# Chapter 16: Red Wine

Kael's jaw moved. I watched him swallow.

I knew what he wanted to say. I could see it burning in his eyes, right there on the edge of his lips. *She's my mate.*

Two hundred people were waiting.

And I was so scared. I was scared he would say it, and I was scared he wouldn't.

Then he took a slow breath, and his face went hard and calm again. The Alpha face.

"She's my trainee," Kael said. "A Guard in training, under the Alpha's protection." His cold gray eyes moved to Rhys on the stage. "And no Beta of this pack stands up in front of the elders and makes a joke out of a Guard. Not at the Founders' Dinner. Not ever."

The room was so quiet I could hear the candles burning.

"Get off the stage, Rhys," Kael said.

For a long moment, Rhys didn't move. He just stood there holding his glass, looking at his cousin. Something passed between them. Something old and complicated.

Then Rhys smiled, slowly, and gave a little bow.

"As you wish, Alpha," he said into the microphone.

He handed it back to the old man with the gray beard and walked down off the stage. People started whispering again. Then talking. Then someone laughed nervously, and the music started up again, and the whole room let out its breath.

Kael sat down. He picked up his fork and started eating his dinner like nothing had happened.

But his hand was shaking.

I saw it.

Across the head table, Garrett was laughing and shaking his head, like his son and his nephew were just two silly boys fighting over a toy. He leaned over and said something to my mother, and she smiled a small smile. But her eyes were on me. Wide and worried.

And Margot…

Margot wasn't smiling anymore. She was staring at Kael's shaking hand. Then, slowly, she turned her head, and she stared at me.

Her green eyes were like two pieces of broken glass.

---

Rhys sat back down next to me and picked up his wine.

"Well," he said cheerfully. "That went great."

I wanted to kill him. I really did.

"You did that on purpose," I hissed.

"Of course I did it on purpose."

"You told the *whole pack* you're in love with me!"

"I told the whole pack you threw a great punch. The love part was just a joke." He took a sip of his wine. "Mostly."

"Rhys!"

"Did you see his face, though?" He grinned at me over his glass. "Did you *see* it? I've known him my whole life, and I've never seen him like that. He almost said it, Sienna. He almost said it, in front of everyone."

"Said what?"

Rhys looked at me. For one second, the grin went away, and he looked almost serious.

"You know what," he said quietly.

My heart was pounding.

Then the grin came back, like a mask.

"Anyway," he said, standing up and holding out his hand. "They're playing a slow song. Dance with me, little sister."

"I don't dance."

"Everybody dances."

"Rhys, I said no."

"And I have a very nice photo on my phone," he whispered sweetly.

I glared at him. Then I took his hand.

---

He pulled me onto the dance floor in the middle of the hall. Other couples were already dancing there, slow and close, under the soft gold lights. Rhys put one hand on my waist and took my other hand in his. He was a good dancer. Really good. Of course he was.

"Relax," he said. "You look like you're walking to your own funeral."

"Maybe I am."

"Smile a little. People are watching."

People *were* watching. Everyone was. I could feel their eyes on my back.

Then, over Rhys's shoulder, I saw Kael walk onto the dance floor with Margot.

She was holding him close, very close, with her arms around his neck. Her gold dress sparkled. She was laughing at something, and her head was on his shoulder.

Kael was dancing with her. Slow. Stiff. Like a robot.

But his eyes were open, and they were looking at me over her red hair.

Our eyes met across the dance floor.

And the whole room disappeared.

It was just us. Me in Rhys's arms. Him in Margot's arms. Both of us dancing with the wrong person, looking at each other, while the slow music played and played and played.

I couldn't look away. He couldn't either.

*It meant nothing,* I had told him on the roof.

I was such a liar.

The song ended. Everyone clapped. I pulled my eyes away from his and stepped back from Rhys.

"I need some water," I said.

"I'll get it."

"No. I'll get it myself."

I walked off the dance floor fast, toward the table with the drinks. My hands were shaking. My face was hot. I just needed one minute. One minute to breathe.

I picked up a glass of water and drank it in one go.

"Sienna! There you are!"

I turned around.

Margot was walking toward me with a full glass of red wine in her hand. She was smiling her big, beautiful, sweet smile. Behind her, a group of her friends from Silver Creek were following. Pretty girls in pretty dresses, all smiling the same smile.

