Page 48

Della

I straighten the fragrance bottles on display, bored out of my mind.

This isn’t my dream job. This isn’t even a job I like, but I’ve never been someone who sits around waiting for something to happen.

Things don’t change unless you change them.

After two nights at my sister’s house, I packed up my stuff and argued with Rune when he insisted on paying three months' rent on a one-bedroom downtown apartment so I could start rebuilding my life.

“You’re family,” Rune had rumbled. “Take the three months, or Kylian will buy you the building.”

I took the three months.

My job is at the same beauty store where I bought the cherry and praline perfume I used to mask myself as an omega. Since they were short-staffed, I could start immediately.

What I really want to do is confront the three alphas who haven’t shown their faces since they said goodbye to me at the Haven end-of-year ball. But I’m terrified that they don’t want me, have in fact replaced me, and knocking on their door will lead to a pain I’m not sure I’m ready to embrace.

I got a job and an apartment, and I’m trying to figure out what I want to do with my life now that my focus is no longer on watching over my sister.

Haven Academy is closed after the shocking revelation of an omega serial killer at the school prompted the Council and Omega Institute to find a new way to protect omegas.

I didn’t report it, so it must have been Vincent, Levi, or Xavier.

A familiar male voice yanks me out of my thoughts.

“No. That’s too sweet. I’m looking for one with more notes of cherry.”

I abandon my work station and creep toward the voice, knowing who it is but still certain I’m wrong.

It’s in my section of the fragrance store, but not my counter. As the newest worker here, no one trusts me with the high-end stuff yet.

A tall, dark-haired man in a gray checked jacket stands in front of a designer perfume counter.

I recognize those shoulders.

“This one, sir?” Mya, a pretty beta, offers him a pale pink bottle.

Vincent lowers his head to sniff and then shakes it. “No. What else do you have?”

Mya returns the sample bottle to the display case. “That’s it. You’ve tried every single fragrance I have. Are you sure it was this counter?”

“Maybe that wasn’t the smell I was looking for after all.”

I’m creeping closer, curious about what he’s doing here when he turns around.

I drop.

My pencil skirt bunches around my thighs, and I start crawling away as fast as I can.

If my manager saw me, there’s no way I’d have a job after this.

“Miss Jackson. Is there a reason you’re crawling around the store?”

I squeeze my eyes shut, heave out a sigh, and look up.

Vincent is standing beside me, hands in his pockets, head cocked as he studies me. And he’s wearing the gray jacket I almost admitted made me sigh. He’s no math professor, but he sure knows how to wear the heck out of a tweed jacket.

“I dropped something,” I lie.

“And that something was?” he asks, amused.

I struggle to get to my feet. “It’s lost forever now. No point wasting time looking for it.”

A hand appears, and when I grasp it, Vincent helps me up from the floor. “Are you sure? I have time to help you look.” His tone is serious, but there’s a flicker of amusement in his gray eyes.

A pang hits me in my chest, and I stifle the urge to fling myself in his arms and hug him hard. How can I have missed him this much?

How has he, in the short time I’ve known him, become so essential to my happiness?

I pull my arm free and return to my counter. “A busy man like you must have a million and one things to do.”

His footsteps are silent. I don’t even realize he’s followed me until he speaks. “My days are suddenly clear.”

I resume restocking my counter. “Ah. Taking some time off work, huh?”

“In a manner of speaking.”

“So, you decided to teach for real?” I risk a curious peek in his direction.

He’s leaning against my counter, not in any rush to go anywhere. “Why would you think that?”

“The jacket.”

“I have on good authority that the tweed jacket has the ability to make certain girls sigh.” He holds my gaze just long enough for me to suspect that he wore it on purpose. For me. To make me sigh. “Hence the reason I wanted to wear it today,” he adds in a softer tone.

I feign disinterest. “Are you alone?”

Because I miss Levi and Xavier something fierce.

“Yes. They miss you,” he says so quietly that tears almost immediately fill my eyes.

I keep my head lowered, pretending to concentrate on straightening bottles even though I can barely read the labels. “Oh?”

“But there were things we needed to do, and one of the biggest things is happening today.”

I snort. “Yeah, right.”

He holds my gaze, saying nothing.

Something about the intensity of his stare makes me look away, which I never do. “You’re not here to buy perfume?”

He shakes his head.

“You’re in a beauty store, in the women’s perfume section. Be honest. You must be buying it for a woman. A gift, maybe, for an omega?”

“No.”

“Then why are you here?” I demand, not so much angry at him as I am with myself, because I missed him so much and he’s so calm and doesn’t look like he missed me at all.

