Chapter 24
TWENTY-FOUR
Faye
“Come on,” Cayson says, his hand gripping mine the second the council calls for the event’s end. I see Kurt on the stage, trying to make his way toward us, but Cayson and Ezra usher me through the crowd before he can even step down into the main ballroom area.
My last view is of Addilyn looking concerned in the crowd behind me, and then we’re out of the ballroom. My head feels light as we push open the doors leading to the outside. I came to The Selection hoping to leave here without an alpha, and here I am, with two.
Three, if I count Kurt.
Oh my gods, Kurt chose me as his omega. My stomach turns and I yank away from Ezra’s grasp, turning and vomiting into the bushes as anxiety courses through me. Ezra rubs his hand on my back, but Cayson hovers nervously.
“We have to go,” Cayson says, “before he gets out here, or we’ll have to deal with that prick before we’ve talked.”
When I’m done, Ezra offers me his handkerchief and I use it to wipe my mouth, grateful. I pull out the mint leaves from my pocket and chew on them as we walk, knowing it will freshen my breath and soothe my stomach. Not that that’s my major focus.
Kurt. Kurt as my alpha. The urge to vomit rises again, but I push the feeling down. There’s a way out of this. There has to be a way out of this.
My mind starts working. When an alpha selects an omega, they continue participating in the games to get to know each other further, but it’s just a formality. If an alpha wants an omega, she’s his, unless multiple alphas claim her and they don’t get along. I’ve never heard of an omega rejecting an alpha… I don’t even think the ultimas would allow that to happen. Because they want their alphas to be happy. To have whatever omegas they want.
Our opinions don’t matter at all.
Ezra takes my hand and walks me to an area of the castle grounds I’ve never been to before. There’s a garden, and a massive greenhouse like something out of a fairytale. He leads me in that direction, while constantly looking behind us as if looking for something.
For Kurt.
As soon as we walk into the greenhouse together and I know we’re alone, I turn to the two of them, my eyes wide. My mind is working. I’d been so terrified about Kurt, I wasn’t really focused on their role in this. Why had they claimed me? And what the hell do we do now?
“Why would you do that?” I ask, my gaze darting between the two of them.
Cayson, the commitment-phobe, and Ezra, who made it clear from the very first day that he wasn’t interested in claiming an omega. Something isn’t adding up.
Ezra’s gaze darkens. “Kurt is a monster. He killed your brother. He killed that girl. He broke into your room, planning to do… planning to hurt you. And if I were to take a bet, he chose you as his omega to do something awful to you,” he murmurs, turning on his heel and pacing back and forth.
Is my future that clear? I sit down on the brick wall lining the plants, feeling lost and weak. “That’s what I thought the second he said my name. But once an alpha claims an omega, it’s almost impossible to escape them.”
Cayson sits down next to me and takes my hand. “There’s one way out of it,” he says, taking a deep breath. “We’re going to fake a bond with you, then make sure we don’t ‘bond’ with Kurt, so he’ll be forced to back off. This way, we can keep you safe from him and get all three of us out of The Selection without being paired.”
I stare at him. That… that could actually work. It’s just about the only way an omega can escape an alpha. Except, no one would do something so crazy, because if the council found out, they’d be in deep shit.
Do they realize the danger they’re putting themselves in?
“If the council finds out?—”
“The council will not find out,” Ezra says, spinning around, his tone matter-of-fact. “And besides, my respect for the council has waned recently, in light of how they’re treating this murder case. Serra deserves a trial, an investigation, and it seems like all she’s going to get is the three of us knowing what happened to her.”
My breathing starts to slow.
This could work. If Cayson and Ezra fake a bond with me until the end of The Selection, I may be able to leave here without Kurt –or anyone else– claiming me.
“Okay,” I say, taking a deep breath. “Okay. Thank you.”
“For this to work,” Ezra says, turning around and looking at Cayson and I with a serious expression, “it has to be really believable. That scene in the ballroom isn’t going to do us any favors. Right now, it looks like our claim was just a reaction to Kurt’s?—”
“—which it was—” Cayson adds, giving me a little smile.
“—but we need to convince everyone that we’re in love. That we’re completely infatuated with Faye. And that she's completely in love with us. That we’re chosen mates.”
Ezra’s serious gaze lands on me and I swallow thickly. It's like he's trying to determine whether or not I'm capable of pretending to love them. A thought I don't blame him for.
“Can you do that, Faye?” Cayson asks, his gaze running over me in a way that heats my skin. “Can you pull off acting like you’re interested in the two of us?”
If it means staying safe from Kurt, I'll do anything.
“Yes,” I say shakily, suddenly thinking about the attraction I’ve already been feeling and trying to shove down. “Yes, I can do that.”
“Good,” Ezra says, his eyes still too intense as he looks at me, “because this is your only chance to get away from Kurt. If we fail…”
He doesn't have to say it. I know what will happen if I fail.
If you enjoyed this book, grab book two, Claimed by the Feral Wolves .