"I just wanted to say," Margot said, "that you look *so* lovely tonight. Where did you get that dress?"

"A friend," I said carefully.

"A friend! How sweet." She came closer. "It's a little old-fashioned, but it suits you. Very… simple. Like you."

"Thanks," I said. "Yours is very shiny. Like a disco ball."

One of her friends giggled. Margot's smile got tighter.

"Oh, darling, you're so funny." She stepped even closer. "I just wanted to say, no hard feelings. About Rhys and his little joke. And about Kael. You know he only stood up for you because he feels *sorry* for you. Right? The poor little Hollow girl, with no wolf and no friends and no—"

And then she tripped.

It wasn't a real trip. I saw it. Her foot didn't hit anything. She just threw her hand forward, hard and fast.

The whole glass of red wine flew right into my chest.

It splashed all down the front of my dark blue dress. It was cold and wet and red, soaking through the soft fabric, dripping down onto my shoes and the stone floor. It looked like blood.

There was a loud gasp from the people nearby.

Then someone laughed. Then her friends laughed. Then more people laughed, all around me, like a wave.

"Oh my *God*," Margot said, with her hand over her mouth. "I'm so sorry! I'm so clumsy! Look at your poor little dress!"

I stood there, dripping.

Everyone in the whole hall was looking at me now. I could feel it. Two hundred pairs of eyes. The whispers. The laughter. Just like every day of my life. The Hollow girl. The joke.

My eyes started to burn. My throat got tight.

*Don't cry,* I told myself. *Don't you dare cry in front of her.*

And then something strange happened.

The anger came. The hot, rising anger, the same one from the hill and the barn. But this time it was bigger. Much bigger. It came up from somewhere very deep inside me, from that strange, quiet place I didn't understand. It filled my chest and pushed the tears away.

I didn't cry.

I smiled.

I picked up a white napkin from the table and dabbed slowly at the wine on my dress, like I had all the time in the world.

"It's okay, Margot," I said. My voice came out calm and clear. Everyone around us went quiet to hear it. "Don't worry. Wine washes out."

I put the napkin down and looked straight into her green eyes.

"Desperation doesn't."

There was a long moment of total silence.

Then someone behind me said, "*Ooooh*," very softly.

Somebody else laughed. But this time, they weren't laughing at me.

Margot's beautiful face went red. Then white. Her mouth opened, but nothing came out.

I turned around to leave, and I almost walked straight into Kael.

He was standing right behind me. I don't know how long he'd been there. His eyes went to the red wine all over my dress, and his face went dark with anger. He turned to look at Margot, and I knew he was about to explode.

"Don't," I said quietly. Only he could hear me. "Please. I'm fine, Alpha."

He looked down at me.

"You're not fine."

"I am. I promise."

I didn't wait for him to answer. I lifted my chin, and walked away through the crowd, past all the staring faces, toward the bathroom at the back of the hall. I didn't run. I didn't hurry. I walked like a queen in a ruined dress.

I didn't let the tears come until the bathroom door closed behind me.

---

The bathroom was empty. It was old and cold, with white tiles and a long mirror over three sinks.

I turned on the water and grabbed a handful of paper towels. I scrubbed at my dress. The wine wasn't coming out. It was everywhere. It was Tessa's cousin's dress, and I had ruined it.

My hands were shaking. My whole body was shaking. And I felt hot. So hot. Like I had a fever. My skin was burning, and my heart was pounding so fast, and there was a strange buzzing in my ears. It sounded like a thousand bees.

Then the buzzing stopped.

And I heard something.

It was a heartbeat. Not mine. It was coming from outside the bathroom door. Slow and steady. *Thump. Thump. Thump.*

Then another heartbeat, far away. And another. And another. Dozens of them. Hundreds of them. All the people in the hall, every single heart, beating, beating, beating. I could hear them through the walls.

*What's happening to me?*

I grabbed the edge of the sink. I felt dizzy. I looked up into the mirror.

And I screamed.

Just for one second, just one flash, my eyes weren't hazel anymore.

They were silver. Bright, shining silver, like two little moons.

Then they were hazel again.

I stared at my reflection with my hand over my mouth. My heart was pounding so hard I thought it would break out of my chest.

And deep inside my head, so soft I almost didn't hear it, a voice whispered.

It wasn't my voice.

*Soon.*