Lights, Camera, Omega (Hollywood Omegas #1)

My stomach drops and my heartbeat thrums loudly in my ears as panic grips me. This is not how I expected this would go.

Magnus stands from his seat, leaning over the table menacingly—hackles raised.

“First the money, now this—this insolence!?” Magnus fires back.

“You still won’t admit it.” Cosmo stands his ground, staring down Magnus with his fiery gaze.

“You were wrong about not putting your pack first in Ed Mammut’s office, you were wrong about not bonding Daphne, and if you think I’m gonna apologize to you for it? You’re wrong right-fucking-now.” Cosmo’s words have an air of finality. He stands, hands bracing either side of the long dinner table, waiting to see Magnus’ reaction.

“I’m man enough to admit I was wrong not to answer my phone or at least look at my damn text messages during that meeting. It could have been something even more serious or dangerous.” Magnus turns to face Julian, Sol, and I. “For that, I am truly sorry.”

Magnus takes a deep breath, and I clutch Sol and Julian’s hands for dear life.

“But what about you, Cosmo? Are you going to continue to pretend that you haven’t put me in a damnable Catch-22 with your little deceptions? Your little lies by omission?” He glares directly into Cosmo’s eyes, and for a second, I could swear I see Cosmo flinch.

“You keep acting even though you’ve grown to hate it—or perhaps you just hate making films with me,” Magnus continues, slowly and carefully.

“You only continue to do it because you think it’s going to make others happy, yours truly likely being at the top of that list,” he marches on, unrelenting—though we can all see Cosmo’s shoulders sag slightly.

“You act like putting yourself last, building these growing resentments, is somehow good for the pack—good for you, when we all know that couldn’t be further from the truth.”

Cosmo doesn’t give up ground, but he does turn his face to the side, unable to look Magnus or any of the rest of us in the eye.

“Before Daphne turned up, the number of weekends you’d up and disappear without warning had reached an all-time high. Which was disappointing, but hard to fault you for when the whole pack has such busy and unrelenting schedules, and you’re prone to going on walkabouts when you’re not getting enough attention.”

Cosmo snarls at this.

“What are you trying to say, Magnus? Spit it out,” Cosmo hisses.

“I don’t know why you suddenly need so much more money in conjunction with your additional time away. If I didn’t know any better…” Magnus trails off.

“If you didn’t know any better, what?” Cosmo rises to take the bait, slamming his fists down on the table.

I can’t help but start to cry.

Magnus remains silent. Cosmo is already winding up for the next onslaught.

“You just can’t stand being the one who isn’t in control,” Cosmo lashes out, pushing away from the table.

“Well, you can’t control me Magnus, you never could and you never will. Whether you can get over that? I guess it’s up to you,” Cosmo barks before he turns on a heel and leaves the kitchen. The sounds of his stomping feet are loud and clear until they disappear behind the slamming of the front door.

Magnus buries his face in his hands before he slumps down into his chair.

“Scheiße, I’ve really gone and fucked up royally this time,” he groans, dragging his hands down his gaunt, handsome face.

My anxiety from the barking, yelling, and bearing of teeth has begun to ebb away—and in its place, is fresh, hot anger.

“When was anyone planning on telling me about these little surprise secret vacations or this financial drama?” I stand from the table, my hands on my hips.

Now Sol and Julian bury their faces in their hands.

“I thought that we all had gotten our dirty laundry out and in the open right at the beginning!” I press, pinning the three men with the scrutiny of my gaze.

“I think you had better sit down, Daphne,” Magnus sighs.

I sit, falling like a rock back into my dining chair.

“And I think Julian better get us another bottle of wine out of the fridge—I’m going to need a smoke.”