Page 32

SKYE

My polite chatter with the Lansing pack lead was cut to pieces with the familiar ring of silverware tapping against crystal. The gentle but somehow potent sound rang through convention space and drew our attention to the podium, where the mayor was standing.

“Thank you all for attending this evening’s event,” Mayor Abbot began. “We, of course, all know why we’re here, so I’m not going to bore you with some long speech. Instead I’m going to turn the mic over to the director of The Centre For Missing and Exploited Omegas. Miss Jessica Morrow.”

The crowd clapped politely as Miss Morrow took to the podium. She adjusted the microphone and tapped her little stack of cue cards to line them up nicely.

“Thank you, Mayor Abbot. In recent years, we have seen a disturbing rise in cases of missing or abused omegas. Last year alone, over two hundred omegas from Port Haven, Exitor, and Summertown were either disappeared, found to be living in horrific conditions, or out on the streets running from danger. Auctions are on the rise. Daughters and sons from wealthy families, influential packs just like yours are being forced to early perfumes and first heats. It’s all so inhumane.

” Miss Morrow licked her lips. “When I was sixteen, I was sold…”

My attention was pulled away from the speech by movement in the corner of my eye. I turned my head and saw Rowan slip between the open French doors, and step out onto the balcony. Curious, I swiped two champagnes and followed.

The night was comfortably warm, with a slight breeze that smelled like the ocean. Rowan stood at the balcony railing and gazed out into the bright and majestic Floating District. I watched him in silence for a moment, then found the brevity to settle beside him.

“Everything okay?” I held a glass out to him.

“Yeah.” He glanced down at me. “I just needed some air. Everything is so fancy and…”

He didn’t finish that sentence. Instead, he accepted the champagne that I had to offer. “I’m out of my element. Not like you. You and Halo really thrive in this environment.”

“My father was old money. I was born into it.”

“I didn’t know you were wealthy.”

I chuckled dryly, then took a drink of my champagne. “I was disinherited.”

He looked like he wanted to say something, but couldn’t decide on the words, so I forged ahead.

“My mother never wanted an omega. Other than Charisma, I was the first omega in my family in a long time. Bianca, my mother, insisted on me marrying a beta, having the picket fence life. But, I found Halo, and we scent matched, and…” I shrugged.

“I don’t know which part of it my mother hated more.

That Halo was a woman, or that I was going to be part of a pack.

Either way, it clashed with her expectations of me. ”

“What about your father?”

“Daddy died before I met my pack. I think he would have come around eventually. But, Bianca…” I shook my head and took a breath. Then, it all just spilled out of me.

“I tried to reason with her by actually getting married to the Heller Pack. And they were good enough to go along with the farce. I thought a wedding would have been a reasonable compromise. But on the day of the wedding, Bianca and I had a huge blow up, and she stormed out of my life.” I pictured my mother walking out of the bridal suite.

I could still hear the thunderous bang of the door as she slammed it behind her.

It was the last time I ever saw her in person.

I drained my glass of champagne and set it aside.

Reflexively, I began fiddling with the braided wedding band around my finger.

The chain it hung from had to be cut when I was in emergency. “I haven’t spoken to her since.”

“She didn’t come to see you in the hospital?” Rowan asked.

“No.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. You didn’t do anything wrong.” I faced the cityscape beyond, and squeezed my eyes shut. There were so many times over the last two years that I was just a girl who wanted her mother, but I knew better than to linger on those feelings.

“The Skye Evercrest who walked down that aisle was a version of me that was trying to please people. To behave in ways expected of me and that made people happy. In the end, it didn’t even matter to her.

But, after the honeymoon phase wore off, we realized that it didn’t matter to us either, and we were comfortable living as a more typical pack.

So, we decided to move here for a fresh start. ”

I lifted my chin and looked at Rowan with clarity, and presence of mind, focused on the here and now. “I’m not that person anymore. And I’m through with trying to please people who, ultimately, don’t think my efforts and compromises matter.”

Rowan draped his arm over my shoulders and pulled me to him. I leaned into his warmth, his fine suit soft against my cheek.

“I just wish it all hadn’t come at such a cost,” I whispered.