by Kathryn Moon
“You’re pretty ripe for a beta,” Buzz said as Emmy dropped a pint of flat beer in front of him.
“Might be you’re just picking up some of your own stench, hun,” Emmy snapped back.
“I’m glad it all worked out for you, babe,” Lola whispered to me, smile wobbling.
I’d given her that stupid sweatshirt and look at what it’d gotten her. This was my fault.
Buzz’s hand was reaching to Emmy’s legs, and I was about to shout and warn her when the bar tray came down hard on his hand with a loud crack!
“What the fuck!” Buzz snarled, jostling the table as he rose.
“Whoops,” Emmy said, completely dry and with no remorse.
She stepped away and before Buzz could chase her, Tornado was standing in his way, face like stone as Buzz snarled at him.
“You can smell Chef on her, Buzzard,” Jonah said, words low. “We all can. You really wanna challenge him?”
“He might,” Indy said, flashing a yellow smile. “So, how’d you like that sweet omega puss, Scorch?” Jonah stiffened, teeth gritting and body vibrating. Indy ignored him and looked to me. “How bout you, omega? How’d you like your first knot?”
I didn’t know the history of the MCs. I didn’t know what Buzz wanted to accomplish bringing Lola here unless it was for her to get another hit of my scent or just to rile Jonah, but either way I wasn’t playing along.
“I’d say I enjoyed it as much as any omega,” I said as Bullet’s rising growl hiccuped beneath me. “But to be honest, I think my alphas really know how to find a girl’s sweet spot.”
Lola laughed, a quiet but genuine friendly sound, and this time when she slid her hand over the table I leaned in, squeezing it once with mine.
“That’s my girl,” she said, winking.
Buzz was still standing, Emmy long gone back to behind the bar, and his eyes scanned the crowd around the room, the way my pack had closed in around him. His wandering stare stopped on Cole, and he grinned.
“Asshole. Get over here,” he barked in full alpha voice, making me twitch and swallow a whimper.
“You’re doing good, kitten,” Bullet whispered. “Wanna purr for you, but don’t wanna share any whiffs, you know?”
I nodded. I didn’t want to either. It was better to be tense and uncomfortable around these strange alphas, than loose and perfuming for them. Cole rose reluctantly from his table, crossing the few feet to stand in front of Buzz who grabbed his upper arm.
“See this fucker?” Buzz asked me, and I refused to meet his gaze. “He used to be a Hangman. Left his brotherhood. Came over here to this shithole.”
“Watch it, Buzzard,” Jonah murmured.
“Just imagine, man. If I hadn’t let you walk out of my club all those years ago, you never woulda gotten a crack at this sweet piece, huh?”
Cole didn’t even look in my direction, barely even blinked as Buzzard got in his face, smirking in the unfriendliest way. “Guess not.”
“Tell me, for old time’s sake, how good is she?” Buzz whispered.
Jonah was growling openly, not the tender frustrated sound when he found me too tempting, but a genuine warning. Indy’s fingers were clamped tight around Lola’s neck, her head tilted down and color high in her cheeks. I wanted to leap across the table and claw him to pieces, but I didn’t want to touch him or give him the opportunity to touch me. Bullet was growing behind me, his arms over my shoulders almost consuming me into his huge frame entirely.
“Fuckin’ heaven, man,” Cole said, jaw tight, eyes fixed to Buzzard’s face.
Buzz leaned in and took a deep breath, his grin stretching wide and ugly. “I’ll just bet.”
“Enough,” Jonah whispered to Bullet, and then quick as can be, I was passed from one alpha to the other and Bullet was rising up out of the booth, a hand jerking quick directions to Indy and Lola.
“Truce is truce, so I’m gonna politely show you lot the door. Your beta wanna visit Baby, she can call and come on her own,” Bullet announced
“I haven’t fucking marked this bitch,” Buzz muttered as Lola scrambled out of the booth with Indy’s hand on her neck and ass. “She can do as she pleases.”
Lola was sheet white, and I wanted to chew Buzz out, but the best possible thing for my friend would be if these alphas lost interest in her.
“I’ll call,” I said softly. “We can do a girls thing.”
“Sure, babe,” Lola muttered without looking at me.
I held a whine in, and Jonah’s hands found mine in my lap, tangling our fingers together as if he could sense my edgy disappointment. I had meant to call Lola, but every day had been strange and full to the brim with a hazy decadent feeling as if I was still living in a dream. Or maybe I was just making excuses. Either way, I’d abandoned her to this fate and I had to do something.
