Chapter 4

Iris POV

My friend and former senior classmate Brian Eldridge was standing there in a tuxedo, his salt-and-pepper hair, which was usually a sort of disheveled halo around his head, had been neatly combed, and his typically paint-smeared hands were clean and with shiny, recently manicured nails.

“Brian?” I asked.

He smiled at me and then looked beyond me to the hotel employee. “She’s with me,” he said with authority.

I was surprised again. Brian was an alpha? People at the university assumed Brian was a beta, and he didn’t correct them. But then, he might have faced some pushback on that; alphas rarely went into the arts.

It wasn’t “powerful” enough for them.

He held out his arm for me now, which I took. “You look lovely tonight, Iris,” he said.

“You clean up nicely yourself,” I said back with a smile as he led me inside the room, which was lavishly decorated and absolutely teeming with party-goers. Selina had been right: many were obviously not alphas.

“What brings you to this boring all-alpha shindig, my dear?” Brian asked.

“My fated mate is here,” I said firmly. Selina might marry him, but I had been chosen for him. I still had that.

“Who is that?” he asked in pleased surprise.

“Arthur Daven.”

Brian stopped in his tracks and looked at me with a complex mix of emotions. “Presidential candidate Arthur Daven?”

“The same.” I gathered myself, waiting for him to laugh or look at me with pity.

He did neither, saying, “I see.”

I waited as people near us danced and drank and traded favors.

“The party tonight is in celebration of Arthur’s candidacy as well as to announce his engagement to Selina Willford,” Brian said, and I wondered if my shattered life were showing on my face.

This time I was the one who said, “I see.”

He was obviously picking his words with care. “It’s well known in the Alpha circle that Arthur and Selina have been engaged since they were fifteen.”

I nodded and somehow kept my expression pleasant. Fifteen. That means this isn’t because of his presidential run or his corporate plans.

Then came an even worse thought: Arthur was engaged when we met. All the alphas knew, but I was never important enough to tell.

No wonder he had been so resistant to our relationship when we first met. He must have been so disappointed I was human. He had probably thought he was doing me a favor making me his bed-warmer.

Brian looked away from me, and I saw Selina step up on the little stand where the small band had been playing. The music stopped, and she smiled out over the crowd.

“Thank you all so much for coming tonight,” she said, her powerful alpha voice easily reaching out to the crowd. “As so many of you know, Arthur and I are here not just to thank you for endorsing his candidacy for Alpha President but also to join us in celebrating our official enouncement for our formal engagement celebration, which will happen next month on, of course, the full moon.”

There was wild applause and hearty congratulations all round. I watched as a smiling Arthur stood with Selina, champagne in hand. Confetti fell, and the crowd cheered. I had never seen Arthur look so happy.

I couldn’t believe no later than this morning I had thought our child would bring Arthur and me together in marriage. He had never intended to be with me. I felt a stabbing pain in my heart followed by another in my stomach.

I felt a wave of dizziness pass through me, and I remembered I had eaten nothing since breakfast that morning. But the pain in my stomach intensified, and I was unable to stop the blackness that filled my eyes.

When I woke up, I was in a hospital. My bed was in a private room, I saw right away, and there was a large window to my right through which I could see dawn breaking.

On my left was a figure it took me a minute to recognize, wanting it so desperately to be Arthur. But it was Brian who sat there, still in his tuxedo.

His kind eyes watch me struggle fully awake.

“What happened?” I asked.

“You fainted, my dear girl,” he said gently.

My face flooded with heat. “In front of everyone?”

He shook his head. “You were very graceful, and a caterer helped me get you out of the room. Considering all the celebrating, I don’t think anyone really noticed.”

“Well, I have that,” I said faintly.

Brian looked at me in concern. “I had to say I was family to stay with you, and the doctor told me about your pregnancy. She also said you were dehydrated.” He nodded to the IV hooked up to my arm.

“I see,” I said. I was saying that a lot. I shook it off. “Thank you so much for your help.”

“I confess, I was more than a little concerned when you said Arthur is your fated mate. Did you really not know about Selina?”

I shook my head.

“So.” He sighed. “You’re unmated, pregnant, and, if you’re like me, awash in student loans.”

