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"Yeah, it did."

We're walking again, and I realize we're getting close to the main corridors. Soon we'll be back among the other guests, and this conversation will have to end. The thought makes something panic in my chest.

"Belle," I say, "can I ask you something?"

"I suppose."

"When Felix tried to kiss you, what were you feeling? Besides panic,” I say.

She's quiet for so long I think she might not answer. "Confused," she finally says. "Overwhelmed. Like everything was moving too fast and I couldn't keep up."

"But not afraid of him specifically?"

"No," she admits. "Not afraid of him. Just... afraid of what it meant."

"What do you think it meant?"

"I don't know. That's the problem. I don't know what any of this means. The ball, the invitations, meeting you again, Felix being so..." She gestures helplessly. "I feel like I'm in the middle of something I don't understand."

She's closer to the truth than she realizes, and it makes me want to tell her everything. But I can smell the fragility in her scent, the way she's barely holding herself together. She's not ready for the whole truth yet.

"Maybe it doesn't have to mean anything you don't want it to mean," I suggest.

"Everything means something, Theo. Especially things like this,” she says.

"Things like what?"

"Like finding out that the alpha who helped me through my heat is at the same exclusive ball I am, and then having another alpha try to kiss me in a palace library while I'm supposed to be on a fake date with my best friend. The thing that scares me themost is finding out that these alphas are part of a pack, which could mean…”

It’s dawning on her, that she is part of our pack. She knows the answer to her own question.

The bitterness in her voice makes my chest ache. "Belle..."

"Do you know what the really pathetic part is?" she continues. "For a few hours tonight, I actually felt beautiful, as if I belonged somewhere fancy and magical."

"You are worth more than that."

"Am I? Because right now I feel like the universe's favorite chew toy."

We've reached the main corridor that leads to the library, and I can hear music and laughter drifting from the ballroom. Soon she'll disappear back into the crowd, back to her fake date and her careful walls, and I'll have lost my chance to fix this.

"Belle, wait," I say, catching her arm gently. "Before we go back, there's something else I need to tell you."

She turns to look at me, and I can see the wariness creeping back into her expression. "What now?"

"That night at the library, when you asked me why I wanted to help you?"

"You said it was because I was too chatty and too pretty,” Belle says.

“That was part of it. But not all of it."

"What was the rest of it?"

I take a deep breath, knowing this is a risk but needing to say it anyway. "The rest of it was that from the moment I walked into that library and smelled your scent, something in me recognized you. Not just as an omega in distress, but as someone important. Someone I'd been waiting for without knowing I was waiting."

Her scent spikes with confusion, and underneath it all, a warmth that makes my alpha senses calm at the same time.

"That's impossible," she whispers.