The Alpha's Forbidden Vow novel Chapter 63

POV: Selene

The tension in the room had become a living thing, a predator stalking the edges of the celebration. Zane’s silent, burning rage was a force of nature, and every shifter in the room could feel it. They just didn’t know its source.

But Isabella did.

Her eyes, cold and reptilian, darted from Zane’s furious face to me and Elias, who was now retreating back into the crowd. She understood instantly what had happened.

And she saw her opportunity to strike.

I needed to escape. I turned to make my way back to the kitchens, my heart hammering against my ribs. My path, unfortunately, took me directly past the dais where Zane and Isabella stood.

I kept my eyes glued to the floor, my tray of fresh champagne flutes held out in front of me like a shield. I tried to make myself invisible, to be the ghost Seraphina had demanded I be.

I was almost past them. I could feel the heat of Zane’s rage and the chill of Isabella’s hatred as I passed.

I saw her elegant, silk-covered shoe extend just an inch from under her gown.

It was a subtle, almost imperceptible movement, one that would look like a complete accident to anyone not paying close attention.

My foot caught on her heel.

The world tilted in a dizzying, slow-motion arc.

My tray went flying. A dozen crystal champagne flutes soared through the air before crashing to the marble floor in a symphony of shattering glass.

She turned to the stunned guests, a gracious hostess dealing with an incompetent servant. “My apologies, everyone. It seems the help is a bit overwhelmed. It must be difficult to balance a tray when one isn't used to actual work.”

The humiliation was a physical thing, a hot, suffocating wave that washed over me. I was on my hands and knees, a fool on display, being publicly shamed by the woman who had everything, while the man I loved, the father of my child, stood by and watched.

I began to scramble to pick up the larger pieces of glass, my hands shaking, my only thought to get this over with, to disappear.

“Be careful, dear,” Isabella cooed, a triumphant, malicious smirk playing on her lips. “We wouldn't want you to cut yourself.”

Her work was done. She had asserted her dominance, reminded everyone of my lowly place, and punished me for the attention I had received from both Elias and her fiancé.

She had won.