Too Late, Alpha: I Am Now Untouchable

Now we're even

Maeve’s POV

The auditorium of the St. Jude Academy was a sea of pastel silk, diamond studs, and the suffocating scent of old money. Parents from Houston’s elite packs mingled near the stage, their laughter polite and hollow. I stood near the back row, my hand resting on the smooth leather handle of my violin case. Beside me, Ryan was unusually quiet, his small fingers tightly laced into mine, his dark eyes taking in the crowd with the cautious precision he had inherited from his father.

"Look at her," a boy’s voice crowed from the center aisle.

I turned my head. Leo was standing near the front rows, surrounded by a small cluster of his classmates. He was dressed in a miniature tailored suit, his chin tilted up with that familiar, haughty arrogance. Beside him stood Elizabeth, looking like a portrait of fragile elegance in a pristine, cream-colored silk gown. Her arm was looped gently around Leo’s shoulders.

"My mom is playing a Chopin nocturne on the grand piano today," Leo boasted, loud enough for the surrounding parents to hear. "She’s the best pianist in the state. She’s going to win the entire showcase."

"Leo," a little girl with pigtails asked, pointing a finger toward the back of the room. "Is that your mom back there? The one who always brings your medicine bag to the gate?"

The small circle of children turned, their eyes landing on me. A few parents followed their gaze, whispering behind their programs.

Leo’s expression instantly curdled into something cold and defensive. He looked at me, then looked away quickly, his face flushing. "No. That’s just Maeve. She’s my old nanny. My grandma hired her because I used to get sick a lot, but she doesn't work for us anymore."

The words felt like a physical blow, but I didn't let my expression flicker. I looked past Leo to the man standing right behind him. Kael stood there in a dark charcoal suit, his arms crossed, a deep frown creasing his forehead. He met my eyes. He heard what his son said. He knew the years I had sacrificed, the career I had buried, the endless nights I had spent saving that boy's life.

Yet, his jaw remained locked. He didn't say a single word to correct him. He just stood by, a silent accomplice to his own son's betrayal.

Elizabeth noticed the exchange and smiled, a tiny, triumphant thing that vanished a second later into her trademark mask of sweet innocence. She glided across the polished floor toward me, her heels clicking softly. A few mothers from the Frost Rainbow pack followed in her wake, eager for the drama.

"Maeve," Elizabeth said, her voice dripping with artificial sympathy. "I didn't expect to see you here. I didn't know you were on the program. Are you... assisting the stage crew?"

"I'm performing with Ryan," I said flatly.

Elizabeth blinked, letting out a soft, pitying laugh that she quickly covered with her hand. "Oh. I see. Well, it's very brave of you to get on stage, dear. Though, I should probably warn the judges." She turned to the circle of watching mothers, her tone laced with faux concern. "Maeve is a wonderful woman, really, but she doesn't quite have the... formal background for an elite academy like this. She’s been a full-time stay-at-home mom for seven years, and before that, well, she didn't really have the means for a proper, high-level education. We should keep our expectations modest."

The mothers exchanged judgmental, pitying looks, murmuring among themselves. I watched her, my pulse slow, my expression entirely unreadable. She wanted to paint me as an uneducated, lower-class Omega who didn't belong in their upper-crust world. She had no idea who I was before Kael’s mother locked me in that golden cage; maybe she just knew I was just my mother's daughter.

"Oh, look at me, I'm being terrible," Elizabeth suddenly gasped, taking a step closer to me. She was holding a small glass of dark pomegranate juice. "Let me just—"

With a calculated, lightning-fast tilt of her wrist, Elizabeth stumbled forward. The dark red liquid splashed directly across the front of my pale gray dress, soaking through the fabric in a wide, ugly stain.

"Oh my goodness! I am so, so sorry!" Elizabeth immediately cried out, her eyes welling with instant, practiced tears. She pressed her hands to her mouth, her shoulders trembling as she sank into a slight crouch, looking up at me like a wounded bird. "It was an accident! The heel of my shoe slipped on the polish. Maeve, please, you have to forgive me! I didn't mean to ruin your lovely dress!"

"Get up, Elizabeth," I said, my voice cold and clear enough to cut through her performance.

Kael was instantly by her side, his large hands gripping her elbows to pull her up, his alpha aura flaring protectively. "Maeve, it was an accident. Look at her; she’s distraught. Don't make a scene."

"It’s fine," I said, looking down at the wet, ruined fabric clinging to my chest. Then I looked Elizabeth directly in the eyes. "Since it was an honest mistake, and since you feel so entirely guilty about ruining my performance, we'll just swap dresses. Take it off."

Elizabeth’s tears instantly froze. Her face went pale. "What?"

"You're the one who caused the damage," I stated, stepping forward until I was right in her space. "It’s only fair that you bear the consequence. Swap dresses with me right now, or you can explain to the judges why you’re refusing to remedy your own accident."

"Are you insane?" Kael snapped, his voice dropping into a dangerous, low growl that usually made Omegas drop to their knees. "Elizabeth is performing a classical masterpiece in ten minutes. She cannot wear a stained dress. It will ruin her concentration and her standing with the committee. Drop this ridiculous demand, Maeve."

Before I could answer, Leo threw himself in front of Elizabeth, his small face twisted into an ugly, threatening scowl. "Don't you dare touch her dress! If you make Elizabeth change her clothes, she might lose the competition because of you! You're just trying to ruin everything like you always do!" He stepped closer, glaring up at me with an entitlement that made my stomach turn. "If you don't shut up right now, I will never call you my mother again. I mean it. I'll never acknowledge you at all!"

The threat hung in the air, loud and sharp. The surrounding crowd went completely silent, waiting for me to break, waiting for the desperate, broken Omega mother to burst into tears and beg for her son's affection.

I looked down at Leo. I looked at the boy I had given up my life for, the boy who was using his love as a weapon to protect the woman who had poisoned our family.

And for the first time in seven years, I felt absolutely nothing. No pain. No desperation. Just a vast, liberating emptiness.

"Then don't," I said, my voice entirely unfazed.

Leo blinked, his jaw dropping slightly as his threat evaporated into nothing.

"Maeve, that is enough," Kael barked, stepping between me and the children, his chest puffed out. "The answer is no. You are not taking her dress, and you are not disrupting this festival any further. Go find a towel in the restroom or leave."

"No?" I asked softly.

"No," Kael repeated, absolute and unyielding.

"Fine."

I didn't argue. I didn't waste another breath on his commands. Instead, I reached out to a passing waiter's tray. My fingers wrapped around a tall, heavy crystal glass filled to the brim with dark, sticky grape juice.

Before Kael could even register what I was doing, I lifted the glass and poured it directly over the top of Elizabeth’s head.

The dark, sticky liquid drenched her perfectly coiffed hair, ruining the elaborate pins, and cascaded down her face in thick, violent streaks. It ruined her expensive makeup, smeared across her pale lips, and ran down the entire front of her cream-colored gown, turning it into a sodden, crimson disaster.

Elizabeth shrieked—a raw, uncalibrated sound that had nothing to do with her fragile persona.

The auditorium erupted. Parents gasped, chairs scraped back, and Kael froze, his face going completely the color of ash as the supreme Alpha of the Frost Rainbow pack realized he had just lost control of the room entirely.

I set the empty glass back on the waiter's tray with a soft clink.

"Now we're even," I said, looking at the disaster of her gown. I turned to Ryan, who was watching with a tiny, silent grin spreading across his face. "Come on, Ryan. Let's go get tuned."