45

brYLEE

A shiver tickles my spine as I shove aside tree branches and hustle away from Alpha Team X. Though my hormones rage at me and want me to turn back around and dive into their arms, there’s absolutely no way I can do that right now.

Tonight’s award ceremony is all about Ted, and I have no choice but to appear as him.

I’ve been debating when to tell the guys about my whole charade, but I haven’t found the right moment yet. Not with my dad calling this week to express his disappointment that I didn’t accept Brock and his pack. And definitely not after the phone call from Caran that said it was another bad week for my brother. I’ve barely been holding it together.

If I can just get through tonight…

A twig snaps behind me, and I tense.

Fuck!

Those overbearing alphas are following me.

I knew they let me go too easily, but I was so eager to get away that I didn’t really second-guess what Kylian said and took him at his word.

I’m an idiot.

But, I’m also a problem solver with a few tricks up her sleeve. Or, at least that’s what I’m telling myself after all the war-planning contingency assignments I’ve had to do recently.

Reaching into my pocket, I grab my earbuds. I toss one in and then quickly tell my phone to call Harper, who picks up on the second ring.

“You are the absolute worst for making me get ready alone—” she starts, but I cut her off.

“I need a favor.” In a hushed tone, I explain my request, which is a little outlandish, but most distraction strikes are.

“On it,” she responds immediately, hanging up before I can even say thank you. But my heart swells with the gratitude I didn’t get to express. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be grateful to be sent to Darling, but I just might be.

Harper is beyond amazing and I would never have gotten to know or trust her otherwise.

I slow down and crouch in a patch of dirt, pretending to fix my shoe, forcing the guys sneaking into the forest behind me to pause as well.

Two seconds later, the side doors of Darling burst open and nearly a hundred omegas fly down the steps into the moonlight. Some wear ball gowns, others still have their hair in curlers, and some are merely in bathrobes. But they are all shrieking madly.

“Squirrels! Oh my god, squirrels in the bathroom!” The omegas flap their hands in dramatic distress. One woman even starts to cry, and I cringe, feeling slightly guilty—until they spot the guys.

“Look! Alphas! You have to help us.” The omegas swarm the men like bees to honey, and I glance back to see them surrounded. Ridge looks annoyed, Luka surprised, and Kylian holds up his hands in a calming fashion as he smiles.

Jealousy singes my throat, but it’s there and gone in a millisecond because I brought this on myself. And I need to move.

“Please!” and “nasty tree rats” and “can’t get ready” float over to my ears as I hustle away, knowing that the guys have no choice but to help.

If there’s one thing an alpha male can’t stand, it’s an omega in distress.

The final time I glance over my shoulder, the guys are being led into the castle—all of them except for Colter. My brow furrows as I realize that I didn’t see my masked giant with the others earlier.

“Mate.” As if I summoned him, his voice whispers through the forest, making the leaves around me quake and sending a delicious shiver across my skin as I turn back around.

He steps forward, dressed all in black, his skull mask a smaller version than what he’s worn before, showcasing his perfect lips. And his eyes are fully visible for the first time, a fringe of thick, dark lashes around each as he stares at me.

Inhaling, I let his scent surround me and breathe deeply. The soothing comfort I feel from the steady strength of his presence has only grown since he helped me through my heat. His huge hand reaches forward and curves over my shoulder before lifting my backpack as if it weighs nothing, then he waits patiently as I shrug out of it.

In silence, we walk toward the wall between the schools. And to my utter shock and annoyance, Colter pushes aside a bush to reveal a gaping hole in one of the walls. He walks through nonchalantly, but steam hisses from my ears as I follow.

“I’ve been climbing over that wall for months!” I grumble.

“Now, no need,” he responds, and though he doesn’t say more, my breath catches as I wonder if he created that hole just for me. To make my life easier. It seems like the kind of thing a psychotically sweet alpha would do.

We proceed carefully around the Eros campus, skirting any populated areas until we get to the cottage he shares with the others, and he heads up first, unlocking the door and holding it open for me.

