I sit on the couch in the club's private VIP room.
The bass thrums through the walls, muffled but insistent. Bar Omegas laugh somewhere behind me, their pheromones sweet and cloying.
The table before me is a battlefield of expensive bottles—whiskey, vodka, champagne I haven't touched. Crystal glasses catch the dim light.
Everything is perfect.
Exactly how I always want it.
But nothing feels good anymore.
I sip the whiskey. It burns going down, but the fire doesn't reach the cold knot in my chest. My eyes stare at nothing.
Beautiful bodies draped across other couches, the admirers waiting for a single glance from me—they all blur into background noise.
My mind is somewhere else.
Stuck on a word.
Beta.
My grip tightens around the glass. My chest is burning, a slow, suffocating heat that has nowhere to go.
I don't even realize I'm clenching until—
Crack.
The glass shatters in my palm. Miniature shards bite into my skin. I don't feel it. I just stare at the broken pieces, whiskey dripping between my fingers.
"Hy… hy… Easy there, Mr. Charming."
The voice cuts through the fog. I turn my head slowly.
Sum stands there, that familiar, bright smile on his lips. He drops onto the couch beside me, patting my back like he's trying to dislodge whatever demon has possessed me. His warmth bleeds through my shirt.
"Why does my friend look so angry?" he asks, tilting his head.
I just stare at him.
Sum. My only friend. The only person I've never needed to guard myself against.
Everyone else—their minds are open books to me, every secret wish, every hidden dagger. I know what they want before they know themselves.
It's why I don't make friends. It's why I don't trust.
But Sum?
Every time I slip into his head, I find nothing but light. No envy. No manipulation.
No waiting for me to fall so he can laugh. Just… warmth. Steady and constant.
Even now, his mind hums with genuine concern.
{He looks wrecked. What happened?}
His smile falters.
"Hey. Ellis. What are you thinking?"
I look away. "When did you get back?"
"Just now. Came straight from the airport." He shifts closer. "You said 'come back.' So I came."
I don't answer. I reach for another glass, pour three fingers of whiskey, and sip. The burn is familiar. Welcome.
"Ellis." His voice is softer now. "Is everything okay?"
I stare at the amber liquid swirling in my glass.
"Mom and Dad," I say, the words flat, detached.
"They arranged my marriage."
A pause.
"Oh? Who's the lucky Omega?"
I don't look at him.
"A Beta."
Sum freezes.
I feel it more than see it—the sudden rigidity of his body beside mine, the breath he forgets to release. His mind goes startlingly quiet.
"A… Beta?"
I nod.
"And," I add, my voice hollow, "he can't speak."
Sum blinks. His mouth opens, closes, opens again. "What…" A strangled sound escapes him.
"What? Are you kidding me?"
I turn my head. Slowly. I look directly into his eyes, and my voice drops to something cold, flat, and very, very still.
"Do you really think this is a joke?"
He stares at me. His mind races, scrambling for purchase.
{He's serious. God. He's completely serious.}
"Ellis." His voice is barely above a whisper now. "How is this possible? An arranged marriage… to a Beta? Did Uncle and Aunty lose their minds?"
I tip the glass back and drain it in one long swallow. The whiskey scorches my throat. I welcome the pain.
"I think so too," I murmur.
The glass lands on the table with a sharp clink.
"Now what's your plan?"
I lean deeper into the couch, the leather cool against my heated skin. My hands drape loose over the armrests—one hand still bleeding, tiny cuts glistening under the dim lights.
I don't care. I don't even feel it.
I close my eyes.
"What do you mean?"
His gaze doesn't leave me. I feel it on my face like a weight.
"I mean," Sum says carefully, "how are you going to cancel this marriage?"
Silence.
The word echoes in my skull, drowning out the music, the laughter, the steady thrum of my own heartbeat.
Disown.
I take a slow, deep breath. Let it out even slower.
"Past week," I say, my voice hollow, "I've been trying to cancel it. Every threat. Every scheme. Nothing works."
I pause. "They won't move."
Sum shifts closer. The couch dips under his weight. "What do you mean, nothing works? Ellis, you're Ellis Roselle. You've never lost a battle in your life."
I open my eyes and turn my head to look at him.
"Dad said if I disagree with his decision," I murmur, "he disowns me. From the family. From everything."
Sum goes absolutely still.
His mind, usually so warm, so steady—it erupts.
{Disown? Uncle Elias would actually disown his own son? Over a marriage? Over a BETA? How can a father—how can anyone—Ellis is their blood, their heir, their—this is insane, this is cruel, this is—}
I look away. "Sum. Your brain is very noisy."
He doesn't even have the decency to look embarrassed. His face is flushed, his jaw tight, his eyes burning with an anger that isn't even his own.
He's furious for me. Like the problem is his to carry.
"Ellis." His voice is strained.
"I'm worried about you."
"I know."
"Don't tell me," he says slowly, like the words are being dragged out of him, "that you're actually agreeing to this marriage. Just because he said the word disown."
I hold his gaze.
"Yes."
His eyes widen. His mouth opens, disbelief and betrayal warring on his face.
"Ellis, how could you—"
I cut him off. Smoothly. Quietly.
"Just wait and see."
He blinks. "What?"
My voice is calm now. The chaos inside me has crystallized into something cold and sharp.
"I'm going to make that Beta's life a living hell." I tilt my head, a ghost of a smile touching my lips.
"He'll run back to his precious country on his own two feet—the same feet he'll use when he arrives in Crystal Country tomorrow."
Begging… begging to be free of me.