Raised voices pull my gaze to a small group forming near one of the counters. Someone has their phone out and people are gathered around it. Others are demanding to know what’s going on.

The guy holding the phone says. “A car bomb downtown. It took out Dexter Pieter.”

I snap my head back toward the man standing calmly with his hands in his pockets at my counter.

Vincent smiles at me.

Leaning over my counter, I whisper, "Did you fake your own death?"

His gaze flicks to my mouth. “Yes.”

I peer around the store, concerned. “Aren’t you worried about someone recognizing you?”

His eyes are still on my mouth. “Very few people know what I look like. I stayed in the shadows for that exact reason.”

I lean back because if he kisses me here, I won’t stop him or myself. “Oh?”

“I wasn’t here to buy perfume. I’m here to ask a beautiful woman out for dinner because I’d like to get to know her, and I want her to get to know me. The real me.”

I stare at him. “You’re asking me out on a date ?”

“The way we met was… less than ideal. I want to do it right.”

“You sniffed my neck and terrified me with a math equation.”

The corners of his eyes crease with amusement. “If it makes you feel any better, I had no clue how to answer that equation either. I had to get the answer from the back of the book.”

He surprises a bark of laughter out of me.

My eyes return to the guy holding a cell phone. I can barely see the live recording from my counter. Helicopters hover over the remains of a burning car wreck. “You realize you could have taken yourself out in a less dramatic fashion, right?” I turn to ask Vincent, fighting back a grin.

His lip twitches. “A certain woman infected me with the need to blow things up.”

He did it for me. To impress me .

I grin. “Did she now? `Cause I have to say, she sounds dangerous to be around.”

“She sounds exactly like the woman I want.”

I study him for a bit. “This date. When?”

“Tonight. Seven. I’ll pick you up at your apartment.”

My eyes widen. “You know where I live?”

“I have always known where you were.” His amusement fades. “I told you what would happen when I kissed you, Della. You’re mine. Today, tomorrow, forever.”

He presses an achingly sweet kiss on my lips that stops my heart.

“Don’t make plans for the next couple of days. Xavier has something you want, and Levi has something you need.”

And he walks away, leaving me so brain-fried that it’ll be a miracle if I get any work done today.

“ Wait !” I call after him, and he turns around. “What did you give me if they’re giving me what I want and need?”

His smile is temptation itself. “Everything. I’m giving you everything.”

He walks away. I stare after him, long after the point I lose sight of him.

“ Della ?”

I whip my head to my right to discover my boss is glaring at me. I have no idea how long I’ve been staring into space with a stupid smile on my face, but it must have been a while for her to be this pissed. “Yeah?”

“Was there a reason Larisa saw you crawling across the floor?”

“ Me ? She must have been mistaken. I’ve been restocking my display. Is this okay, or should I grab more stock from the back?”

Her eyes narrow with suspicion, but she shifts her attention to my perfume display. “Hmmm. One more row. Labels facing forward, even the ones in the back.”

As soon as I finish my shift, I bolt for my new black Mini, thanks to Cian’s generosity, speeding towards the Pack Ashe mansion.

The moment Everleigh opens the door, I rush inside. “I need a dress. I have a date.”

Frowning, she crosses her arms. “If that’s code word for you going on a mission that will get yourself killed, I’m not helping you this time.”

I told Everleigh about Ms. Huffman and the clock tower. I hadn’t wanted to, but she’s my sister. She needed to know. She took it surprisingly well, only sitting on me for ten minutes instead of the ten years I’d predicted.

“No, it’s an actual date.”

“With?”

“Dexter Pieter.”

She scrunches her nose. “He’s dead.”

I bounce on my tiptoes, too excited to stand still. “Nope. He faked his death in a massive explosion. Now he’s just Vincent Madden. There were helicopters and everything. Did you see?” I beam at her.

She stares at me for a beat, and I realize that I never told her who Vincent was, just that he was the math professor at Haven Academy, there to get justice for his murdered omega. Her confusion soon clears as she puts the pieces together.

"Explosion? Ah, now I understand why you like him so much," she says, wrapping her arm around my shoulder and guiding me toward the staircase. “Come on, let’s check out your closet. It's lucky you left all those new dresses here. Something poufy?"

I rest my head on her shoulder, thinking of the perfect dress for dinner with Vincent. “No. Something elegant.”

Halfway up the stairs, she pauses, scowling at me. "Why do I get the big, poufy dress, the big hair, and three different mascaras while you get the elegant dress?”

“I don’t make the rules, sis.” I grin at her. “But if those were the rules, I’d be breaking them anyway.”

Laughing, she squeezes me and continues upstairs. “Come on.”