Page 21 of Traded

Lauren’s cheeks flush to a shade of crimson only seen in children’s paint palettes as I twist, putting my back to her and facing off with Liam and Jonas.

Jonas blanches. “Rosie. Hey—”

“Ohgood,” I interrupt. “You do remember my name. A toast, I think.”

Liam stares at me as I lift the glass. Their faces, more familiar to me than my own, distort through the pale bubbles until they’re barely recognizable. “To you.”

Nothing. They give me nothing.

My smile falls somewhere on the scale betweenget me a fluffy blanketandrun like fucking hell, bitch. “Hell of an opening night.”

The air around me is thick with different scents. Two of them, I recognize. Liam dominates. The scent of clove smoke and warm, worn leather fills my nose, overlaid with sweet vanilla brandy and fresh pine resin from Jonas.

But beneath that, beneath them, is something soft and floral and unfamiliar.

Something that cloys in my throat and makes me want to vomit all over this picture-perfect tableau.

The several empty glasses to my left tell me they’ve been here for a while.

I tilt my head and hold Liam’s gaze, waiting for a response.

It doesn’t take long. He straightens. “Give Lauren her drink back.”

I—what?

I almostflinch.

It’s not a bark. None of them have ever barked at me. I’m pretty sure it’s in the NOC by-laws somewhere that it’s forbidden.

I’ve never had to think about it before. But his tone is closer to one than I’ve ever heard.

I don’t move as we stare at each other.

I don’t know what I expected from interrupting them, but it wasn’t this.

This...anger.

As if I’m the one in the fucking wrong.

“Ro,” Jonas murmurs placatingly. “Look. This isn’t…”

And then he stops.

“Isn’t what?” My breathing is getting louder. Embarrassingly so, and I feel my face flushing with heat. Swallowing, I gesture wildly around us. “Isn’t a party? A rodeo? A fucking pink and green striped duck? Whatisn’tit, Jonas? Spell it out for me.”

Jonas’s face floods with color. His mouth opens, only to snap closed again when Liam holds up his hand.

“Give Lauren back her drink,” he says. Quietly. “And then I want you to apologize for being so fucking rude.”

My inhale is audible over the music. “What?”

I almost forgot she was watching. My back stiffens further when her voice invades the suddenly wide fucking open space between my alpha and I. “That’s really not necess—”

“Yes.” Liam cuts Lauren off, keeping eye contact. “It is. I’m sorry about this.”

His voice softened, though. When he spoke to someone who wasn’t me.

My wrist twitches toward the bar, my body pushing me to do what he’s asking. Even my throat grows tight, the words gathering on my tongue.