CHAPTER 16 #2
A cold, sharp ache of disappointment slices through me.
The whole point of this was to get their attention and make them act.
I want to force them to see that they want me, and one way to do that is by allowing another man to touch me, even though every inch of my body detests it.
It worked. I saw them. They reacted. Now, they vanished, and I don’t know where they are.
I slip out of the alpha’s hold, pushing my way through the crowd with a single-minded focus. They have to be here somewhere. They didn’t leave. I can feel them. They wouldn’t.
I want to find them.
I want to tell them it was their hands I wanted on me.
Their bodies I wanted near me.
Their attention.
Theirs, not some strangers.
When I push past a couple, I stop short.
I freeze mid-step.
They’re on the side of the dance floor, all three of them, and they’re not alone.
The little omega from the VIP section is with them.
What I see hits me like a punch to the gut. I know I was dancing with that alpha, but it was just dancing. Not this.
Wolf stands behind her, his hands resting on her hips as they move together to the music. Amos is pressed close to her side, his arm wrapped around her, and his face buried in her neck like he’s breathing her in.
But it’s Finian who shatters something inside me.
He is kissing her—slow, deep, intimate—like she’s the only person in the room. Her fingers slide into his hair, holding him there, pulling him closer as they sway together in perfect, sickening harmony.
My heart cracks.
My breath stutters.
The floor tilts beneath me.
I take one step back.
Then another.
Wolf’s eyes meet mine, and they’re expressionless.
I turn and run.
I shove through the crowd blindly, vision blurring, and my chest tightening until it feels like I can’t breathe. I burst into the bathroom, stumble into the nearest stall, and drop to my knees just in time.
My stomach heaves.
Everything comes up—the drink, my dinner, the hurt—all of it. My body gives out completely as I slide down until I’m half-collapsed against the cold tile, gripping the toilet as another wave hits me.
Tears burn hot trails down my cheeks. My whole body shakes.
I can’t stop.
I can’t breathe.
I can’t think past the image of them—my alphas—wrapped around someone else, as if she belongs to them. Kissing her. Loving her. Getting lost in her.
Like they never did with me after that one night.
I don’t know how long I stay on the bathroom floor, but I know it’s been a while.
Multiple women have come and gone from the bathroom, each talking amongst themselves and having the time of their lives.
Time feels warped—stretched thin, trembling, held together only by the sound of my own ragged breathing.
My stomach is empty now, but the heaving won’t stop.
It’s like my body is trying to purge something deeper, something that won’t come up no matter how hard I try to get it to.
My hands are cold against the porcelain. My knees ache against the tile. My throat burns.
I know they are only doing this to get me to back off and agree to a rematch. No one is naturally this horrible to someone else. This is not them. They aren’t like this. I have to believe that or all else is lost.
I squeeze my eyes shut, but that only makes the images sharper behind my eyelids. While they may not mean what they’re doing, it doesn’t hurt any less.
Wolf’s hands on her hips.
Amos pressed against her as if she belonged to him.
Finian kissing her like she’s the center of his world.
A sound breaks out of me—small, broken, and humiliating. I press my forehead to my arm, trying to breathe, trying to think, trying to understand why they’re doing this to me instead of just being with me.
The bathroom door opens.
Footsteps. Heavy. Purposeful. Three sets.
My heart stutters painfully.
No.
No, no, no—not here. Not like this.
I curl in on myself instinctively, but it’s too late. The stall door creaks open, and they fill the doorway. All three of them.
They look wrong here. Too big. Too intense. Too close.
Wolf’s eyes sweep over me first—taking in the shaking, the tears, the way I’m slumped on the floor. His jaw tightens, something dark flickering across his face before a stoic mask slips into place.
Amos just looks completely blank, except for the fact that he looks like someone punched the air out of him. His expression tries to remain aloof, but it’s slipping. Then crumbles. Then hardens. Then he crumbles again, like he can’t decide which emotion to land on.
Finian … he just stares. I can’t even look at him. Out of all of them, he’s the one who broke me the most, which is not something I ever expected. I figured it would be Wolf, not Finian. Finian seemed to want me the most. Now he’s the one who broke me.
I try to speak, and my voice cracks. “Go away.”
None of them move.
“Please,” I whisper, hating how small I sound. “Just … go.”
Wolf steps forward instead.
I flinch.
He freezes.
The silence is so suffocating. It’s thick, heavy, and filled with everything I don’t want them to see. My shaking. My humiliation. My heartbreak.
Amos crouches down slowly, like he’s approaching a wounded animal. “We tried to tell you,” he says softly, voice rough. “We did warn you.”
A bitter laugh scrapes out of me. “Who are you trying to convince, yourself or me?”
Finian’s throat works like he’s swallowing something sharp. “I didn’t—” He stops, tries again, but nothing comes out.
I turn a glare on him. “Go jump off a pier.”
He falls back a step, a wounded look in his eyes. He turns his gaze to Wolf. Wolf looks at him with an unreadable expression on his face. Finian’s look turns into a glare, but he doesn’t say anything. He keeps quiet.
My eyes burn as I look at all three of them. “I saw you all. All I did was dance. You were screwing her on that dancefloor, knowing what it would do to me. I was just trying to get your attention, to show you what you were missing.”
All three of them flinch.
“I saw you with her,” I choke out. “All of you. Together. Like—like she mattered. Like she was yours.”
My voice breaks on the last word.
Wolf’s expression fractures—a crack in stone. “She could be.”
My heart cracks in my chest at his words. My hands tremble harder. My stomach twists again, but there’s nothing left to bring up. I grip the toilet just to stay upright.
Finian takes a step forward, then stops himself. His voice is barely above a whisper. “Please …”
The word hits me like a slap. I laugh—a hollow and shaking sound. “Oh, please, nothing. The problem you have is that I saw it, not that you did it. Trust me. Nothing you say will make up for lip-locking another omega.”
Amos closes his eyes, as if the words physically hurt him.
Wolf’s voice is low, rough. “You need to agree to a rematch. It’ll save you the heartbreak.”
I start shaking my head before he even finishes his words. “I can’t. You don’t understand. It’s a need burrowed deep inside of me, yearning for you all, begging me.”
“We weren’t trying to get a rise out of you,” Finian says quietly. “We didn’t think—” My glare cuts him off.
“No,” I cut in, voice sharp and shaking. “You didn’t think.”
Silence falls again, thick and suffocating me. My chest aches. My throat burns. My eyes sting. I feel raw. Scraped open, exposed, and humiliated in a way I didn’t know I could be.
I look at them—really look—and the sight of their faces only makes the ache worse.
“I need you to leave,” I whisper.
Wolf takes a breath like he’s about to say something else that’s sure to hit me right in the chest.
“Please.” I cinch my eyes closed tightly, leaning my head back against the stall wall.
The word cracks something in the air surrounding us. Cracks something in them as I hear three sets of whimpers sound out before they cough to cover them up. Slowly, painfully slow, they step back.
The stall door closes.
I’m alone again. I’m shaking, hurting, and trying to hold myself together in a bathroom that suddenly feels too small for everything breaking inside me.
While they may have gotten a point this time, I’ll be ready next time.
I may be hurting right now, but I know their actions tonight are because they want this rematch; it’s not who they are as a person. I just know it. And I’m determined to get to the bottom of why they need a rematch, even if that means breaking myself along the way.