The Rejected True Heiress (Liora and Callum) novel Chapter 171

“Thanks,” he murmured, lips brushing the shell of my ear as he spoke. “I owe you one.”

“You owe me three.” I nodded faintly toward Bianca and Callum. Surprisingly, Callum’s face was completely expressionless. But he was good at that—hiding his reactions. It didn’t mean anything… right? “They’ve got my brooch, and they won’t give it back.”

“Is that so?”

When Zane and I finally pulled apart, he turned slowly, looping his arm around my waist, and looked at Bianca’s neck. His mouth stretched into a smile, revealing the points of fangs that were just barely extended.

“Hey,” he said, gesturing to the pendant, “that’s not yours, is it?”

Bianca’s lips parted, cheeks flushing. She knew she could fuck with me all she wanted, but Zane? A fully-fledged male with a wolf?

Before she could speak, Callum grabbed her hand. His expression still betrayed nothing in regards to my “kiss” with Zane—just the self-righteous anger of a boyfriend who put his so-called “princess” on a pedestal she never deserved.

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s go. Show’s about to start.”

Zane went to chase after them, but I stopped him with a hand on his arm. “We’ll get it back eventually,” I said. “No need to cause a fight. Especially not when it’s been such a good night.”

Zane nodded, and together, we headed back to our seats. The show began soon after. We didn’t see Callum, Bianca, or even Bella after that. But I kept thinking back to the image of my mother’s pendant around Bianca’s neck, and wondered how I was going to get it back without revealing what it really was—a precious royal heirloom.

Deep down, another image was stuck in my mind, too. Callum’s emotionless expression when I “kissed” Zane.

I knew it was silly and that I shouldn’t care how he felt about it, but I couldn’t help it. I kept thinking back to the fortune teller’s words, and I just… couldn’t shake the feeling. In the past, he’d always reacted, even if only a little, whenever Zane and I were together. But now? He didn’t even look the slightest bit bothered by it.

“Only a little.”

Zane grinned and looked back up at the stage. But then, suddenly, his face paled. His arm tensed around my shoulders, and he took a step back, pulling me with him. “Liora, I think we should—”

The screams cut him off. It started as a few scattered shrieks and a commotion near the stage that made the band stop playing. I leaned up on my tiptoes, peering over the heads in front of me to get a better look, and saw movement up ahead. It seemed like a fight had broken out in the pit—the kind of drunken brawl that would quickly be shut down by security.

But then more screams rippled through the crowd. I saw movement in more places. People began to push and shove as they turned and ran.

“ROGUES!”