Page 24

Melanie

“P lease…” An older woman directly in front of us pinched the bridge of her nose. “Please tell me you aren’t serious?”

I had staffed events at the Spa before, weddings and birthdays and other celebrations that needed someone to quietly move through the party with canapés or drinks. It always put me on edge to be around so many people who could get me fired with one word, but they never noticed me.

They were nothing compared to standing in front of a semicircle of people who reeked of money and all looked at me with total horror. Apart from the woman in a pale pink suit on the far left who wouldn’t stop grinning.

There were only three women out of the twelve people in front of us. Kai said we were going to meet Sin and Caspian’s families, so I had to guess the older woman rearing over me was one of their mothers.

“Why do you think we’re not serious?” Sin asked as he moved forward, a gloved hand feeding around my waist as he pulled me to his side.

The group closed in. All the men were in identical black suits, the two older women in severe red dresses that swam around their ankles. The pink-suited woman remained standing in the back, like she was just watching the fun.

“No. No. I refuse to believe this.” The woman directly in front of me took a step closer. I forced myself not to flinch back as my nose filled with the cloying scent of hyacinth. It was like I’d suddenly been flung back to Greensprings, and the ‘air freshener’ they used to cover up the smell of bleach and sickness.

There was something off about her, as if her aura was made of swirling darkness and she was trying to drag me into it.

She ran her eyes over me like I was some kind of specimen for her to brutally dissect.

“Zania, we would not have brought her if we didn’t intend to make her our omega,” Sin replied.

I craned my neck to meet his serious expression, my whole body shivering with happiness as I leaned back into him, letting him take some of my weight.

His grip tightened as he returned my look with a simple nod. He seemed so strong and sure of himself as he held me that I nearly forgot how he had slashed through our romantic moment in my flat.

“Well?” she asked, leaning straight over me, her hands on her hips, her face inches from mine as she scowled. “Who are you then? Which deep pit of hell has my son dragged your sorry excuse of a person from?”

“Honestly, Mother,” Caspian growled, his voice rumbling through me from behind. “Is that the best you can do?”

I saw the similarities between her and Caspian immediately. Especially the shape of her nose, the way her mouth twisted as she scowled, and the rough green of her eyes.

“What am I supposed to think, Caspian?” She barely gave him a glance. “You’ve arrived claiming out of blue that you’ve found a scent match. How else am I to respond?”

“Some courtesy would be nice,” I replied dryly, trying to control my shaking at being hit with such a gross combination of aura and scent.

Kai snorted from beside me and all gazes snapped to his. In a split-second, every one of them went from shock to painful animosity at Kai just for making a noise.

The omega instincts I’d barely grown used to bubbled inside me again, my anger and panic spiking. I couldn’t let them near Kai. I didn’t want them touching him or looking at him like that. I needed to protect him somehow, but the only useful skill I had for this situation was my years of customer service.

“Excuse me?” Zania scowled. “Do you have any idea who I am?”

I really hated guests who used that line. As if I could remember every snobby face I’d seen in my life.

I leant into Sin’s side, rubbing against him, wrapping my own arm around his back.

Just that brush of vanilla helped calm me.

“You asked me first,” I said, offering her my other hand. “ My name is Melanie Sanderson. I could give you a brief rundown of my stats, but I suspect you care more about my breeding and education.”

I’d worked around people like her for long enough to pick up patterns like that.

The woman’s nostrils flared as she looked at my hand, but I wasn’t going to pull away or feel awkward about it. Like Kai said, we all had a choice, and she was choosing to put me down even though I was someone her son was meant to be in love with.

“This is all rather convenient, isn’t it?” The other woman in a red dress quickly cut in. “We ask you to mate with a female and then you happily produce one a week later.”

She had a nervous look about her, her gaze flitting around the room. She couldn’t seem to stay still for a second as her hands squeezed in front of her.

They said they’d needed an omega to pretend to be their mate, but it was so strange to actually hear it from someone I’d never met before. Like it made it real.

“Well, love can never be timed. Isn’t that right, Melanie ?” Kai drawled, tucking himself in behind Sin and I to place his chin on my shoulder. “That’s the beautiful thing about real love. It just comes out of nowhere! You wouldn’t happen to know about that, would you, Zania?”

Silence blanketed us as the air became so thick my lungs spasmed.

And it stretched on. And on. Like time had frozen around us, and I was the only one aware of it. The chatter and laughter of the party surrounded us, but it was like we were trapped in a prison of silence.

Sin cleared his throat. “Might I suggest that we continue with the celebrations? I’m feeling rather stifled by this cosy greeting. It would be less intimidating if we met in smaller groups, rather than all of you descending on her like lions.”

“That sounds like a perfect idea.” The younger woman in the pink suit said, gliding forward to stand next to Zania. “I’m so glad you came.” She grinned at me, clasping my still-hovering hand between both of hers. “When Cas told me he found a new omega, I was so excited! I couldn’t wait to meet you.”

I returned her smile instantly, squeezing her hand. “I’ve been wanting to meet you too,” I lied right back. There was no way Caspian had told anyone about me, not from the way he’d acted so far.

Apart from Sin, Lily was teh only person who had been kind to me. But, based on how quickly Sin changed just when I thought he might care, I didn't know if I could trust her.

“Lily, you knew about this?” the woman behind her asked.

“Of course I knew, Mother,” she said, throwing me a hidden wink. “Because my dear brother would never keep secrets from me, would he?” She looked at Caspian, fluttering her eyelashes.

Lily chuckled as she gently encouraged me forward, manoeuvring me from Sin and Kai’s grip.

I didn’t want to be away from the three of them for a single moment in a situation like this, but her rose scent drifted over me, calming me exactly the way Sin’s did.

She enticed me with her warmth as she pulled me away from them all.

“Where are we going?” I asked under my breath.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got someone I want to introduce you to.” There was a light tease in her voice that was so warm and open that I was happy to follow her anywhere as long as it was away from that group of people.

“Lily, we are having a conversation,” Zania snapped at her, but Lily seemed completely unfazed.

“Lord Langlee is looking for you,” Lily said, waving over her shoulder, as if that was enough to end the conversation. She didn’t even blink as she turned all of her attention on me.

“Now, Melanie. I want to hear all about how you met these three.” She looped an arm around mine and in seconds we were sailing away from the poisonous cloud that was their family.

I looked over my shoulder, hoping that Sin, Caspian, and Kai would follow us, but they hadn’t moved.

I wanted to say something, but I didn’t know what words I could use that wouldn’t make me sound needy and desperate.

But Lily paused just before we were swallowed by the crowd, turning to glare at her brother. “Well?” she asked. “Aren’t you coming?”

I sighed in relief as they broke away from their family. Though they all looked pissed off in various ways, I felt like I could breathe properly with them around me. Even with all the new scents and auras hitting me from every angle, the air grew clearer as we stepped into the heart of the party.