Something queasy and cold was sinking into me, a headache rising. The room was too thick with scents, and I wanted to tear myself out of Jonah’s arms, run to Lola, and charge us both out of the bar. Instead, I slowly extricated myself from Jonah’s hold, with his help, and Tornado intercepted Lola with a gentle touch to her back. Indy released her, and my alphas guided us together.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
Lola’s smile was weak, eyes teary. “I don’t blame you,” she answered, even quieter. “I asked, remember? Wasn’t careful enough.”
Tornado made a soft choking sound, and Jonah coughed behind me. I leaned in carefully, lips to her ear without her touching me.
“I’m going to help. Somehow.”
Her lips pressed tight and her expression was wary as I pulled away, but I thought she nodded, just barely, before returning to Indy’s side. He didn’t touch her, just herded her behind Buzz on the way out the door. It wasn’t enough. I should’ve told her to stay. And asked Bullet to punch the alphas for good measure.
“They’re testing the truce,” Cole said, and Jonah hummed in answer.
“They’re testing Baby,” Tornado said. “She’s still unclaimed.”
“I am not,” I snapped, and his eyebrows ticked up. “I mean… I know, technically there’s no bond but…” I looked to Jonah, waiting for him to say it, but it was Bullet to the rescue.
“You’re ours, kitten. Buzzard just wouldn’t’ve waited two whole minutes to sink his teeth into you.”
“Tornado, you and Books take Baby up and stay with her,” Jonah said.
“I could—“ Cole started.
“No, I want you out with Bullet checking to make sure the Hangmen haven’t decided to step over the line already. Buzz’ll assume we’d drag Baby off to lay claim again. I want to make sure he’s not letting his guys harass the neighborhood.”
My headache was starting to pound, but I caught Jonah by the elbow before he headed for the bar to talk to Seth. “Hey.”
His hands reached out, lifting my face to meet his stare, and I was surprised to find a soft smile on his lips. “You did good. Acted proud of us.”
“I am proud of you,” I said on reflex, eyes widening as Jonah bent, lips pressing softly to mine. “Lola met those guys the night my perfume came in. She grabbed some then, and she took a sweatshirt of mine the night my heat came in.”
Jonah’s brow furrowed and Tornado growled and spoke. “They’ve been taking hits of her perfume off the beta.”
“Lola,” I said. “Can we do anything for her?”
“She live in Old Uptown?” I nodded, and Jonah’s frown deepened. “Baby girl, I’m sorry but…”
“Between her living in their territory, and laying in their beds, we’d be risking a lot to try and step in,” Bullet finished.
“I’ll think on it,” Jonah said.
“No, it’s okay. I think… I might know someone who can help,” I had Lola’s cousin’s number in my phone. If David could get to her, he might be able to get her away from Buzz.
“Come on, love,” Tornado said, guiding me through the crowd of alphas.
Mackenzie met us on the way
as we headed for the staircase door, his eyes drinking me in head to toe. “You okay, Baby?”
“Headache. And kind of nauseous,” I admitted.
Mackenzie signaled to Ryan who was up in a flash, and soon I was being gently ushered up the stairs towards the apartments. “Tornado, you get a bath going for her when we’re in. No scents. Baby, you smoke? Green’s got real gentle stuff if you want it.”
“Maybe just a little,” I said, nodding.
“On it,” Ryan said with military efficiency.
“Just gotta get out of the firing line of all that alpha bullshit,” Mackenzie said to me. “You’ll be right as rain in an hour.”
In spite of the headache and the worry and my churning stomach, and the fact that I kind of wanted Bullet with me since I still hadn’t got my cuddle, Mackenzie’s plans drew a little smile from me. My alphas certainly wouldn’t fail for not trying to please me.
16
Baby
After sending David a series of urgent texts—because he never answered his phone and kept his voicemail intentionally full—I fell asleep before the tub was full, after a toke of some of Ryan’s gentlest ‘lady’ as he called his plants. When I woke I was groggy and disoriented and snappish. Annoyed to find only Books next to me, and somehow also annoyed to not be alone.
“It’s normal before a bout of heat works up for you to be easily irritated,” Mackenzie said, stretching in the bed and groping for his glasses in the dark.
“I am not an online article about omega’s heats,” I answered.
“Umm…no, I know that. Do you want that bath?”
I did want the bath. I still smelled like Bullet, but Bullet wasn’t at hand, and I was aware again of how large and open the bedroom I slept in was. Mackenzie made a quick trip to the living room and then Tornado reappeared, rumpled but more alert than me, and a moment later I heard the water start up again.
