Chapter 8 A Night in Heaven’s #3
“Hey, don’t look so hurt, fuck. It’s not you.
Every girl she takes home is like a carbon copy of Hannah.
” When I looked at her with confusion, she continued.
“The ex-fiancé, who’s apparently sunning it up on some island getaway that her daddy paid for.
Doesn’t look like she’s coming back; been gone for over a year now. ”
“Do you know her?” I asked.
“Nah, not really. Only in passing. Cole brought her around to a lot of gatherings; they were together for five or six years,” she explained.
“What Pack was she?” I asked.
“Human, some hotel heiress or something,” she answered and drank her third shot. “More?” she asked.
“Yeah!” I answered and cringed; I hadn’t meant to shout.
Iona laughed and called for a bartender, slapping her hand on the polished veneer.
Frankie came over, placed one shot glass down, and filled it expertly.
“Two,” Iona corrected.
“I think the omega has had enough,” Frankie said.
“What?” I asked indignantly.
“You’ve had enough. I’m cutting you off,” she said.
“I’m barely buzzed,” I argued loudly.
A large hand landed on my shoulder.
“Mind your place,” a hoarse male voice said, and I shoved the offending hand off of me.
“Don’t touch me,” I told him.
“Harriet, girl, calm down; we can take our custom elsewhere. I have a place in the city,” she suggested, pulling my attention away from the guy who had grabbed me. “Want to leave here?” she asked, nodding and smiling.
I nodded.
She reached out and took my wrist and hand and began to lead me away from the bar toward the draft of the exit.
I stumbled along beside her, watching my feet, trying not to fall over myself, but looking down and walking made me dizzy.
Suddenly, Iona stopped, and it took me a moment to find which way was up, but when I did, I found Cole staring back at me.
“Where are you going with my omega?” Cole said.
She seemed calm.
I looked around for the tall blonde.
“Harriet,” Iona said, turning me back around to face Cole.
“As I was explaining, I was taking Harriet back to mine to sober up. I thought she was here with your nephew, and I’m pretty sure he’ll be going home with my friend tonight.
I didn’t want her to get taken advantage of.
There was almost a thing with some arsehole.
Anyway, if I knew you were here, I would have come and found you. ”
“You’re not needed anymore,” Cole said.
Iona dropped my hand and moved off into the crowd.
“Wait,” I said and turned too fast trying to find her in the crowd, falling sideways.
“We’re going home,” Cole said, holding onto my upper arms.
“Get off of me,” I shouted.
Cole dragged me forward in front of her, her hold on my upper arms nearing painfully tight.
“Enough,” she growled out before heaving me up and over her shoulder.
The movement made my head spin.
The cold night air hit me like a punch to the chest.
Suddenly, I was right-way-up on my own feet. I wobbled and reached out, taking hold of Cole’s jacket to steady myself.
“What were you thinking?” she snarled low.
I backed away from her until my back hit the stone of the building.
I realised we were in the car park.
Smokers lingered on the other side, eyes looking in our direction.
Cole was so close; her breath smelled like the beer she had been drinking.
“I’m calling a taxi,” she said angrily and stepped back from me, retrieving her phone from her pocket and typing away.
I hadn’t had a phone in the past three years.
I used to be glued to it. Social media all day long.
Constant communication with my so-called friends.
I was so obsessed that I was haunted by phantom notifications and vibrations for months after I presented as an omega.
The last message I ever sent was arranging to meet up for breakfast the morning after the full moon with all my friends.
I left my phone at home. I never saw it or my friends again.
“I don’t even miss them,” I said.
Cole turned to me, her breath steaming in the glow of the Heaven’s Bar sign and the faint orange glow of the few lampposts dotted around the car park.
“What?” she asked.
“My phone,” I told her. “I was glued to it before…” I trailed off.
Cole’s face softened a little.
“You’re drunk,” she said.
“So are you,” I told her.
“I’ve had a few drinks. I’m not falling-over drunk, about to go home with a complete stranger,” she said, shaking her head as if in disbelief. “Do you know how dangerous that was?” she asked.
As I was thinking of a response, a silver car pulled up and rolled down the passenger window.
“For Cole?” the human man asked. He looked at me. “If she’s sick, it’s a two-hundred-dollar fee,” he warned.
Cole gripped my arm and moved me forward towards the car, opening the door, getting me seated, and buckling me in. I tried to resist. I could put on my own seatbelt, but she waved my hands away with her superior coordination.
The drive back was fast at that time of night; just when I felt like I had warmed up, Cole opened the door and pulled me out of the car into the cold.
She guided me up the stairs and inside.