Page 34 of Gold Rush
My mother fumbles, like I’ve actually stumped her. In the next breath, she gathers herself. “I forbid it.”
I laugh, bracing a hand on Seth’s leg, needing to feel the warmth under my palm as I shake my head. “You have no right to tell me what to do, like you said, I’m old. I’m over twenty-five, the omega guidelines don’t apply to me. Legally, you can’t make the decision.”
“If you let one of those alphas you’re with bond you — orGod— all of them —”
“Maybe I will.” My fingers tighten on Seth’s leg, my voice sounding cold, even to my ears. “Maybe I’ll let them all take a bite just so I’m tarnished and bitten andused. Isn’t that what you always say about pack-bonded omegas?”
“There might be more alphas than omegas in the world, but that doesn’t mean you can spread your legs foranyone that walks by you, giving it up and bending over for multiple men —”
“And I’m not letting you sell me to the highest bidder.” I cut her off. “What have they offered you and Dad so far? What alphas have come knocking? The ones who won’t pack up because no one else can tolerate them? Who think they own a female omega because they see a walking womb, willing or unwilling? I’m not letting you hand me over to some alpha who will slap me around when I open my mouth, or — likeyousaid — expect me to be barefoot and pregnant by the end of the year.”
“Juniper Walden —”
I hang up before she can finish, my entire body shaking as I stare down at my phone.
“June.” Seth leans closer, his voice breaking.
“I need a minute.” I push up from the couch, walking out of the room without looking back, my feet taking me to the kitchen because it’s the closest room and I don’t know where else to go.
Blinking rapidly, I try to compartmentalize. This is the same woman who didn’t want me to go to college. This is the same woman that told me a degree in English would get me nowhere. This is the same woman who never congratulated meoncefor publishing my first novel, or any of the others thereafter. This is thesame womanwho told me when I was sixteen that I’d be her biggest regret if I was just another beta like she was.
I grab the fridge door and jerk it open, staring blankly as the cool air wafts over my overheated skin, my heart in my throat as I suck in lungfuls of breath, trying not to hyperventilate.
Footsteps from behind me make me jump. I spin, letting the fridge shut as I press my back against it, freezing when I see it’sTheo— out of all the people in this godforsaken townhouse.
“If you came to yell at me, can you save it? I’ve had enough today.”
He stares at me from the entry to the living room, raising an eyebrow. “Are we bartering now? What do I get if I lay off for the evening?”
I scowl at him, crossing my arms. “Yougetto continue living without my foot up your ass.”
His lips twitch, his head tilting slightly. “Is that any way to talk to your host?”
“Host my ass,” I spit back at him. “Sethis the one who invited me here andBennettis the one who has fed me andArinis the one who’s made sure I’ve gotten sleep. What haveyoudone?”
He holds his hands out to me, then takes a step closer. I press back against the fridge, eyeing him warily as he nears me. He doesn’t slow until his chest brushes mine, reaching above our heads to the cabinet over the fridge. His shirt pulls and stretches over his muscles, cords of them under the tattooed skin of hisarms. My mouth goes a little dry, and mystupidbody betrays me, cataloging every tiny little twitch of his body as he leans over me, blocking me from leaving the tight space. After a moment of searching, he pulls down a bottle of red wine.
My eyes flicker to the label when he holds it in front of my face.
“What are you doing?”
He reaches back up, and there’s more clinking as he grumbles. “There’s a bottle of white up here, but I think Bennett normally cooks with it, it’s not as good as this one.” At that, he sloshes the bottle of red. “Normally we have a bottle of Seth’s rum, but I don’t think they’ve been to the headquarters here in the city to pilfer a crate.”
I scowl at the bottle as he shuts the cabinet above our heads. This close, he smells like fresh rain on grass, like being dunked underwater and inhaling air after breaching the surface.
“Is it poisoned?” I glance at the label — but it’s in French and I can’t read it.
Theo makes a noise. “It’s notpoisoned.” He flicks the wax seal. “Arin would kill me, and I have a lot to live for —” He shifts. “Apparently.”
I snort, snatching the bottle from him to look at it closer, but the seal is untouched. He’d have to be a psychopath to poison it and then put it back in the cabinet. Still, I can’t help myself, I look up at him, craning my neck, as I grumble mockingly. “What happened to the whole ‘born and raised’ asshole schtick?”
He tilts his chin down, the smallest of smiles tugging at his lips. “Is that what I sound like?”
“Yeah.” I scurry around him, putting the bottle on the counter and hunting for a corkscrew. “Grumpy for no reason, completely inhospitable, and mean enough to make my mother look like a goddamn saint.”
He makes an amused noise behind me, and I glance over my shoulder as he grabs thefanciestwine glass I’ve ever seen from an upper cabinet.
Recoiling, I raise an eyebrow at him. “Is thatcrystal?”
