Chapter 1
ONE
JADE
There hadn’t been a single day since my ex had come crashing back into my life that I hadn’t wanted to punch his stupid face for some reason or other, but this trumped all of those. I could practically feel my blood pressure skyrocket as I re-read his outrageous post.
ATTENTION ALPHAS—PRINCE BOND NEEDED!!
Hi, it’s me, Jewel (Ω). If you don’t know who I am by now, congratulations! You must live under a rock.
My father’s untimely death (RIP bitch) left a giant fortune, but apparently, due to gold pack rules, I can’t claim any of it unless I get offered a Prince bond. (Rude.)
Do I care about romance? Absolutely not.
Do I care about cash? Absolutely yes.
Perks:
Money. Duh.
Matching me. Literally ranked #1 in New Oxford Times’s “Hottest Omegas to Watch” List.
Being the talk of the town. Hope you like cameras.
Fine print:
I won’t be accepting the bond. Say hello to New Oxford’s newest Duke. (Don’t worry, you’ll still get paid.)
You will be required to spend at least a few minutes with me. I’m a bitch, so deal with it.
Interested?
Of course you are. I will be on the Crimson Palace’s thrones next Wednesday, ready for my lucky alphas to crown me.
What are you waiting for? Come get rich.
-Jewel
It was stupid.
I shouldn’t care.
I’d washed my hands of Julius fucking Fairchild when he’d dumped my ass in a spectacularly cruel fashion, and then it hadn’t mattered anyway, because he’d died.
Not.
His crimelord father had tried to get rid of him and staged his suicide, he’d ended up in an underground trafficking ring, and spent the last five years surviving some of the most fucked-up alphas I’d ever met.
Only to reappear at exactly the worst time.
I’d finally moved on enough to face his sister, Laurel, and apologise for abandoning her when Jewel had broken my heart.
When I’d finally worked up the courage to apologise to her she hit me with the gut punch that Jewel might still be alive. That her father had lied about his suicide and she needed my help finding him because she couldn’t trust anyone else.
We’d found him lounging in a dingy basement room, his stupid, smug smile on his stupid, smug face.
Jewel Fairchild Tate had returned and now lingered in my life like… like an unwanted, sparkly fart.
Completely unwelcome, yet impossible to ignore.
Apparently getting a new name gave you a free pass to completely ignore any past hurt you’d caused.
And be a total ass in general.
Call me crazy, but maybe he should have—I don’t know—thanked us for rescuing him?
Or even just offered a simple apology for completely breaking my heart?
Not Jewel.
Instead, he’d skipped straight to flirting, and not only with me, but with the guy I liked as well.
Arrogant fuck.
I should be done with him.
Yet here I was.
The problem was that Jewel was like a fucking drug; he exuded charisma by simply existing.
Claiming his attention was a high I’d always craved, and it kept me coming back for more despite the chaos that ensued.
I was really trying to remain abstinent. It was complicated by the fact I had to see him every day for work.
Laurel had hired me to keep an ear to the ground and keep her safe. Her and her idiot of a brother, no matter how much he seemed to want to return to the grave.
By my hands.
For baiting me with stupid shit, like this stupid scent-match stunt, every stupid fucking day.
I stormed down the corridor toward Laurel’s office and burst inside. She and one of her alphas, Ocean, looked up at me in surprise. I brandished my phone for emphasis. “You need to get your brother under control.”
Ocean grinned at me from Laurel’s desk. “Nice to see you, too, Jade.”
“What do you mean?” Laurel asked, smoothing her dress.
Jewel sauntered into the room behind me. I didn’t turn, but I could sense him like I was a metal detector and he was the world’s shiniest scrap of junk.
I shoved my phone in her face, showing her the post he’d made.
She took it, perching on her desk and reading the announcement. I turned to Jewel, glaring at him.
Jewel Fairchild Tate was both taller and more muscular than a typical omega. It was completely unfair how attractive he was. He had sparkling golden eyes and light, wispy hair that currently brushed the nape of his neck.
It was kind of impossible not to stare at him. Today, he wore an emerald halter top that matched his eyeshadow. His golden pointed nails, gold dangly earrings, and billowy black pants with heeled boots should have looked ridiculous. Yet, somehow, he pulled it off.
I redoubled my glare, in case he’d missed how pissed off at him I was.
“Take it down! Why do you need Thaddeus’s inheritance, anyway? Laurel’s already given you full access to her accounts.”
“It’s not about the money,” Jewel said with a sniff. God, he even sounded pretentious as fuck, with a snarky British accent that was not sexy.
At.
All.
