Two and a half bottles of beer later, and all of my stuff was packed in my luggage. Most of it was shoved in with the delicate care of a tornado in a thrift store; wrinkles didn't matter. Nothing felt precious anymore.

Sammy grabbed the handle of the largest suitcase and pulled it off the bed with a grunt. "If I didn't actually see what you had in here I would have thought you were trying to smuggle a baby hippo in this thing. Geez."

"Wimp," I laughed, taking it from him with ease and setting it down to pull out the handle to wheel it around. "Emotional baggage, Sam. Not hippos."

"Didn't realize sweater sets were manifestations of emotional trauma. Good to know." He loaded a smaller valise onto the top of the bigger suitcase and passed my purse over.

"Are too! You just need a better frame of reference," I retorted before I scanned the room for anything I'd forgotten, eyes skimming over impersonal surfaces—until they landed on Warren's side of the bed. The ache returned instantly.

Seeing only Warren's stuff sent a pang to my heart and my eyes misted over again. This was really happening, it was really over. He was probably going to bring her to this bed and they would- My mind replayed our own love making, not even a night ago, right here in this very bed. The whispered "I love yous", the moans of pleasure. Now they all belonged to someone else.

"Earth to Al," interjected Sammy with a frown. "Lock those brain weasels back up. You have a ball to get ready for."

"Right..." I looked around once more before pausing on a very worn blanket folded on Warren's side of the bed. "Can I be mega petty right now?"

Sammy's brow furrowed. "I mean, I'm impressed you haven't been, but what are you planning?"

I pointed.

"He still sleeps with that damn thing?" asked Sammy, genuinely disgusted. "How is that even holding together?"

"It's hanging on by the last of its dignity," I replied, digging into my purse for the little crystal bottle he'd given me years ago for one of our anniversaries. That one little bottle probably cost more than my first car. The scent was all sugar and apricot and soft musk; expensive enough that you didn't say the brand, just let people know. He'd said it made me smell 'soft' and would bury his face in my neck hungrily whenever I wore it.

I gave a humorless smirk, spread the ratty baby blanket flat on the bed, and gave it a generous spray. The air filled with syrupy sweetness, the kind that clung to your throat and pretended it was love.

I waited for it to dry, then folded it up and shoved it under the blankets on his side of the bed.

"There. This stuff doesn't wash out easily either."

The scent lingered like a ghost of me. Too sweet, too soft, and entirely mine in a way it never had been when he gave it to me.

Let them try to sleep with his favorite illusion of me still hanging in the air.

"Devious," Sammy chuckled, shooing me out of the room and into the hall. "Now come on, Cinderella, you have a ball to get ready for."

Sammy and Theresa's room was literally across the hallway so it wasn't a far 'walk of shame' for me. Thankfully.

The key card made the lock beep once before unlocking, and I had taken no more than two steps before I was tackled hugged by Theresa.

"Allie, I'm so sorry," she said, voice full of emotion. "If he wasn't my brother and Alpha I'd-"

"I know," I replied with a sad little smile. "Believe me, I'd do the same."

She wrinkled her nose and pulled back. "Why do you smell like you doused half a bottle of perfume on you?"

"That," I replied, giving Sammy a conspiratorial grin, "is a story for inside the room..."

We all herded inside, Sammy taking my luggage and pulling it closer to the bathroom so I'd have an easier time getting ready. As soon as the lock clicked back into place, Theresa whirled on me. "Ok you two, spill."