ZARA:
I thought avoiding Maximus was the hardest thing I would ever have to do.
Turns out that surviving the gossip is worse.
Everywhere I go, eyes follow me. Honestly, these people act like they’ve got nothing better to do. Mouths whisper when they think I cannot hear—ahh, I want the ground to just open and swallow me.
“She thought she’s the only one who tried to seduce him.”
“An omega, desperate for attention.”
“She’ll be thrown aside soon enough now that the real Luna is here.”
I try to bury myself in work, in long hours at the clinic. Dr. Barkley has noticed the hollowness in my eyes, but he says nothing. He only pushes more tasks my way—maybe out of pity, maybe because he knows work is the only thing keeping me from breaking in the open. And I’m thankful for that.
But the whis
