"Do people always fall in love with things they can't have?"
~Patricia Smith

"Elsa, do you know who the second bouquet is from?" Josie asked, greatly intrigued by my mysterious suitor.

"Well, I mean, one of them is from Hunter and Caleb, which is nothing new, but I have no idea who the other bouquet is from."

"Your family isn't going to like that you have a secret admirer..."

"I'll relieve them of any worries they have about my unknown suitor. Don't worry." She dropped the subject, but I knew this wasn't the last I'd heard of it.

AP Psychology always flew by because I enjoyed the class, and today was no exception. I had no idea why I found it so fascinating. To me, it was fun learning about people's brains and why they do what they do and about mental disorders. Josie felt the same way, so we always discussed it whenever we could. Just after half-past eleven, the bell rang. The two of us scurried to our locker to drop off our stuff and hurry downstairs for lunch. We had an off period in between, allowing us to have an extended lunch.

"Do you want to explain to me why you have two bouquets of roses?" Anna inquired, holding one of her own.

"One's from our lovely brothers. The other one, I have no idea. Maybe a mystery suitor or something."

"It looks like I'm the only one without a guy," Anna grumbled.

"Hey, it's not like I'm going to be interested in whoever it is. No humans allowed, remember? And Akira doesn't have a guy either. Besides, the only good looking guys are in the Stark pack, and they're off-limits." I shut my locker. "Okay, off to get Mexican food?"

"I called ahead, and it's booked. I thought we could go somewhere else. I was thinking something simple, like the cute little sandwich café a few blocks down? The weather is relatively nice, and it only takes five minutes to walk there. We can put our roses in the car and take them back in when we get back."

"Sounds like a plan. Let's go. I'm starved!"

We made our way to lunch, and it was nice to have some downtime with the two girls I was closest to in my life. Although we wanted to stay awhile, we ended up going back to school early because the café started getting busy, and we didn't want to hog a table.

Both Anna and Josie went to their classes early. I chilled in the hallway, putting stuff into my backpack while making sure I didn't crush my roses. Easier said than done, let me tell you.

"Need some help?" Stark's voice sounded from behind me.

"No, I got it. Thank you, though." I shut my locker and faced him. "I'm not ready for another AP Literature lesson talking about the same book we finished three months ago."

The two of us started walking down the hallway, and Spencer asked, "Did you do Pride and Prejudice?"

"Yeah. I've already read it, so it was easy for me to choose it. You?"

"I chose it too. I wanted to see what all the hype was about. I can barely understand the language in it, though."

"Watch the movie with Keira Knightley in it. Trust me, the book makes so much more sense afterward."

"Will do. I might get my sister to watch it with me because I know she's seen it and she can help explain to me what's going on. I'd ask you, but having you come to my house may cause a few problems."

"I'd be dead. Literally."

"I wouldn't let that happen, but I also can't stop my whole pack. Pretty roses, by the way. Who are they from?"

"One's from my brothers. No idea who the other bouquet is from."

"Maybe they're from me," he teased.

"That'd explain all the Valentine's Day and heart puns you were using in physiology today." I added playfully, "You weren't flirting with me earlier, were you?"

"I have been for the past few weeks, but I'm glad you finally noticed."

"Wait-" I stopped and grabbed hold of his arm- "are the roses really-"

Spencer glanced around the hallway, then pulled me into an empty classroom. He shut the door and turned to me, saying shyly, "Elsa, I wasn't joking earlier about being my Valentine."

I stood stock-still, unable to comprehend what he was saying, what he was admitting. For once in my life, I was speechless. The Stark alpha was physically standing in front of me, saying outright he liked me.

How on earth was I supposed to react to this?

This stuff doesn't happen to me!

I'm not in a book or a movie. And yeah, maybe my life is sort of supernatural, but this is not what's supposed to happen to me. I don't get this lucky. I don't get the guy I like. I never have...

I took a step closer to him. "Spencer, I'm not going to lie to you. I like you too. A lot. And I love the roses; I'm extremely flattered you got them for me. But you're a Stark. I'm a Laroche. We can't- we're like Romeo and Juliet, and with how extreme our packs are with rules, if we started dating, we'd end up just like the fictional characters. Dead."

"They wouldn't have to know," he said softly. "Maybe our relationship is what's needed to finally end this feud."

"The only one who might even begin to understand this is Anna, and I don't want to put her in that situation. We wouldn't be able to tell anyone. What about Callie? It's no secret that everyone in your pack thinks you two are supposed to be together."

"Callie's my friend. Nothing more."

"That doesn't mean your parents won't try and make an arranged marriage. That's common with our kind."

"I won't let it. Are your parents forcing either of your brothers into arranged marriages?"

"No. Hunter is with Josilyn. They're pretty serious. Caleb's by himself, but he doesn't mind. My dad's sort of been for making an arranged marriage for him, but my mom's kept him at bay. What about Dominic? Are they forcing him into something?"

"No, but he has a... unique situation that is getting him out of it. But since they're not forcing him even with his situation, maybe they won't force me either."

"We don't know that... if we did date, and my pack found out, nothing I could do or say would stop them from coming after you and killing you."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm the Omega. No one listens to me."

"I could tell my pack."

"They'd come kill me, they'd meet my pack halfway, and then they'd kill each other. Do you really want to risk that?"

"Maybe you're happy being single, and I was fine being single, too, until I met you. If I date someone, I want the girl to be someone I genuinely like, and that's you. No one else. And if I am forced into some marriage, then we can end it."

"Spencer, you like me already. If we date and you end up more than just liking me, it's going to be much harder to end if you become engaged to someone else. It'll be easier for both of us if we don't start anything at all, no matter how much we want to date each other. Besides, all we'd be doing is sneaking around, and our packs would get suspicious about why we're constantly having random outings on the weekends or sneaking off in between classes. Unfortunately for us, our packs aren't dumb. All that... it's no way to have a relationship."

"We could say we're going to get some books at the library or that we're going to the store or that we're going shopping. Our town has enough to do that we could get away with it."

"Give me a good reason why we should risk everything to date each other."

The Stark alpha stared at me helplessly. "I... I can't. I'm just saying that if we both like each other, we should at least see where it goes. I'm willing to risk everything if you agree to it. If you don't, that's okay. You're not an Omega to me, and unlike the rest of your pack, I'm going to listen to what you say. Trust me, I've thought about all of this, and I honestly think we can pull it off, or else I never would've asked you this or put you in this position."

I bit my lip. Spencer was making this unbelievably difficult to say no to because the expression he wore was the definition of 'puppy dog face,' and I don't think Spencer even realized he was doing it.

All the cons of dating him ran through my brain a mile a minute, but I couldn't stop thinking about what he said. He was ready to risk everything to date me despite having known me for less than two months.

Half of my brain whispered: They'll kill him if they found out.

The other half added: Live a little. Give him a chance. He's willing to risk it- why aren't you?