--1--

ALICE

“Alice, please,” Eric tried to stop me, but I thrust my arm back and ripped it from his grasp. His lips parted as his brows furrowed and he looked down at me, “You’re not actually doing this?” 

He searched my features, hoping that I was being dramatic I’m sure, but not this time. It wasn’t too long ago when the deep brown of his eyes and his handsome features were enough to make me overlook the lack of feelings in our relationship. That’s what I chose him for, but I wouldn’t stand by and be humiliated. 

“Yes, Eric,” I continued walking into his bathroom, “I am.” I slipped what little I had in here for toiletries into my bag, looking around to make it seem like I cared that I was collecting my things.

I slept over here a lot but hated keeping anything here for this exact reason. I liked knowing that at any given time, for any reason, I could leave and wouldn't have things tieing me to this apartment, but I slipped up. I wouldn’t have come back for any of this stuff at all if I hadn't left one of the bracelet cuffs Nixon gave me here. THE cuff.

“Move,” I demanded as his body took up the doorway and he took his bottom lip into his mouth. Admittedly that would have worked before, he was handsome in your everyday human kind of way. Physically fit with a strong jawline and an air of cockiness to him that only came from an entire lifetime of getting what he wanted. 

{Nasty.} 

[Hush, Amara.] You know, some people lucked out having a wolf that didn’t talk, but of course, mine constantly wanted a say in things.  

{Just push past him, he’s too weak to be with us anyways.} I almost snorted at that. She wasn’t wrong. Eric was not a protector in the least. He was tall and lean, holding little muscle mass, but to work in marketing he’d never needed any of that.

[Short of a miracle, everyone would be too weak for us,] she stood taller at my declaration. With royal blood flowing through us, even an Alpha of all Alpha’s would pale in comparison to our strength. 

“Baby,” Eric’s voice brought me back to where I was waiting for him to get out of my way. He paused with a smile on his face, likely assuming I was rethinking this breakup, when I was trying to convince Amara not to rip his throat out for calling us ‘baby’ yet again, regardless of how many times I expressed how much I hated it.  

He leaned into me, grasping the outside of my shoulders in what was meant to be a reassuring brace, but he scowled when he felt my whole body tense, “It’s over,” he half-whispered, “I promise. You’re the one I love, you know that.”

Amara was making gagging sounds, only echoing what was going through my mind. 

Love. 

He may have loved the version of myself that I let him see, but he would never know the real me enough to be able to truly love me. This breakup, Stacey, was a blessing in disguise. He was nothing but a distraction to me, a reason I could stay away from the pack long enough to build a career and a name for myself here, but his usefulness has worn out. 

I stepped forwards, causing him to angle his body and allow me to pass. I could have stayed when I found out about Stacey, the blonde indiscretion that he swears on his life only happened twice, which is nothing but lies, but I can’t handle his proximity to me anymore. I knew he was lying to me months ago, his heartbeat gave it away, and I tried to turn a blind eye to it until I found them intertwined… in his apartment, not ten feet from where I’m standing now. 

“We both know that's a lie,” I snapped, looking back at him as I grabbed the dresses I kept here from his closet. I found my emotions hard to keep in check. He was a distraction, yes, but I guess over the past year and a half I had grown attached somewhat to him and to knowing that he was devoted to me because he wanted to be, not because he had to be. 

Being a royal meant that every wolf felt some undying loyalty to us, even if we didn’t deserve it. I did nothing to earn their loyalty, but Eric, he was human. We met when we shared a cab once, escaping the rain together like some cheesy romance movie. He pursued me for weeks, sending gifts and flowers while messaging my assistant continually to try and arrange a dinner. He made me feel wanted for reasons other than my blood, and this new feeling of betrayal was hard to come to terms with and even harder to swallow. 

Focus.

My ego can’t be so big that I can’t even get over a human betraying me. I was in his apartment for one thing, the only thing that kept me from ghosting Eric completely, but when I went to grab my cuff from the drawer, it was gone. “Where is it?” 

“This is about that guy,” Eric’s face took on an annoyed look that made him look like a pouting child as he tucked his hands into his pocket, “the one from the bar.” Eric always thought every guy at the bar wanted to take me home, I honestly don’t know how I put up with his insecurities for so long when it was one of the reasons I have no interest in finding my mate, but they should have served as a red flag in hindsight. 

“I have no idea who you’re referring to Eric,” I knew exactly who he meant. Blue eyes and a devilish gleam beneath a mess of blonde hair. He was showing up with frequency lately no matter where I went, like our social paths were destined to cross, but he’d never made a move and I was always spoken for. {Not anymore,} Amara was licking her chops and thumping her tail just thinking about the way he looked like he wanted to devour us. Ok, so in this instance Eric's intuition about my attraction to another guy was right, but it wasn't about the mystery guy and he also thought my very gay assistant and I were hooking up. “But this has everything to do with how you made a fool of me,” I digressed, “now where... is… it?”

“Alice, if this is about your ego sweetie, no one else knows. No one is ever going to know.”

This guy.

If he had any clue who I was, who my family was, he’d be trembling in his stupid cheap suit. It was partially about my appearance, my 'ego', I wasn’t building a name for myself as a high-end interior decorator just for it to be tarnished with his wandering dick. I stood up straight and held out my hand. I just had to keep it business-like and get out,  “We’re over, Eric. I suggest you move on. I’d like my property back, please.”