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I took a deep breath and looked again: the flush that had colored my face was gone, the arousal that had been slowly growing, quenched. I would leave the bathroom and rejoin my friends. I would flirt with the alphas here, would try to find someone who could do the job I needed done. Transactional. Simple.
I pushed open the bathroom door, the scent of alpha–rich, musky, earthy, sweet, like a thorned rose bush, like a green, growing thing, like a jungle vine–hitting me a split second before the alpha himself.
CHAPTERFOUR
Rian
I had always thoughtI wouldknow, somehow, when my alphas found her. The one who would complete our little foursome. Our omega.
Despite my beta designation, I–naïvely–assumed that the bond we shared would let me in on the secret, the bite marks on my body would send out a signal or something and clue me in on, oh, I don’t know, onlythe most important thing to ever happen to us as a pack.But when the petite woman alighted at our table, half-sitting on the smooth surface, I felt… nothing. She was sexy, sure, one leg propping her up, one leg dangling, her heel swinging slightly as she leaned in towards us, showing off her generous cleavage and the round curve of her hip. It was enough to make me almost miss a woman’s softness, so different than the hard angles of Gray and Lucas…
But it wasn’ther, in particular, that had me thinking vaguely of a warm, giving body under mine.
For the most part, I was fine with my designation. Most men were betas, after all, and although I had occasionally dreamed of presenting as an alpha as a kid, I grew out of those dreams along with my “husky”-sized pants and velcro shoes. Now I was proud of my role in my pack as sometime-chef, sometime-moderator, and all-around great lay. I washappy.
Mostly.
I, too, felt the longing for an omega to balance the force, to smooth the edges of our trio into an unending circle, and whatever other pop-culture references and poetic metaphors Lucas could come up with. I, too, knew that without one, we would never have children, something the three of us yearned for, wanted more than anything. So when the woman introduced herself, bending over further to shake my hand, I let my gaze drop to her–Charlie’s–cleavage and tried to imagine myself with her, my hands on her hips as I fucked into her from below, her tits bouncing as she rode my cock.
Would she beg for a knot?my subconscious, that asshole, whispered.
I noticed Gray’s eyes, too, were on her body, his brow furrowed slightly. Was he imagining the same thing as I had been? Without any of the hangups that came with being a beta male?
“I gotta piss,” I whispered to Gray, who nodded, distracted, and I slid out of our booth, trying to hide my mounting insecurity with a confident, upright stride in the direction of the restrooms.
Lost in my thoughts, I nearly smashed into the woman rounding the corner in the opposite direction.
“I’m so sorry–” she said, just as I said, “Oopsie daisy!”
Oopsie daisy?!For fuck’s sake.
But as my hands landed on her arms to steady her, just below her shoulders, and her eyes met mine, it was like… not a bolt of electricity, or a raging wildfire, but like… a soft landing. Like when your plane touches down on the runway at the beginning of your vacation, and you realize that your pilot has steered a hundred thousand pounds of solid steel and aluminum through the sky and landed you, with a barely perceptible bump, in a totally new place.
Yeah. Like that.
She was tall, the top of her head coming up to my eye-level, with wavy brown hair that fell around her shoulders, and wide green eyes that stared guilelessly back at me. She was tall and thin, but after a moment, I realized she was no beta, as I’d first assumed. Even my own dull beta nose could smell her sweet vanilla scent. It was subtle, but recognizably hers and hers alone, and it sent blood rushing to my cock, making it chub against my zipper. How had she not been scooped up already by one of the dozens of alphas here tonight, smelling likethat?
“Sorry–these stupid heels–” she said, and I allowed myself one lingering look down the column of her body, slender, with small, round breasts, a tiny waist, and long,longlegs, until my eyes rested on her feet in her tall, red stilettos. She wobbled again and I tightened my grip involuntarily. Her short, sharp inhalation caught in her throat and I watched, unable to tear my eyes away, as her chest pushed against the tight fabric of her tiny minidress.
No, I reminded myself.You have Lucas. Gray. They are enough.
They were. They were enough for me, and if they wanted the omega back at the table, the one who was all hips and lashes… well. She would have to be enough for me, too. I released the woman’s shoulders and stepped back.
But I couldn’t stop myself from wanting to play Prince Charming. I smiled, raising one eyebrow. “Want me to carry you?” I said, turning my back to her and half-crouching. An alpha would never.Couldnever, and we both knew it. I was signaling to her:beta–safe. I gestured for her to climb on, and she blushed, a pretty pink spreading over her cheeks.
“Thanks,” she said, laughing as she shook her head. “But I should walk–I obviously need the practice.”
I shrugged, as if to sayit’s all the same to me–even if some part of medidwant to scoop her into my arms and run away with her. “At least allow me to escort you back to your friends… unless you came alone?”
She considered for a moment, and I could see the moment when she decided to accept the safety and comfort of being on a beta’s firm arm and tucked her small hand into my outstretched elbow. She scanned the bar, frowning, and then I watched as her eyes found who she was looking for and the line between her eyebrows melted away into a smile.
Ah.
It was the curvy omega, standing with another woman just to the side of our usual table, smiling and laughing with Gray and Lucas. The four of them all wore broad grins, like they were in on some secret joke. Without me.
This was going to be a long night.
CHAPTERFIVE
