Fated To Three, Betrayed By All… Until She Rose.

Leilani.

For the next couple of days, I avoided everyone from the Stormborn pack like they had the plague— which they actually did, and buried myself deep into the development of TINN.

By Wednesday, TINN was about 80% ready and the Landry group had made their first deposit of their funding into our company account.

By Thursday, I was a literal zombie running on adrenaline and a million cups of coffee as fuel.

And on Friday afternoon, Jarek dumped two tickets in front of me, his face scrunching up in distaste when he took in my entire haggard appearance.

He hissed; "Leilani, I don’t think I pay you enough for you to forget about your health by overworking yourself like this!"

I sighed and dropped my gaze. "I know..." I muttered, and with a lighter tone, added; "...well, maybe you can start to consider increasing my salary."

That made Jarek chuckle lightly. He dropped into the chair in front of me, frowning slightly when his eyes snagged on the several empty cups of coffee on my table and said; "You should go home early today."

I frowned. "Why?"

"Well, because... you look like you need to rest." He said softly, his eyes so warm, it made my heart flutter in my chest. "...Moreover, I think we should attend this year’s innovation expo. It’s tomorrow evening, and you should be well rested before then."

Now, that managed to steal my attention. I raised my gaze to meet his, cocking my eyebrow as I asked; "It’s that close?"

"Yeah. The date was released about a week ago." He answered calmly.

I gasped in surprise and looked away, completely embarrassed that I’d not heard about something so major in our circles, or planned towards it.

Goddess, I wanted to say no now. I wanted to tell him about how uninterested I was to attend one of these events where I’ll be forced to wear a dinner dress and ’look pretty’, but the thought of seeing so many innovations all at once sounded appealing to me, so I sighed and began to clear my desk immediately.

His eyes followed my movements, glinting with satisfaction as he watched me pack up. When I was done, he held my hand and whispered; "Why are you in such a hurry?"

Right then, my face heated up. The spot where his hand held felt like it was on fire. Even my tongue felt swollen in my mouth, but I gulped, took a breath in and whispered; "I didn’t know about the event and now I need to plan for it."

His gaze softened. He drawled; "Don’t stop anywhere to buy yourself a dress, just go home from here and sleep."

"But..." I stuttered, "...but how do I get one if I don’t buy one?"

"I’ll send some dresses to your house tomorrow morning," he drawled, "so you don’t need to bother about it, okay?"

Again, my traitorous heart fluttered and heat crept up my face. "Okay." I answered with a smile.

I left my office in high spirits shortly afterwards, but I wasn’t sure if it was because Jarek had just spared me the stress of going shopping by myself, or because he’d kissed my fingers one after the other afterwards.

I tried and failed to stop blushing as I went down to the parking lot, and even when I arrived at the house about 45 minutes later, I was still thinking about him. I was still thinking about how sweet he was; about how warm his lips felt against my skin...

—And I was still wishing that he was my mate and not those buffoons.

But a girl can dream, right?

RIGHT?

—

The next few hours breezed past like the earth was in a kind of solar-system race, and before I knew it, I was stepping out of my house in a navy blue off shoulder dress that made my silver hair stand out, and a pair of so Kate’s that I knew would make my feet hurt in a few hours.

Maya was dressed in a black dress— she loves the color black— which she paired with nude saint Laurent’s. Her parents were also into tech and were also invited for the summit. However, they felt like this was a perfect opportunity to matchmake her with one of the CEOs of the leading tech companies, hence the reason she’s coming with me.

By the time we stepped into the hall, I was instantly floored. I wouldn’t go into a full blown description so all you lots had to know was that it looked majestic; like something straight out of the ’beauty and the beast’ movie, only that in this case, the beauty was Maya and I, while the beast was the lady I could see far off glaring at me like I’d stolen her life:

Chalice.

She was sandwiched between the triplets, and as soon as her eyes landed on me, she frowned distastefully, and in response, I mouthed the words; ’Candy!’ to her.

Her face immediately fell before she looked away.

Maya sighed. "It’s strange how you both look so much alike, but at a glance, one can easily tell who’s the witch and who’s the angel!"

"And who’s the witch?" I asked excitedly even though I already knew the answer.

She rolled her eyes and shrugged. "You."

My face fell.

"...you because you don’t even have to do anything to make Chalice’s life miserable. Because all you have to do is say a word and she would look like she’s about to shit her pants."

That made me chuckle. However, I was just about to respond when I felt a light tap on my left shoulder. Quickly, I turned around, my eyes widening slightly when I was met with Zevran’s stormy gray eyes.

His expression shifted as he took me in quietly, and to further surprise me, a look akin to shyness flashed across his face before he quickly ducked his head.

He mumbled; "You look so beautiful, Leilani."

I froze.

"I wanted to talk to you... but I can’t seem to look past how beautiful you are."

Wait, was that supposed to be a compliment?

Was I meant to blush when I heard that?

My brows furrowed as I watched him struggling for words... And Ladies and gentlemen, do you know what I felt?

Annoyance!

Absolute annoyance and irritation!

I looked away from him to scout the crowd, and when my eyes landed on the face of the only man capable of making me blush right now, a wide smile split my face.

"Jay!" I called out sweetly, spreading my arms wide and almost moaning when his sweet cologne filled my nose as he hugged me.

"Sweetcakes, you look stunning!" He whistled, and with a softer tone, he added; "I don’t know how you always manage to sweep me off my feet every damn time I see you... and that needs to be studied."

I blushed. I blushed hard. "Were you also swept away when you saw me at the office yesterday, all haggard and tired?" I asked with a smile, chuckling when he held his chest dramatically.

"Of course, my queen!" He drawled, and I could only smile in response even though I knew that Zevran was still standing close to us... and that he was watching our entire exchange with a frown so cold, it could freeze Antarctica all over.

But I didn’t care.

At all.

—That is until he grabbed my arm and spun me around, his eyes blazing as he sneered; "Are you trying to make me jealous?"