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F aye

Cayson’s room does not at all reflect his personality, which is no surprise, since it’s only his room while he is here at The Selection. The decorations are dark and formal, looking like they belong to a much older, much more serious, lord of a castle. It makes me wonder if all the alphas’ rooms in the castle look like this. Fortunately for him, the area that matters most is all Cayson.

His closet.

“Cayson,” I say, while rifling through his clothes, “you have more clothes than I do, and that’s including all the clothes the wardrobe ladies have been sewing for me!”

“Well, what can I say?” he drawls from his spot on his bed. “I’m a man of fashion.”

I glance at Cayson as he lays back on the pillows, looking completely comfortable. His sleeves have been rolled up, and he has his hands behind his head, showing off the large muscles in his arms. He’s wearing a dark purple shirt and black slacks, but the buttons are undone halfway down his chest, giving far too much of a show of his delicious chest.

It’s strange to me how he can be so big and strong, and also so unthreatening.

“A man of fashion?” I repeat, then lift a dark shirt with a brilliantly colored peacock on it, showing it to Ezra and Cayson with a questioning glance.

“A man of fashion, or a man with no self-control?” Ezra asks, giving Cayson a look.

Ezra’s sitting at Cayson’s desk, tossing a ball up in the air and catching it over and over again, patiently passing the time while I go through Cayson’s things. Cayson throws a pillow at him, trying to derail his ball-tossing, but Ezra just catches both the pillow and the ball.

That’s the thing about alphas: they’re hard to surprise.

I push past a gray suit and think about the announcement they’d made just after breakfast: Today’s activity is a fashion show, in which omegas dress alphas. Use this exercise as an opportunity to explore your creativity and have fun with your matches and potential mates.

“Gods,” I say, pulling a purple suit with crystals from the closet, “why do you even have this?”

“Oh, I can't believe I brought that,” Cayson says, laughing at the atrocity. “ That was for a Halloween party, and it was itchy as hell, and just terrible in every way. We weren’t supposed to dress as anything. The theme was color .”

I keep holding it out, a smile spreading over my face.

“What are you thinking?” Cayson asks suspiciously.

I grin at him.

“Get him,” Ezra says, followed by a rich laugh that only makes me smile harder.

“No, Faye,” Cayson says, his smile falling off his face to be replaced with an expression of mock horror. “Don’t make me wear it. Please.”

“I get to pick!” I sing, tossing the suit at him. “I’m the omega. And besides, this is payback for earlier at breakfast.”

“Oh, come on, Jelly Bean ,” Ezra says, his voice low and even as he looks at me. “You loved it.”

Cayson cackles and I level my gaze at Ezra. “Oh, you’re getting punished, too. You’re supposed to be the one with a good head on your shoulders.”

“Can’t I be the good looking one and the clever one?” Ezra says, raising an eyebrow and putting a hand to his head dramatically. “Why must everyone pigeonhole me?”

I laugh, then catch a flurry of movement to the left. Cayson is putting on the purple suit, and I avert my eyes, my face flushing a deep scarlet. I want to put the backs of my hands to my cheeks to try and cool them down, but that might be too obvious.

“You can look, Faye,” Cayson sings. “We’re together, remember?”

Yeah, right. We’re the kind of “together” that doesn’t involve seeing each other half-naked, and he knows it.

“What makes you think I want to see that ?” I ask, hating how flustered I sound.

It’s obvious I want to look. Anyone who claimed to not want to see Cayson without his shirt would be a liar. Except, both of them are staring right at me, so I can hardly do it subtly.

“Ezra,” Cayson says, as he steps into the purple pants. “Tell Faye she doesn’t have to be shy around us. We’re her co-conspirators. Her partners-in-crime.”

“Tell Cayson that I don’t need to know what his underwear looks like,” I shoot back as Ezra’s phone beeps, and he pulls it out of his pocket.

Cayson starts strutting around the room half-dressed. “Come on, you know you want a peek at this.”

He’s shirtless. Ridiculous. Hot. Sexy. Wait, no, crazy. Crazy is what I meant.

“Go get dressed!” I tell him, laughing. “Ezra, tell him he needs a shirt on.”

