Page 3 of Cost of Courting (When it Raines Omegaverse #6)

Chapter two

Selene

I sleep in and wake up later than normal, but the sounds of people laughing and talking outside my window are instantly irritating to me.

I get dressed, brush my teeth, and head straight to the kettle and the instant coffee I keep.

It’s cheap, but it’s still caffeine. My movements are automatic from years of living out the same routine.

My movements are zombie-like because all I want to do is go back to bed.

The first bitter sip brings me back from the homicidal edge I’m dancing. The second lets me return to a more human-like level of calm. At least I won’t go around biting anyone today. That’s a bonus.

I hear Luna’s voice and wince. Isn’t she supposed to be at work today? What is she doing here? Oh, god, did she lose her job?

I hit the door with my palm, slamming it against the house. Luna whirls, her eyes wide. Panic. Fear. I don’t look at anyone else, just focus on her. It took all the favours I had to get her that job. I won’t be able to find her another one.

She steps back, sliding behind a ripped back of a massive alpha. I can tell he’s one from here because he’s too big, the way he’s standing, the feeling of electricity in the air. He’s wearing a black singlet and doesn’t turn around. I dismiss him and balance my coffee on our rusty letterbox.

Luna gasps and backs up, holding her hands up and shaking her head.

“Now wait a minute, I can explain. I just, I had to. I called in sick. Selene, wait! I’ve still got the job.”

A low growl rips out of my throat as I stalk towards her. I’m going to do it this time. I’m going to beat her .

The guy starts to turn. I’m halfway across the road when something I’ve been missing slams into my sleep-addled brain. The guy walking out of the house across the road is familiar.

Far too familiar.

My feet stop of their own accord. I can’t tear my eyes away from him.

“Fuck off!” I growl, vibrating with such a charge of fury that I couldn’t move even if a car was about to run me over.

I tear my gaze from the dark-haired demon of my childhood and find the angel. Where Mael has the darkest hair and these black eyes that just hold someone captive in his demonic intensity, Edric is pale with a shock of white-blond hair, an angelic face, and beautiful grey eyes.

I turn on the spot, taking in Edric properly as he moves in my direction.

They are taller and broader. Muscled and weaponised. Clearly older and far more dangerous than they used to be. Gorgeous, mouthwatering, perfect.

Shut up, brain.

“Selene,” a familiar voice purrs.

I turn and find Kingston with a giant black cat with orange patches lazing on his shoulders. He looks deadly. His glowing golden eyes take me in slowly and with deliberation that makes me self-conscious. He was the alpha in the black singlet. Oh, god, I’m in so much trouble.

Wait. Wait a damn second.

Clearly, they forgot how we left things.

“I told you not to come back!” I snap, though, facts are, I didn’t. They were gone when I decided to hate them forever.

Their scents are in the air, familiar, painfully familiar.

Mael smells like the darkest part of night, like when I go walking in the park.

Kingston’s scent is a little different now.

It smells feline and also like paper burning.

But Edric smells exactly the same, like ice in winter as it lays over my world.

Mael has closed the gap. His shoulder-length hair is loose, and those familiar, depthless dark eyes remind me of darkness and ravens. Mael always seemed otherworldly to me. Age has refined that quality to something mystical.

“Always so glad to see you, Sel.”

I whirl and punch out at Edric, whose grey eyes widen as he manages to keep out of striking range.

I want to hate that I missed him, but I’m grudgingly impressed by his moves. He flows like water. That is a new skill.

“Here I was thinking you would be happy to see us,” Kingston pouts prettily .

I scoff. “I meant what I said when I said you were dead to me.”

Luna is staring at me with wide, shocked eyes. “Selene!”

“Inside,” I growl at her.

“No, I-”

“Luna, get inside the house right now.”

She hesitates a long second and then runs.

Kingston puts a hand on my shoulder. I whirl, spinning him around and shoving his arm up behind him. The cat slashes out, but I let go, dodging the sharp claws.

“Fuck!” I spit out. My muscles are so tight they ache. My brain is whirling. This is not the meeting I dreamed about.

“Selene, you can’t still be-”

I slam my fist into Edric’s pretty face.

“Get the fuck out of my neighbourhood.”

I turn and stalk back the way I came, pausing only long enough to grab my coffee before slinking into my house and slamming the door.

I want to scream; I want to howl, but I can’t. They’d hear it, and I refuse to give those two-faced assholes any satisfaction.

Luna takes one look at me and runs. I’m just with it enough to see she’s got her work stuff with her, so I ignore her. Instead, I walk out the back. We have some cracked pavers, a fence that is leaning both directions, and a couple of tufts of green weeds in amongst the dirt.

Memories slam into me, but I shove them violently away. I do not want to remember them. I don’t want to feel anything. Certainly not any of the pain I thought I was done with.

Just seeing them hurts. I lean up against the back of the house, tilting my head up, staring at the bright blue sky. Oh, yeah, it all came back. The pain, the betrayal, the agony of loneliness when they disappeared.

When they left, I thought I was going to die. It never occurred to me that I could live through pain like that. I knew this wasn’t going to be a wound that would heal. I just knew it.

Those assholes.

It’s been seven years, eight months, and twelve days. I was eighteen when they all left. All my dreams shattered, all my hopes disappearing in a crappy blue van. My heart was dust floating away in the summer wind.

