Fated To Three, Betrayed By All… Until She Rose.-Chapter 65: Bursts of male Pheromones.

Leilani.

Despite the fact that I was so anxious, I almost wanted to bury myself under this podium, I still managed to speak fluently.

The crowd hushed while I lectured everyone on the features of CUSP, but as soon as my speech finished, they broke into a round of thunderous applause, cheering and whistling as they continued to clap.

And I know that this may sound cringe, but something about their reactions made me feel warm. It made me feel a sense of belonging that I’ve naturally never felt before in my life.

Which was a wild thing to say.

Tears pooled in my eyes at the thought but I quickly blinked them away, smiled and bowed before turning to walk down the podium.

And by the time I arrived at the foot of the podium, Jarek was already waiting there with his arms outstretched. He held my arm affectionately, his smile soft as he whispered; "You outdid yourself right there, my sunshine!"

I blushed, dropping my gaze. "Thank you; you’re so sweet."

He slapped his chest as if offended and snorted; "No, you are. You’re so smart too. And I am very proud of you!"

His words made warmth bloom in my chest like water lilies and with the corners of my eyes stinging due to unshed tears, I pulled him into a tight hug, burying my face in his chest to hide the redness in my eyes.

When I pulled away, I noticed Caelum, Kael and Zevran walking towards us, but before they could rope us into a conversation, or probably a confrontation, a group of photographers swarmed in, surrounding us.

"Please can you two come together for a photograph?" A young blondie with a wide smile asked, causing Jarek and I to scoot closer for the picture.

A string of ’awwns’ and ’ohhhs’ filled the air while we posed for the pictures, until suddenly, a woman asked;

"What is the relationship between you two?!"

And as soon as the question was asked, heat flared on my face. Jarek and I immediately turned to each other in surprise, unsure of what to say.

Amidst the ruckus, my eyes snagged onto the triplets to catch them watching us closely, their eyes thinning as if anticipating our response.

The first person to react was Jarek. He drawled; "That information is solely between us. It’s not up for public debate."

"But it’s been causing sparks on the internet for ages!" Someone shouted from the back, causing the others to nod in agreement. "It has been a topic for public debate for a long time now!"

I gulped. By this time, my heart was already beating so fast, I feared I would hyperventilate soon. A tremor ran up my spine when Jarek leaned closer to place his hand on the small of my back and as soon as the paparazzi caught that tiny gesture, they began to snap away, swarming around us like bees as they repeated the question over and over again.

But that wasn’t entirely the source of my discomfort.

My main sources of discomfort were Zevran, Kael and Caelum, standing to the far end of the crowd; For some reason today, they looked murderous, their deep eyes glinting with more malice than I was used to as they glared between I and Jay.

I briefly turned to Jarek who now seemed so tense and so uncomfortable, I almost pitied him, and maybe this was just me trying to spite the triplets or something more, butI found myself smiling at the reporter. I looped my arm in Jarek’s and drawled;

"We have a stable relationship. He’s my friend—best friend, my family... and whatever the internet says he is! I’m not here to debunk any news, and I hope you all have a nice evening!"

Jay froze. And then slowly, very slowly... a smile broke out on his face.

The party returned to its earlier mood as most of the reporters shifted their attention to the other guests, seeing as Jay and I had no more tea to spill.

However, we were conversing animatedly at our table with other prominent guests when suddenly, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I immediately spun around, my breath hitching when Alpha Richard Landry beamed a smile at me.

"Ms Sinclair!" He rasped excitedly, "...it’s been a while."

I smiled politely at him and curtsied. "It’s so nice to see you again, Alpha Landry."

"Richard!" He snapped, rolling his eyes. "Simply call me Richard. You don’t have to be so formal around me all the time. How do you do?"

"Uhm, I’ve been—"

"Great." Jay finished from beside me, whilst turning away from the other guests he was talking to earlier to speak to Richard and I.

My eyebrows shot into my hairline when I noticed him sizing Richard up—not so subtly. He drawled; "It’s been ages since I saw you, Alpha Landry!"

"Oh, that’s true!" Richard answered with a smile. "I traveled outside the country for a while... but I am back now. I heard about your recent development and I want to say congratulations!"

But despite how light the conversion between them seemed on the surface, the aura hanging above them proved otherwise.

The air was charged with so much pheromones, I was almost brought to my knees. It was like a power play. A game of predator and prey.

I rose to my feet. "You gentlemen, excuse me. I would like to visit the restroom."

Richard nodded without looking up at me but Jay did look. He nodded briefly, his eyes intensely focused on my face for a moment before he mouthed the words; "Be careful" to me.

I smiled and walked out.

—

When I arrived at the restroom minutes later, I felt like a bag of frayed nerves. My heart was still beating so fast and so frantically in my chest from being so closely watched by my crazy ass mates.

And then there was that uncomfortable power struggle between Jay and Richard.

Then the press who seemed like they’d risen from the bottomless pit of hell just to follow me around today.

In fact, everything felt weird. It made me quite uncomfortable and confused and made my heart race so much, I feared I would leave here today with a cardiac arrest.

Slumping against the sink, I splashed some cold water on my face and sighed, whilst watching my tired reflection in the mirror.

However, due to my mental drift, I didn’t notice when someone came into the restroom to join me. I only noticed them when it was already a little too late... when they were already too close.

I spun around, my face tugging into a deep frown as I spat; "What is it?"

The intruder smiled— more like a smirk— and then pushed his weight off the wall just as two other people slipped into the restroom with him.

He drawled; "Hello mate."

"Nah, you should call her ’the lead engineer at Frostclaw. Inc.’ now, not ’mate’!" Another spat, but I didn’t miss the dark edge to his tone nor the way their eyes seemed to rove the length of my body in ways that were more perverted than curious.

My heart plummeted.

I snarled; "Stay back!