“What?” Ezra says, looking up from his phone. His brow is wrinkled, and as I look at him, I feel his worry almost like it’s my own.

I put a hand to my chest. “What’s wrong?”

“What?” he says, tilting his head at me, as though wondering how I could tell something was bothering him. “Oh—it’s just some stuff at home, with the pack.”

I motion for Cayson to finish getting dressed and sit, then I pull out some makeup I borrowed from Addilyn for the event. Her being her, the makeup bag is full of glitter and bright, bold colors. I decide to go for it and create a makeup look that matches the purple suit.

“Tell me about it,” I say. “Cayson can’t talk right now because he’s holding still for the makeup.”

“I don’t see why I need makeup,” he mutters, falling into the chair in front of me. “I’m perfectly gorgeous as I am.”

“ Shh ,” I say to Cayson, and then, glancing over my shoulder at Ezra, “Talking about stuff makes it easier to deal with.”

Although me of all people understands how he’s feeling.

Giving Ezra some space, I turn and focus on Cayson’s makeup, trying to avoid Cayson’s eye contact this close. The man really is gorgeous. I start with dark purple on the inside of his eye, then work into a softer pastel near the edges. I’m reaching for the glitter when Ezra speaks up.

“There are some issues back home, with the crops,” he says with a sigh. “For the past two years, we’ve been dealing with a pest problem. They’re destroying the crops, and it just keeps getting worse. Our stores are running low. If this year doesn’t go well, we may have to purchase rations from other packs, or even humans, which isn’t going to win us any favors.”

“Oh,” I say, sticking my tongue out a bit as I concentrate on drawing tiny stars around Cayson’s eyes. “Do you have equipment for pesticides? Shouldn’t you be able to just treat the plants at the start of the season?”

“We have equipment—” Ezra sounds exhausted, “—but it’s the same junk the pack had when my father was my age. It takes ages to do a single row of crops, let alone spray an entire field.”

“Maybe this seems like an obvious solution, but couldn’t you just get new equipment?”

“Our pack funds are kind of tight right now, unless we want to tap into our reserves, which we try never to do,” he says. “We have a large class moving into college, and we pay for all their educational fees, since they’ll be contributing to the pack with their knowledge. There are quite a few who are going into medicine—which is great for the pack, but means we have to make sure we set the money aside for them. All of that to say there’s just no money for new farming stuff, as helpful as it would be.”

“Have you applied for any grants?” I ask, and when Ezra doesn’t say anything, I glance back at him to make sure he heard me.

“What?” he asks, when I meet his eyes. “Grants?”

“Yeah,” I say, my mind slowly working. “Being in the mountains, we always had problems with crops. The soil wasn’t very fertile, but we could overcome those issues with modern farming equipment and by treating the soil. I used to help my pack apply for those grants. I was still too young to take over the grant writing on my own, but I got a solid feel for how the process works… before everything happened.”

Everything being my brother's murder, and my pack’s refusal to do anything. I swallow hard, like I always do any time the subject of my brother’s death comes to mind. It’s a trauma I feel like I will never stop reliving. Especially now, with Kurt coming after me. I’m just happy now that the memories don’t seem to pull me down to as dark a place, at least with Cayson and Ezra around.

“That’s actually… that’s actually a really good idea. I’ll look into that,” Ezra says, sounding intrigued.

A few minutes pass as I carefully work. I’m trying to make sure the two sides are even, to make the makeup really pop.

“All done!” I say, stepping back from Cayson and admiring my handiwork. He looks beautiful—like a human canvas—and I’m surprised I managed to do so well with the makeup, since I don’t use it that often.

It just figures that this guy looks like a damn male model, with his sharp cheekbones and big brown eyes. Sometimes it’s hard to believe Cayson isn’t even cockier than he acts. With how pretty he is, I wouldn’t blame him for it.

“Wow,” Ezra says, “you look like an even bigger jackass than normal.”

I stick out my bottom lip, play pouting at him. “You don’t like it?”

Ezra laughs, standing and shaking his head. “Sorry, Faye—I think you did a great job. Maybe it’s just the material that’s flawed.”

“ Flawed ?” Cayson says, emphasizing the word. “There’s nothing flawed about me. Even my dick is the picture of perfection.”

