AllFreeNovel
Share Us
JACK
Beatrice stiffened next to me.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” The female alpha asked. “One looks old. Did you have it when I last saw you?”
“Eliza, I’ve been in Paris… I am sorry.”
The female alpha’s jaw clenched, before she schooled her features and smiled the practiced society smile I despised.
“Oh darling, when you left, and so abruptly… We were all so worried! I swear the quality of dinner parties fell in your absence. Now you have…” The alpha smile looked painfully strained. Perhaps her feelings for Beatrice had been honest. “Mates. You have mates.”
“Yes, how observant of you,” she laughed. “Oh, Eliza. How good it is to see you. I’m sorry for not being in better touch.”
“Did you have—”
“The marriage was an Ayleigh.” Pax smiled through the interruption.
“Oh. Of course. Colonel Fordom… Never heard the name. And Lord Paxton… I thought you were older. Too old to look—”
“Eliza! What is this? I cannot believe—”
Trix took a step back until she pressed against my front. The instinct to pull my omega away from this woman was almost overpowering. She went from cold to hot to cold again, and all the while my mate played catch up.
“Oh dearest, surely you would want someone who appreciates—your many virtues and talents. Beatrice,” she said, her voice purring my mate’s name in a far too intimate manner.
“Back away from my mate,” I growled. The smaller alpha froze. Her scent changed to bitter.
“Your mate is a notorious flirt. Did you know that?” The thin alpha smirked. “She was just inspiring memories of the time—”
Beatrice slapped her. Pride swelled in my chest, while Pax’s growl edged towards impolite in its volume.
Brown’s lips twisted into a snarl. “You should not have done that omega.”
Pax moved in front of Beatrice, shielding her and allowing me to draw her away. “You do not talk to my mate like that. Understood?”
I half dragged her towards where our hostess stood, but Trix dug her heels in and demanded we wait for Pax. He joined us, frowning and flexing his large hands.
“She will not speak with you again,” he said, his voice clipped and tight with anger.
Trix, her scent sharp and bitter, looked about, standing on her toes to better see through the crowd. Short as she was, I doubted it helped, but I held my peace, for she suddenly took off, weaving through the crowd. Pax muttered a curse under his breath and took after her.
Since our arrival, the ballroom had become more crowded. Packs, pairs, families smiling and talking while always keeping an eye on the omegas who attracted alphas and betas like flies to honey. All these society omegas managed to stay still, protected. Meanwhile, my omega took off on her own with the same careless bravery as a young alpha. Her bravery bordered on arrogant, but when we called her a menace, we meant it. Pax growled and followed, while I trailed behind them, scanning the crowd for any threats, my alpha on high alert.
She brought us to a small alcove partially hidden by heavy drapes.
Trix slipped into the darkness. No coy smile, nothing in her scent to indicate she desired an assignation. Pax scowled. His scent spoke volumes, like burnt feathers.
“Not here,” Pax grumbled. “Can’t fuck you here.”
“I need you to bite me,” she announced. “Not knot me. Bite me.”
I moved like lightning as I always did when she asked us for something. I was a soldier, brilliant at taking orders. Her gasp was sweeter than any moan of pleasure—as nonsensical as that might sound. I loved these sweet moments, my mouth covering her mating bite, using my teeth to put pressure on her gland which in turn forced that toxin into her blood. If I closed off the world, I could almost taste it again, burning down my throat, changing everything about me.
“Are you going to share?” Pax purred from behind me. I growled against her throat, licking at Pax’s freshly healed bite. “Soldier—”
The threat in his voice had me purring, but I relented. Kissing up the column of Beatrice’s throat so that I could claim her mouth. A kiss to savour, not seduce. But my sweet, sweet mate shifted against me, clinging to me while Pax took my place at her shoulder. Pax would always come after me. Give way to the fact I was her first. Her first for everything.
“I want your arms around me while I sleep,” she murmured against my lips. Behind her, Pax’s purr rumbled loud, almost uncontrolled. Her invitation to sleep in her nest was its own kind of seduction.
