He kneels next to her, carefully reaching out and she lets him hold her. This is the first time I don’t see her flinch when someone touches her and my heart aches. Why do I feel like she’s given up? Why do I feel like she’s totally given up on herself? On the world?
Liam stands up, letting out a frustrated breath. “I’m sorry for being so pushy about you coming to the gala with us.” He looks over the room. “I should have backed off, like Max told me to, then you’d still be able to live a normal life. Then we’d all still be able to live a normal life.” He takes a swig from his glass and puts it down. “I don’t know how much my word means right now but—”
Before he can finish his sentence, two things happen at the same time, Cyra’s phone rings and all our phones start beeping, messages flooding in.
I frown, grabbing for my phone as Cyra’s eyes widen in panic while she stares at hers. She shakes her head, tears appearing in her eyes.
“No... No... This can’t...” Her eyes won’t leave the screen.
I check my own phone and multiple people have sent me messages, all with a screenshot of the same headline. ‘Four local bachelor Alphas sneak away from Night Gala with rumoured Omega, updates coming.’ Oh, hell no.
The pictures under it are from the four of us on the back deck, probably right as her scent hit us, by how we all have partially shifted, and then right after we snuck through the side gate, our eyes wide with worry as we get away from the party. Oh, no. Fucking hell.
We should have remembered that people are going to take pictures of us, as they always do. Loads of pictures will have been taken at the event but these two pictures together say enough, especially since Cyra has my jacket around her shoulders in the second picture.
Obviously, people are going to speculate when a totally unknown girl shows up at a party, but that’s nothing in comparison to what happens if she then sneaks off with four well-known rich bachelor Alphas.
Fucking hell. I don’t like living in the spotlight, but it seems that we can’t escape it now...
18 Liam
I scroll through the screenshots and the handful of articles people have sent me. Most of them are from gossip websites, but with the four of us involved, especially with the stunt Zack and Spence pulled today, this is going to go far and wide. This isn’t going to stay local.
Glancing at Cyra, my heart aches. She’s still staring at her phone, holding her arms close to her, like she’s trying to stay as far away from it as she can. She’s shaking, her eyes wide, filled with terror.
I step closer, looking at her screen and it simply says ‘Parents’. The timing is a little too coincidental... That can’t be good. “Cyra?” I kneel next to her, try to get her to look at me. “Cyra?”
She rips her gaze away from the screen and my heart breaks at the pained look in her eyes. “I can’t.” Her voice is so soft I barely hear the words, but it’s obvious enough what she’s saying.
“You don’t have to.” I push the phone to the side and turn it over, so she can’t see the screen. “You don’t have to do anything. Just stay here with us.”
Zack moves to one of the windows. “Yeah... Ehhh... We might want to do that ‘staying’ somewhere else. We left the Gala on foot, this is the closest place we could go. The paparazzi are smart enough to put two and two together. People are starting to show up out front.” He’s being serious, his ‘I don’t care’ persona gone. So this is what he’s like when he’s not playing around, it’s a totally different guy.
Fucking hell. Of course, they’d try to follow us, like tonight can get any worse.
Max jumps up, looking around. “Close the curtains.” He immediately starts moving and so does Zack, as Spence and I stay with Cyra.
When the curtains are all closed on this floor, the other two Alphas come back to us.
“We can’t stay.” Zack looks through his phone. “We have to get away from here. We’re too easy of a target if we stay.”
“No shit, Mr Obvious,” I snap. Now he’s starting to finally take this seriously?
“I can’t just leave.” Cyra’s voice is quiet, like it isn’t really her. “I need my things. I can’t just go away. I’ve got work on Monday. I can’t afford to get wrapped up in all of this. I have to get back home.” She stands up, breaking free from our grasp and I look at Spence, who frowns.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” I get up too, trying to take her back in my arms, but she steps out of reach.
“I have to get home. I...” She stares to where her phone is. “I can’t...”
Spence also stands up, stepping closer to her. “What do you need from your home?”
“Everything. I’ve worked way too hard to give it all up. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be part of all of this. I just want to go home. I want this to be over and return to my life. I never wanted anything to do with all of this.” She looks to Max. “Please, bring me home.”
He nods. “That sounds like a good idea.”
“Max!” I turn to him, but he gives me a hard look.
“I’m going to drop her off at her house. She’s right, she
