn’t been alone with an Alpha in years, blood related or not.
“You seem upset. Has something happened?”
“Nothing of importance.”
“It does not seem so insignificant.” Pyotr leaned back in his chair, fingers drumming a tuneless beat against the pristine white. “Is it your father’s doing?”
“What? No.” Elena tried to laugh, the sound a bleak, desolate thing she was quick to wave away.
“Then who? I will see to it myself.”
“It’s nothing, really.” Elena forced her smile to brighten, pretending that the sting of tears wasn’t burning her eyes. “Honestly, it’s silly. Girls I went to school with.”
Pyotr tsked, caging the nervous fluttering of Elena’s hands with his own. “I forget how young you are still. Such things are closer to the heart than when you’re my age.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You’re not that old.” She meant that. Though he was old enough to be her father, he was hardly ancient, despite what Stacy had said. A powerful Alpha, ruler of a large territory, Pyotr Ivanov didn’t have one foot in the grave. He was cut from a far rougher cloth than the likes of Leon Marchetti, but he was handsome in his own way, too. Silver sprinkled at the temples of his deep brown hair, and she was almost certain the lines creasing the thin skin around his bright blue eyes were from laughing. He was generous with his smiles, his humor self-deprecating as he performed the stiff formalities required of them.
Things could be much, much worse.
“Elena,” Linda gasped, clutching the pearls at her throat. Mouth open, her eyes swung between Pyotr’s hands and Elena’s face.
“Is it your intention to drag her family’s name through the mud,” Leon snarled, banging his fist on the table so hard it threatened to tip before toppling back to center. Elena took a moment to thank the Gods she hadn’t suggested they order their drinks before Linda’s arrival.
Leon had followed Linda inside for some unknown purpose and now he was causing a scene.
“There are plenty of people here,” Elena hissed in a whisper, fixing her smile in place though she extricated her hands from Pyotr’s as those same people turned to stare. “I’m hardly hanging off of his arm, unlike some people.”
“You keep a civil tongue, Elena. You ruined that poor girl’s celebration.” Linda glanced at Pyotr before giving a terse shake of her head. “After your outburst, and then finding the two of you together like this, I don’t think tonight is a good time for you to be out of the house.”