“It’s about fucking over my father. And stopping our insane mafia family from ruining people’s lives. Did you know that if I get offered a Prince bond, I will become the primary heir and get full executive control over his will? I control who gets what.”
“So?”
My hands were getting worked up, too. I couldn’t help the fact that they danced around as I talked, but it got worse when I was mad.
“Why don’t you do what normal people do and go to the scent-matching service? It’s literally what the Valentine’s division was made for.”
“We tried,” Laurel said, handing back my phone. “Jewel isn’t eligible.”
I snorted. “Because he’s gold pack?”
“Well, apparently registering five years late is a registration infraction,” he said, using air quotes. “They don’t want to encourage this behaviour in other gold packs.”
“This is exactly what I’m talking about!” I growled, throwing my arms into the air. Everyone in this room was significantly taller than me, and I needed to make my point. “They say no, so you return with a ‘Fuck you’?”
“I’d be barred from the scent-matching service either way. Uncle Valentino’s oldest is a chief officer with the Gold Pack and Rogue Enforcement Division of the Institute.”
“But this is insane, Jewel. Do you think the Institute is just going to roll over and let this fly? You’ve practically sent them a personal note saying, Kiss my gold pack ass.”
“Ohh, I should get that on a T-shirt,” Jewel mused.
“This isn’t funny!” I snapped. “You think you can just live your life and pretend that being a gold pack is a joke? It means everything, Jewel, even to your privileged ass. Do you know how much the Institute hates gold packs?”
The anger was a tangible weight in my chest, clawing up my throat, tearing open old wounds.
If the Alpha-Omega Institute had its way, gold pack omegas wouldn’t exist. Every omega was “highly encouraged” to get their injection within a year of presenting. It would prevent their eyes from turning gold, and more importantly, would prevent any alpha offspring they had from becoming rogues.
Rogue alphas were dangerous. The auras they possessed were bigger and more unstable than regular alphas, giving them superhuman strength, speed, and senses, and they were prone to fits of uncontrollable rage.
Gold pack omegas were punished for skipping the injection. They had to be on mandatory birth control and were not given citizenship or the same rights as the rest of society.
I knew firsthand how nasty things got if a gold pack omega did accidentally have a child. If the Institute had its way, I wouldn’t exist.
Thank fuck I ended up being a beta.
Jewel scoffed. “They can’t hate us that much, or they wouldn't let a Prince bond undo everything.”
“Ugh! Don't you get it? That only exists because, in their perfect world, gold packs would never be offered a Prince bond. Ever. And you just waltz in and announce to everyone that you’re going to cheat the system?”
He raised a sculpted eyebrow at me. “I’m sorry, you said this wasn’t funny…?”
“No offense, Jade,” Laurel cut in, “but is there an actual risk here? I'm sure they don't like it, but what he’s doing doesn't break any laws. They can’t stop him.”
“Not officially. But the Institute has a lot of influence. They need omegas to come and get the injection. They stop at nothing to ruin gold packs, to vilify them so that no one in their right mind would ever choose that life.”
I swallowed, my throat thick. Dammit, no one needed to see this.
“They’re gonna come for Jewel. And it’s gonna be nasty when they do.”
“Let them do their worst,” Jewel said, spreading his arms wide. “Look, Jade, if you’re jealous of me looking for a scent match—”
I gasped in outrage. “Get your head out of your ass! This has nothing to—”
“You know you sound completely ridiculous—”
“I sound ridiculous? Me!?”
Laurel stepped in. “Okay, that’s enough. No bickering in my office.”
“Excuse me?” Jewel said, at the same time I said, “We’re not bickering—”
“Outside!” Laurel pointed firmly at the door, and Ocean herded us out. The door snapped shut behind us.
I squared up against Jewel, folding my arms. “I can’t believe you got me kicked out of Laurel’s office.”
He examined one of his talons. “Oh, I alone did that? I suppose I was arguing with myself, then?”
“Ugh! Just fuck off.” I threw my hands up in the air and stomped toward the elevator.
I heard his heels clicking on the floor as he followed. “Leaving so soon? I thought I’d be seeing more of you, even if we aren’t rooming together anymore. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’ve been avoiding me.”
“No shit, Sherlock. I have.” I jammed my finger on the down button.
He slid next to me, leaning against the wall and looking down at me through his long eyelashes.
He was so… tall.
And close.
And hot.
Ugh.
Despite everything, I still wanted to tug him down and fuck that smug look off his face. A spear of arousal shot due south as I imagined ruining him. How he’d look with his perfect clothes dishevelled, with his makeup smeared all over his sweaty face as I finally shut his mouth with—