Tilly

He grinned and the hair on the back of my neck raised and I knew that wasn’t a good sign. “Okay, see you another time,” he said, and I breathed a sigh of relief as he walked away.

I stared at his back as the lights around the dance floor glimmered all around the room, casting shards of lights at different angles. I grasped Isla’s hand in mine, trying not to drag her back to the booth.

“Sienna and Maddy should be here soon,” Isla said. “But before they get here, I want you to know I’m thinking of stopping the suppressants, letting nature take its course. Especially now I want to take an alpha’s knot.”

My eyes widened. “Why, you’re unmarked, they’ll hunt you. Most decent alphas have taken their omega. You’ll be at the mercy of the shit that’s left.”

Isla rocked her head. “No, I’ll have a little fun and wait for my pack to find me.”

I scoffed at that. She’d been reading too many romance novels. “It doesn’t work like that. They won’t be waiting for you. Each pack hunts out an omega and makes them theirs.”

“You’re wrong, Tilly. My pack is waiting out there for me and now I’m ready to be found. I’m ready to be claimed. Your pack found you.”

I choose not to tell her about Sandy and about having a deadline to choose her pack. How unsafe I felt around her. She went from being a kind boss to a snarling alpha the moment she scented my perfume.

“Be careful Isla. My sister—” I paused for a moment before I spun my head around to find the man. My gaze flitted around the dancefloor, but he had disappeared. “He was there. He was the one who spoke. Another guy came to my work this week, too.”

“Are you sure?” Isla whispered, pointing ahead at our friends. “Maddie and Sienna are on their way.”

I nodded. “I recognise his voice. It has the same Irish twang to it.”

“You stay here with Maddie and Sienna, and I’ll look around the club. Hopefully, he’ll have left. But I’ll mention it to the bouncers.”

I smiled as Isla walked away, just after Sienna and Maddie perched themselves on the end of the sofa.

Isla strode around the nightclub, her shoulders back, making it look like she was going to the bathroom and then to the bar. She danced a little with a guy on the dance floor, looking around as he spun her.

Finally, she came back to the table and smiled. “Let’s let our hair down because we’re safe tonight. He must have given up and left. I looked everywhere.”

“And you should be safe tonight Isla, because the alphas will be on the prowl at the Omega Ball,” Sienna said. Her friends knew she was an omega. She told them for her protection.

Isla winked. “Maybe I should get myself prepared for next year’s ball if you’ve found a pack.”

I swallowed at that. Later, I would worry about it. Not now. “I’m going to the loo and I’ll get a drink on the way back, same again.”

I kept glancing around the nightclub as I walked to the bathrooms, but Isla was right, and the man with the Irish accent had departed the club. But his appearance and the man at work were frightening. The fact he wanted me to go with him. Trying to drag me away and I wondered why Cruz had kept his distance from me, especially if men were following me.

I stood at the sink, considering that, and smiled as I remembered my encounter with Jackson. My hand slapped at a flash of pain that jabbed into the flesh of my hip. My eyes darted upwards, and I stared into the mirror ahead.

Eyes gazed back at me as I rubbed my hip.

James.

After searching for months, months of sleepless nights, and waiting for him to return my phone calls. Waiting for him to tell me he was alive.

“Why?”

My question was unending, because I had so many whys.

Why did you leave me?

Why didn’t you contact me?

Why have you come back?

Why are you here?

“Where have you been?” I whispered.

There was a string of expletives tipping on my tongue. Starting with fuck and ending with bastard. But I harnessed my anger and glared instead.

“Can we talk?” James smiled as he leaned his head against my shoulder, looking at me coolly in the mirror.

My ex-boyfriend stood behind me, enveloping me from behind, keeping me locked in the cage of his arms. Looking gorgeous as always, his fair hair a little longer than I remembered, with curls scattered about his head playfully, his azure eyes blinking back at me.

His lips twisted in a relieved smile, probably because I didn’t shout and curse like I wanted to, and he let out a sigh. “Fuck, you always look amazing.”

“And I asked, ‘Where have you been?’”

“Away on business beautiful, have you missed me?”

I twisted and slapped him across his face. “You bastard... you should have called me. I thought you were dead.”

He rubbed at the sting I must have caused to his face. “Sorry Tills, I’ve been planning.”

My body shook so badly I had to grab his shirt with both hands to stop myself from collapsing. He gathered my hands in his, smiling as worry laced his sparkling eyes.

“Where did you go?” I asked, tears sprung to my eyes as I thought about the moment I realised he had disappeared. Leaving me heartbroken, alone and weak. When I was with him, I was strong. I felt empowered by him. He told me he believed in me and I should believe in me.

And then he left.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to leave you. Can we talk?”

“About what? I think talking about anything is a bit late now. Why are you here?” I hissed.

“Because I missed you and I’ve come back for you. I did something stupid Tilly and now I need you to run away with me,” he said. “I’ve found a place we can be happy.”

“Are you kidding? You left me heartbroken and you think I’ll trust you again.”

“Tilly,” he chastised.

I held my palm to his face. “No, I’m not falling for your bullshit anymore.”