I enter the living room, and instantly, the dim light and the combination of all of Alpha Team X’s scents makes my stomach flip. Instinct whispers that I should curl up on their couch and just wait for them to come home so they can ravish and then cuddle me.

But what would people say about Ted ditching his own award ceremony? I can’t do that to him. The crown prince has obligations.

After a long, wispy sigh of resignation, I turn to Colter. “Thanks for offering to help me get ready.” I still find it unbelievable that the alpha wants to watch me disguise myself and facilitate this entire secret by covering my scent. But his unwavering support makes me fall for him just a little more.

He gives me space to change while he backtracks across the path we walked with a scent eraser…basically, a disgusting sulphur-smelling incense stick. By the time he returns, I’ve got on Ted’s bodysuit and outfit for the evening—a formal military uniform complete with gold braids and shoulder tassels—and I’ve practically bathed in spray scent suppressors. I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.

After Colter discards the burnt stick in the trash and washes his hands, he carries my backpack to his room and shoves it under his bed while I watch, nervously chewing my lip.

“What do you think the guys will say when they get back and smell me and Ted here?” I ask.

I can see his brows rise and a smirk cross his lips, and it’s obvious what he believes they’re going to think.

“But…won’t they get mad?”

He simply opens the door for me like he did before.

“Aren’t you worried about what they’ll do?”

“Know what they’ll do. They’ll want to fight.” Colter’s grin becomes savage, and one of his scars glimmers as I approach him in the moonlight, wondering at how this gentle man can turn so deadly in an instant. I’m probably wrong for getting turned on by the thought of the four packmates grappling over me and throwing punches, but I can’t help it. The idea that I drive them to violence thrills a secret part of me, and my lower belly heats.

I’m fucked up.

It’s hard to resist the urge to reach for him, but I’m Teddie now, not myself, and all the alphas are strolling across the campus this evening to go to the ball. Too many eyes. So I turn from Colter and head off the porch, toward the front gate.

He falls into step beside me, and we stroll across the grass, dew coating our shoes. A few other alphas shoot inquiring glances our way, and I slide my hands into my pants pockets, feigning a casual demeanor the way I think my brother would.

I’m just Ted, walking next to my sister’s boyfriend.

The thought makes me almost choke on my own tongue because I haven’t thought of anyone as my boyfriend in years. It’s a loaded word but also a strangely inadequate one that doesn’t seem to capture just how important Colter is. How important any of them are.

I squeeze my eyes shut because I can’t deal with this level of emotional turmoil and revelation tonight. No, I’ve got to be on guard—on high alert—because I’ve got to fool both alphas and omegas tonight while avoiding the rest of Alpha Team X. That feels like an impossibly tall order, and I don’t have capacity for anything else right now.

“Hey, roomie!” Sam’s cheerful voice bursts beside me like one of those surprise fireworks that go off unexpectedly. I startle and realize that I was so stuck inside my own thoughts that I didn’t even notice him.

Not a good sign, Brylee. You need to do better, I scold myself even as I give him a bro nod.

“You going to the ball?” I ask hesitantly. Technically, betas can’t legally have a relationship with omegas unless they’re part of an alpha pack. But, I mean, a ball isn’t a relationship.

Sam lifts a conspiratorial hand and faux whispers, “I heard they have crab legs over there. I skipped last time and could have kicked myself. Crab legs are my ultimate.”

A grin lifts my cheeks, and I reach out and punch him lightly on the shoulder. “Well, at least one of us will have a good time tonight.”

Sam bites down on a grin and leans closer, speaking softly because he doesn’t know that Colter knows my secret, though I wonder if he suspects after the other day in the gym. “What? The big hero isn’t looking forward to a bunch of fawning omegas? Isn’t that every alpha’s dream?”

Ugh.

I forgot to factor in all the flirty girls from Darling. Even girls who know about Caran—though most people don’t, due to my brother’s need for privacy—won’t give a damn if they just get half an hour of flirting with the crown prince. They want the gossip material. How the hell am I going to fend them off and keep them from recognizing me at such close range?

Immediately, I want to turn tail and scratch this whole thing.

But instead, I find myself herded through the wrought iron gate in front of Darling…which might as well be the gate to my own personal hell.