Page 18 of Eclipse Sector
Benz flashed me a grin.
Cael issued his own thanks to Benz, then returned his focus to me. “A toast, then?” he asked. “To the mating games?”
Mating games, I repeated to myself.An interesting turn of phrase.
“Yes,” I agreed, clinking my crystal glass against his. “To the mating games.”
His smile was positively dazzling. “Cheers, then.”
“Cheers,” I returned, tapping my flute to Benz’s as well.
I took a sip, the blood-laced alcohol easily sliding down my throat—an action Cael watched with interest before following suit.
It all felt so natural.
Soeasy.
And yet… I couldfeelCillian’s eyes on me.
Maybe it was just in my mind. Some hopeful part of me not wanting to let him go. My wolfrefusingto acknowledge defeat.
I couldn’t say.
But I swore I could almost hear him growling in my mind.
A fantasy, I decided.That’s all he ever was.
However, Cael—PrinceCael—might just be the true fantasy.
Only time would tell.
Mating games,I thought once more.Mating games indeed…
CHAPTER FIVE
CILLIAN
Fuck.
My fists clenched at my sides, my feet threatening to pace.
No. Not pace.Run.
Because Prince Cael was talking to Ivana.
Mine,my inner beast seemed to growl.
Not ours,I grated back at him.Not ours at all.
Something I’d made painstakingly clear on countless occasions. Yet seeing the hurt in her eyes mere moments ago had unnerved me.
It was as though she hadn’t fully believed me… until now.
Until she overheard my conversation with Lorcan,I thought, grimacing.Fuck.Is that why she’s doing this? Why she enrolled in this social experiment between Omegas and Alphas? Because I pushed her into it through my careless words?
“Come on, you’re the one who said I needed to start looking for a more appropriate mate,” she’d said. And then she’d ended it all with, “I already told Quinnlynn that I’ll happily relocate to Night Sector. Soon enough, you won’t have to worry about my unsavory company at all.”
That all suggested I might be to blame for her joining the Eligible Omega Mates program.
