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“Forgive me for being blunt, but why would a Hartlock have such an unstable living situation?” Ajax asked.

Tully’s eyes narrowed as her white teeth worried at her lower lip. “You mean, shouldn’t I be rich?”

“You’re not,” Walden interjected. “My private investigator.” He explained as she tossed him a pert look of annoyance.

“Is that why you would…” Lloyd trailed off and his eyebrows rose.

Silent words passed between inhales and exhales. A blush painted her pale throat, and Tully shook her head. My lungs expanded with her scent. It was too sweet, like honey baked in the summer sun.

I never cared for the history of Starhaven, like Ajax. My focus was on the present, and I was going to eke out every slice of pleasure I could before I turned to dust.

When I met Walden Baylark, everything changed.

Piano used to make the sharp voices in my head stop. When I couldn’t turn to my talent like I used to, I had Walden. He was my rock. The strong alpha who wanted to look after me. I didn’t realize how revered his name was then, but I did now, and the reputation of a Baylark had nothing on a Hartlock.

Especially after the tragic, heroic way her parents passed.

The media storm of the gilded Hartlock omega being connected to the Baylark Pack meant we’d never get a moment of peace from the press and the public. I ground a fist into my churning stomach.

“My parents didn’t want me growing up entitled. W-when they died, I didn’t know how to handle everything. There were people who…” she trailed off with a wince. “I let them turn my whole life upside down because I didn’t know better. That was until they realized I was a Hartlock in name only, not fortune.”

“So you are in trouble.” Walden’s frown deepened.

“What do you mean, not fortune?” Ajax waved his hand to silence Walden.

“My parents were very specific in their will. They wanted their community work to be their legacy. I guess they didn’t think they would d-die as soon as they did, but it left me with nothing. The Hartlock fortune went entirely to Starhaven charities as anonymous donations. Which is f-fine, I don’t care about money. But they left me with nothing. No family, no friends, no resources. Fenella was a last resort, trust me.”

Lloyd leaned in and whispered in her ear. Whatever he said made her eye rims flood. My chest was hollow as I processed what she’d said.

Ajax and I were lucky. We grew up affluent. We’d never wanted for anything, and we still didn’t. When the human rebels barricaded The Barracks, it only hurt the most vulnerable.

“Your family had to know.” I turned to Walden, and he shook his head.

He rubbed his hands together until his knuckles cracked.

“Our families are not on speaking terms, haven’t been for years. You know my parents have been traveling on their speaking events on and off for years. But they sent flowers, and I came to the funeral. You still could have come—” Walden bit off.

You could have come to me.

Why would she? We were strangers to Tully, and she looked like she was about to be sick over the table. How many years had she struggled on her own? Guilt boiled in my stomach at how many opportunities I ruined while Tully struggled with barely a roof over her head.

Sweat prickled on the back of my neck and I forced myself to take a sip of my coffee.

If I was high, none of this would matter. I wouldn’t feel anything.

She sighed, her shoulders slumped forward. “The funeral was all a blur to me, to be honest. I never should have taken my anger out on you, though.”

“She told me to leave, or she’d have me dragged out. Not a sight I’ll ever forget,” Walden explained to us, as Tully flushed a darker pink.

“There is more to it, angel.” I provoked her to distract myself from the restlessness in my body.

The skittering hunger gathered teeth as it bounced around my body.

“Obviously. I’m saving up, so,” —her chest inflated with a heavy breath— “I can leave and start a new life in Astaly.”

“Astaly?” Walden brought his fist down on the table with a shout.

The line between his brow wasn’t anger, although his tone of voice might make her think it was. Walden sopped up his spilled coffee with a wince.