Knot Broken (Hiddenverse)

43. Lilah

CHAPTER 43

Lilah

Even steeling myself for the return to the villa wasn’t enough to prepare me for Chad and Willow’s reaction to me being gone all night.

Honestly, all I want to do is sleep until tonight. But the second I’m in my room and ready to do just that, Chad barges in uninvited, followed by Willow.

“Where were you?” he asks, his eyes wide as he examines my face.

Willow sinks down on the bed next to my legs. “Were you with the pack all night?”

I roll my lips between my teeth as I glance between them. A blush warming my cheeks as Chad gasps, clutching his chest. Willow grins at my non-answer and shares a look with Chad.

“All night?” he says, and it sounds like a question, but I’m not sure he’s expecting an answer. “Damn girl. Guess I really am second best this time around.”

“Was it good?” Willow asks, lowering her voice.

I glance at the closed door then back at the two of them. “ Better than good. My whole body feels like I’ve run a marathon.”

That and I can still feel two of them through the bond, and it’s a comfort I don’t want to live without. Absently, I rub my fingers over the mark Miles left on me. It’s concealed beneath my shirt, but Chad zeros in on the action, shock lighting up his eyes.

“You bitch, they claimed you? Let me see,” he demands. There is no actual heat to his words, only a strong curiosity.

“You have a mark?” Willow watches as I lower the shirt just enough for them both to see the crescent, silvery mark on my skin.

“It will fade with my next heat,” I say, explaining it away. Even though the words taste like ash.

Chad purses his lips. “Not if you’re with the pack for said heat.”

I scoot up the bed and rest against the headboard. “It wasn’t all of them, Chad. I can’t bond to a pack without having all of them. That will only lead to heartbreak.”

He waves his hand on a floppy wrist. “Schematics. You’ll have all of them. Which one didn’t bite you? It was Elliott, wasn't it?”

I sigh. “Rafe.”

“He’s so in love with you already,” Willow says, shifting her legs criss-cross and leaning over them to touch my knee. “I know you don’t think so, but for the rest of us, it’s so clear. I think that’s why Hailey has become so unbearable the last couple of weeks.”

Chad pauses and blinks twice at Willow. “She has been unbearable since the start.” Then he pins me with a look. “She’s right about Rafe. He doesn’t take his eyes off of you.”

I don’t bother responding. Chewing on my lip, I look between them. “Who do you think will go home tonight?”

After tonight's ceremony, there will only be three left. Even with Miles parting words earlier, a slight flutter of nerves erupts in my belly at the idea.

He’d ignored Thomas’ attempt at rushing our goodbye. Cupping my face, he’d pressed a toe-curling kiss to my lips and said, “I can’t wait to meet your family.”

That’s not something you say to an omega you plan on sending home.

Willow straightens. “I’m sure I’ll be going home. The connection just isn’t there. On the group dates, it was easier to carry on a conversation, but on our single date…I can’t imagine how they will edit that for TV.” She rolls her eyes and laughs lightly at the disaster it must have been.

“That and you have the hots for that cameraman.” Chad nudges her and wiggles his eyebrows.

A smile plays on her lips, and her eyes sparkle. “Whatever.”

He shrugs and turns his attention back to me. “We know you’ll be here. If I’m not, keep in touch. Both of you.” He wags his finger between us. “I don’t give my friendship easily.”

“This is what you call friendship?” I ask with mock shock, widening my eyes and pressing my palm to my chest.

His lips twist into a pout, and I laugh.

“It’s hard for him, Lilah,” Willow says, joining in the teasing. “He was obviously raised by the boarding schools he was sent to as a child.”

He glares at her. “Ouch. A little too close to the truth.”

Willow shares a look with me, and we suppress our smiles until he can no longer pretend offense to her words. Then we dissolve into laughter.

It’s the easy sort of happiness that I lost somewhere along the way. But now that I have it back, I’m going to hang on with both hands. It’s funny how life can put you into situations that previously broke you, only to heal you the second time around. Sure, Jared meeting me at our bonding ceremony with Tabby on his arm isn’t quite the same as being on a show viewed by millions and competing with other omegas for a pack. Because I came into this show knowing I was competing, I had no idea Tabby was my competition back then. And maybe that’s the difference.

“Stay still,” Willow orders. I freeze immediately, staring at my reflection in the mirror as she hovers behind me. “Perfect.”

She breaks up the curl she just created in my hair and grins over my shoulder. Before she places the curling iron on the heat mat and comes around my side.

“You look like an angel,” she says. “I love that color green on you. A lighter green and blue shadow on your eyes will make them pop.” Glancing at the make-up still scattered across the counter, she picks up the eyeshadow.

I close my eyes, letting her do her thing. She said she wants us both to look amazing on her last night. We both know she’s right, and she’s going home tonight. If they don’t send her home, she said she won’t accept the trinket. The part of me that wants the guys all to myself with no real competition wants her to stay. I’d rather it be her than Hailey who's a pure omega bitch or Tyler, who has barely spoken to me the entire time.