“Probably more like a pirate hook,” Ezra mutters.

“ Pirate hook ?” Cayson puts a hand to his chest in mock horror, which is hilarious when paired with the sparkly purple suit and the sparkling eye makeup. “Well, I never! I’ll have you know, it’s straight as an arrow.” He turns to me and winks. “You’ll see.”

My cheeks flame. “I will not see.”

He laughs and tugs me into his lap. “Would my little omega like some sugar?”

I push on his chest and get myself free from his lap, laughing hysterically. “Cayson!”

Ezra grins. “Should we head to the fashion show?”

My smile fades, and I give him a mischievous look. “Actually, we’re not done yet.”

Ezra groans. “Faye, Cayson is dressed up enough for the both of us.”

“I don’t think so,” I say, struggling not to grin. “Go ahead and take a seat, and we’ll see how we can make you just as pretty as Cayson.”

Cayson laughs at Ezra as he grumbles, but Ezra drops into the chair in front of me. And, again, it’s so strange to me. These two alphas are huge men. They’re men who tower over me, who could break my bones with no effort at all, and yet, they’re so gentle with me. They actually act like I’m the one with all the power instead of them.

Even though it’s not true.

Cayson circles to his closet. “You know, I have an idea…”

“You better not,” Ezra mutters.

“What kind of idea?” I ask sweetly.

“You know that Halloween party?” Cayson asks, going to the closet and rummaging to the back. “I couldn’t decide on a color, so I actually have this one as well.”

It’s a bright, aquamarine blue with multi-colored glitter on the lapels, and I instantly reach for the makeup, knowing I’m going to do Ezra’s makeup just as glittery and bright, but with blue instead.

Ezra gives me a look. “We’re going to look ridiculous.”

Yes, they are, but I have a feeling that I’ll find them just as sexy as always anyway. Which is a strange and slightly terrifying idea.

“Well, that’s fine, right?” I say. He looks up, meeting my eyes. “It’s not like you’re trying to impress anyone. You’re leaving here without an omega, right?”

Ezra re-fixes his gaze on the mirror, clearing his throat and nodding. “Right.”

I get to work putting on Ezra’s makeup and feel completely at ease. This isn’t like doing my own makeup. If I mess up, no one will care. This will just be fun, no matter what.

“Wait—” Cayson says, “If you’re not going to dress Kurt, does that mean he has to come nak?—”

“I sent a servant to dress him,” I say, waving a hand.

“How did you pull that off?” Ezra asks, lifting a brow.

“I didn’t even need to explain myself to his servants; they already seemed to know why I wouldn’t want to dress him. I’m guessing he’s as nice to them as he is to everyone else.”

Cayson laughs. “And you technically handled him being dressed, so you’re following the ultima’s request.”

“Exactly. Now, let me focus.”

The truth is, I don’t want to think about Kurt right now. With Cayson and Ezra, it’s like I have a protective bubble around myself, but I know the instant I’m out of that bubble, I’m not safe any longer. Kurt has claimed me as his mate, and that will require all our effort and all our focus to get him to “prove he doesn’t fit in our bond.” I just have to keep focusing on that.

“You know,” I say, “I thought Cayson would make a really pretty girl, but you would too with these eyelashes and big blue eyes. The contrast between your dark hair and eyes is just so…” I realize what I’m doing and stop.

Ezra’s gaze holds mine. “So what?”

“Adorable?” Cayson offers.

I try to hide my embarrassment. “It just suits you is all.”

Ezra reaches over and tugs at a strand of my pale blonde hair, then pushes it behind my ear. “Everything about you… suits you too.”

Now, I am blushing. These men just make me feel things I’ve never felt before, but I’m doing everything I can to push those feelings away. This is all pretend. A fake relationship. I can’t fool myself into thinking it’s anything more than that. My feelings are just because I’ve felt isolated for so long that their attention is nice. That’s all.

I’m just putting the cap on the eyeliner when the bell tolls, signaling that the fashion show should begin. After Ezra dresses, it’s time for some fun. And time to see Kurt again.

“You boys ready?”

Cayson winks at me. “I’m always ready.”