I nodded and felt my stomach churn with anxiety. Tears were forming in my eyes, and everything just seemed so bleak, even hopeless.

The silence was getting unbearable when Brian spoke. “I think you should leave Arthur.”

I stared at him in shock.

“I know your plans after graduation were to hold your first off-campus exhibition,” he said next. “I told you I would help with that, and I meant it.”

“I don’t understand,” I said, starting now to feel numb. “You’ve changed your mind?” Was I not worth his trouble now?

He looked surprised. “No, I still mean it. I just, well, are you thinking you’ll be keeping the child?”

I straightened my spine. “Absolutely.”

He nodded, looking more serious than I was used to from him. “I guessed as much. Surely, though, you realize that with the scrutiny on Arthur now, your status as his fated mate even as he marries an alpha will probably get out?”

“Yes.” He was right to look serious. I wiped at my left eye as a teardrop welled out.

“So, let me help you properly,” he said. “Yours is a rare and priceless talent, and Ordan is a great country in many ways, but its insistence on keeping obsolete traditions even as politicians give lip service to wolf-human equality.”

Was there some hope in all this after all? “What are you thinking?” I asked.

“I’m one of four children,” he said, “so the family business hardly rests on my shoulders. Bo’Arrocon is a smaller, less wealthy country than Ordan, but it’s a wonderful place to live and has an amazing art culture. I’m moving there to join an art incubator program.”

He smiled, warming to his topic. “Each month, artists receive a modest but quite livable stipend to support their work with the goal of a major exhibition in two years, and they welcome humans and all wolf classes without prejudice.”

“Sounds wonderful,” I said honestly.

“You, my dear, would shine there. I know it.”

“Me?”

“Yes.” He nodded and took my hand. “I’m leaving tomorrow. I went to the party last night in great part to say goodbye to some friends. I’m turning it into a road trip, seeing the sights, and it will take about three weeks.”

He smiled. “Come with me.”

“Me?” I asked dumbly.

“Yes.”

I tried to take in what he was saying. “Just go?” I asked. “Tomorrow?”

The mere idea of leaving Arthur created a physical pain in my chest, and now I was crying in earnest. Brain held on to my hands and murmured, “It will be all right.”

“But I have nothing planned or sorted, and my paintings are still at the school.”

Lying there looking at my friend, I couldn’t think of a better plan, but I also didn’t want to burden Brian with my troubles.

Brian smiled at me with open compassion. “If money is an issue, I have some I can lend you. You’ll pay it back with no trouble once you start showing your work. And I can get your paintings professionally packed with mine and delivered to us.”

He shook his head. “But you can’t stay with an alpha like this just because you haven’t planned for this and you loved him. Growing up as an alpha, I’ve seen a lot. You will definitely regret it if you chose to stay now, and soon.”

“Thank you,” I whispered, well aware my face was wet and swollen from crying. “Yes, please, and thank you so much.”

I had actually already been invited to the program by the Bo’Arrocon Art Foundation a few months ago, but I had turned it down, not wanting to be away from Arthur. Lying there looking at my friend, I felt I didn’t want to burden Brian with my troubles, but I also couldn’t think of a better plan.

He looked happy, and, even better, he looked proud.

The dawn turned into proper morning as I got discharged from the hospital and had Brian drive me home. The second I saw the house, I realized Brian was right; just thinking about this home with its happy memories was killing me.

As Brian said, the paintings at my drawing studio would be packed and sent later together with Brian’s. I just left the unfinished ones where they were. I thought about the confused and cautious lines on my current canvas. I wouldn’t made never seeing that work again.

I packed up the best of my supplies and some clothes.

I realized I was leaving the house as though I were guilty of something, so I pulled out my phone and called Arthur. Of course, he didn’t answer. I saw on my news feed that word had already broken about Arthur and Selina’s engagement, describing them as a perfect match.

Feeling even colder inside, I sent a text: Let’s break up now.

I looked around my—Arthur’s bedroom to make sure I hadn’t left anything important behind. The sense of loss was almost overwhelming, but I knew this was the right thing to do. The alternative was unacceptable.

My phone rang. It was Arthur.

It was the fastest he’d ever called me back after a missed call.