She steps back, and I blink my eyes open as she brushes off my cheeks with a soft brush.

Chad strolls into the room. His hair is perfectly styled. He’s dressed in a perfectly pressed suit, with a red bowtie around his neck. He looks like a model.

“You’re still not ready?” he asks, although it comes out like an accusation that we’ve taken too long in his opinion .

“We all can’t be perfect like you,” I quip.

He grins. “True,” he agrees. “It doesn’t come naturally to everyone. But hurry up, they will be here any minute, and being on TV with one eye done and the other not…” he grimaces like it’s the worst crime imaginable.

“Both eyes are done,” I say, looking at myself to be sure.

“Just a touch of mascara and you’re done,” Willow agrees.

I pick up the tube of mascara and proceed to curl and plump my lashes as the two of them carry on a back and forth of friendly insults. When I cap the makeup and stand up, Chad smiles and Willow takes a steadying breath.

“I'm going to miss you guys,” she says. Tears start to form in her large green eyes, and she blinks them away.

I pull her into a hug. Chad wraps his arms around both of us, holding us together. “New York City might be a big place, but that just means we have more places we can meet up,” he says gruffly, the emotion clearly getting to him too.

She nods and wipes a single finger beneath each eye before checking her makeup in the mirror. Her eyes are brighter with her unshed tears, but she smiles at us.

“Let’s go be amazing,” she says.

We enter the makeshift ceremony room as the crew’s finished setting up. Willow crosses the space and openly chats with the cameraman she has shown interest in. His body language screams he’s into her, and I’d be willing to bet that if I were closer I could smell his beta scent getting stronger. But I stay where I am. She doesn’t need a tag along.

Hailey enters the room like she owns it. In a flourish of her choking perfume of some kind of flower like she’s put on something to enhance the scent. Chad coughs then holds his breath until he turns red.

“I guess killing the competition is one way to stay,” he says, shooting her a death glare.

She tilts her chin higher. “I can’t help it if my perfume is stronger than yours ever will be. Papaya , what a weak scent. You are closer to beta with that perfume than omega.”

“Honestly, you smell like you can’t control yourself,” he says, lowering his voice to a stage whisper as if he’s imparting some sort of secret.

I press my lips together. There’s no way I’m getting in the middle of this cat fight. Even if I agree with Chad’s blunt words.

“Do you have something to say?” Hailey demands, turning her glare on me.

I shake my head and bite the inside of my cheek. But I can’t hold the words in. “Nope. Chad already said it. But really, Hailey, if you were a little nicer, you might not have to enhance your perfume with a pheromone spray to get attention.”

Her mouth snaps shut, and she looks as if I slapped her. Chad laughs loudly next to me. I didn’t say it to be funny or to embarrass her. I said it because it’s true. It’s clear she’s desperate to stay, and she thinks that the spray will get their attention.

We are cut off from any more barbed words as Turner Clark enters the room like he owns it. His lively plum suit jacket and perfect hair catch the attention of everyone. A silence falls. He smiles benevolently at the five of us as we fall in line. And nerves ping pong around my stomach waiting for him to speak.

“The pack has made their choices and will be here in a moment.”

I shift on my heels, wishing I’d worn the flats I had been debating on. But the slight pinch of my toes makes the nervous energy slightly less invasive. My breath catches as Elliott enters the room, followed by Rafe, then Miles on his crutches. They line up across from us, and it takes everything in me not to throw myself across the space and into their arms.

I’m vibrating with the need to do so as Rafe picks up the first trinket and lifts his gaze to mine. A secretive smile plays on his lips, one that reminds me of this morning, and my whole body flushes. Hope blooms, and I swallow, ready to accept whatever he has to offer. Then he flicks his gaze over, and a different type of smile forms on his beautiful face.

When his lips part, I know it’s not going to be my name on them. Because no matter what we shared this morning, he didn’t mark me as his. And I accepted that. But when he utters Hailey’s name and I watch her cross the space and hug him tight, ensuring her pheromones are wafting from his suit jacket when she leaves the room, I almost give the show exactly what it wants.

Drama.

Because I’m two seconds from giving in to that possessive beast who lives inside of me. The one that wants all three of them and will keep them all even if one of them resists. The one that already lost an alpha and doesn’t plan to do it again. I don’t even realize that I’m growling until the back of Chad’s hand brushes mine, and the sound cuts off abruptly.

He lifts his eyebrows as if to say, ‘You good?’

I attempt a smile, but it feels brittle on my lips. The best case scenario now is them picking Chad and Rafe following through with him being the last omega standing. At least then, Hailey will have no claim on the men I love.

Shit. The men I love. It’s not just make believe or playing pretend with Miles and Elliott’s marks on me. My heart is involved, not just my body. And I am utterly screwed.