No, I’m not over it. I don’t want to see them. I don’t want them here, and I certainly will never forgive them .

I pull myself together and go inside, getting changed quickly. I grab my keys, wallet, and phone and rush out of the house, ignoring them as they pause and watch me leave.

The street is strangely quiet today, but I’m guessing they are all waiting for the inevitable showdown.

I just catch the sounds of pursuit and spin, catching Mael before he can grab me.

“What do you want, Morrow?”

He grins with nostalgia. “You used to call me that all the time.”

“That was then. This is now, and I just want you to go away.”

“We should have some sort of peace. We don’t need to make these people choose between us.”

I’d forgotten how soft and low his voice was. Mael hardly ever raises his voice. He doesn’t need to. He’s too damned dangerous this way.

I step closer, sneering. “I don’t want peace, I don’t want war, I just want you gone.”

“We don’t always get what we want, Sel. Sorry, but we’re back.”

I grind my teeth. “Then let’s pretend you don’t exist.”

He frowns and steps back. “Fine.”

“Fine.”

I leave before he can find anything else to say to me or before I can lash out and get myself in trouble I can’t take back.

As soon as I’m clear of the street and witnesses, I start to run. My feet pound the concrete, but it doesn’t matter how hard I push myself, I can’t escape the truth.

The omega inside me that I thought died when they left had burst back to life when they surrounded me.

My designation, which has been relatively absent, is suddenly back. It’s infuriating.

It’s terrifying.

I stop at a bridge and lean over, looking down into the deep green gorge and all the trees and bushes. The sound of the water should be comforting, but I find myself tearing up. Rage tears.

How dare they come back? Why now? Why, after so many years?

I lean over, resting my forehead on the cool rail. I sob for air, sweat running between my breasts.

“You’re not planning on jumping, are you?”

I jerk up and stare at the absolute god-level specimen of an alpha walking towards me.

He’s got pitch black hair, blue-green eyes, and a smile that weakens my knees. I catch a whiff of apple pie and want to moan.

“No, I’m not planning on jumping,” I murmur and turn away from him.

He comes and stands beside me. “You’re the girl behind the bar last night. ”

I take another longer look and recognise the shadow watcher.

“You’re the guy who was staring.”

“I’ve never seen anyone who knows everyone so well.”

I nod my head, distracted by the feeling that only comes when one of Pack Dread is nearby. I glance to the side and spot Edric, hands in his pockets, watching me with a flat glare.

“Who is that?”

“No one,” I say and turn away from him.

“Hmm, No One looks mightily like he thinks he’s someone.”

“Trust me, No One made his choice a long time ago and has earned everything he’s getting three fold.”

The alpha chuckles, a low husky sound. It slams straight into me, and I squint at him, trying to figure out what it is about him that is captivating me.

Why does he seem so familiar? Maybe he’s just got one of those faces? Maybe I’ve seen him before? I don’t know, and I can’t remember.

“Do you want me to scare him off?”

I don’t know this guy at all, but one thing I do know is Edric was a weapon, even at sixteen. Even grown alphas couldn’t defeat him in a fight.

“No, he’s harmless.” I glare down at the green vegetation. “Thanks, though.”

“Any time. I’m going to head off if you don’t need my help.”

I turn back, grinning at him. “I really don’t.”

“Ouch, my damsel rescuing skills need polishing.”

“Yeah, they kinda do.”

He purses his lips and then holds out his hand. “Bailey Raines.”

I hesitate a long second but then take his hand. Electricity shocks me. I stare up at him, perplexed. He looks equally stunned. I smell vanilla ice cream in the air.

“What is that?”

I barely get the words out before Bailey snatches his hand away from me and backs up four paces.

“It was really nice meeting you. Good luck with everything.”

It’s funny, but I don’t think he means that last sentence. It’s almost like he can’t wait to get away from me.

I go back to leaning on the bridge rail, staring down at the rushing water.

“Boyfriend?”

I smirk. “What if I say yes? What if I tell you I have an entire pack?”

“There’s a good chance we’d kill them, but then you knew that. Nothing but the best for our little sister. ”

“We are not related,” I say in a low, forbidding voice. “We grew up on the same street. That does not make us siblings.” How dare he even suggest such a thing to me?

“You wound me.”

“Not yet, but I will,” I promise.

“Kingston and Mael are upset with you.”

“But you aren’t?” I glance at him and take in the bruise that’s forming on his cheekbone. “Maybe you should be.”

“It served me right. I should have remembered how temperamental you are.”

I want to scream and turn and hit him again. How dare he!

“We came all this way, and we were all hoping to catch up, to go back-”

“To how it used to be?” I spit out a bitter laugh.

“Are you serious right now, Edric? You all left, and I grew up. There is nothing to go back to. Your families are gone, my dad’s dead, and we’re,” I pause, feeling the agony of it all over again, “and we’re just strangers who live across the street. ”

Edric doesn’t argue with me or follow me when I walk away. I don’t know if I’m relieved or sad about it, but at least it gets me away from him.

I take a long walk around the neighborhood, and then I go home. When I go to bed in the wee hours of the morning, I stare at the water-marked ceiling for far too long, straining to hear any sound from their house. Anything at all.

And hating myself that I can’t seem to stop.