“It’ll take a minute to fill,” Mackenzie warned as I headed for the bathroom.
“I dun wanna be in here anymore,” I muttered, annoyed with myself now for matching Mackenzie’s researched symptoms.
“Do you want us to go?”
“You better fuckin’ not.”
He laughed and followed me into the bathroom. “You okay in here, Tornado?”
I yanked my dress off over my head, now annoyed that they’d let me fall asleep in it. Actually, I had a whole catalog of things I was finding myself annoyed with, and at the very top of it was how unreasonable I was feeling without being able to shake the irritation. There were moments where being an omega felt as though I was rediscovering myself with clearer vision. And then there were moments where I just thought I was going fucking crazy.
“‘M fine,” Tornado said, and when I looked at him I found him staring with interest at my recently revealed skin. I let him stare as I shimmied out of my panties too.
I’d been modest most of my life, not super shy, but not usually the first one to strip naked. Around my pack though, I didn’t care. And in this mood? I was gonna do whatever the hell I wanted.
“I don’t know if I want to share the tub yet,” I said, possibly in warning. Since neither Tornado or Mackenzie were undressing, it wasn’t really an issue.
“You just let us know, Baby,” Mackenzie said.
I did my best impression of an alpha’s growl, and his eyebrows jumped up. “I don’t want to make decisions either,” I said, irrationally. My skin was tight and prickled with pins and needles, and there was a tight line of tension running through my shoulders.
“Fine,” Mackenzie said mildly. “Go to Tornado.”
It was an order, but one without growl or bark. It might as well have been a suggestion, except that I craved to obey, the scratch of temper fading in the back of my head. I joined Tornado on the bath mat and he glanced between Mackenzie and I, face smooth and watchful.
“Check her hair, does it need washed?” Mackenzie asked.
I leaned in and smiled as Tornado placed his hands softly on my bare shoulders before taking a sniff. “Kinda smells like the bar.”
“Leave it down then and we’ll wash it. Help her in the tub.”
Tornado’s hand held mine firmly, and he sat on the ledge of the tub as I lowered myself into the water. It was cooler than I usually liked it and I leaned forward to change the temperature.
“No, lay back,” Books murmured, heading for the knobs. I fought a brief war with myself, the omega instinct to do as I was told versus the grouch who’d just woken up and hadn’t decided how in the mood to ‘people’ she was. “Relax, Baby,” he said, glancing at me, amber eyes kissing my skin. His hand reached in to swirl the warmer water in, and I lifted my knee to butt against his palm.
“Let me guess. Grouchy omegas like to be told what to do?” I asked, but I was leaning back in the tub, keeping hold of Tornado’s hand in mine and resting it against my shoulder.
Books smiled and pulled his wet hand up, nudging his glasses up with his knuckle. “Your fever is coming back up, which is normal when we haven’t…you haven’t…”
“Been knotted?” I said, lips quirking.
He swallowed, glancing down into the clear, churning water, and then back up again. “Yeah. It’s like a… biological reminder. And yes, when an omega is feeling unsettled it helps for their alpha to take over. The size of this room helps too, doesn’t it?”
I nodded. “Feels more like a nest.”
I hadn’t wanted to bring it up with Jonah and Seth, but the apartment was too big, especially when I was alone. The rooms smelled better now that I had my alphas coming and going in the space, but the whole place was far too open and bare to feel comfy like a nest. Yvonne was right and it irritated me. Even more frustrating for me, being able to hear the city outside and waking up to the sun glaring in my eyes was uncomfortable and loud now, although I’d loved using the city as my alarm clock previously.
“Candles and something for the bath,” Mackenzie said to Tornado.
“Are you a grouchy omega too?” I asked Tornado.
He broke out into a sudden, unexpected grin. “I’m an unruly alpha, love. Books keeps my head on straight.” He lifted my hand up to his lips and skimmed a kiss on my knuckles before releasing me and rummaging through the cupboards, lighting candles by the sink until the room glowed.
Mackenzie reached behind him, finding the light switch and turning the overhead fluorescents off. “Better?”
I nodded and sat up, folding my arms on my bent knees and resting my chin there. “I made up my mind. This tub is big enough for two.”
The two men exchanged a brief look, and Mackenzie nodded Tornado toward the water. I curled up against the side of the tub to look up at Tornado. He hesitated, staring at Mackenzie and then at me. I wasn’t sure if he really needed my confirmation, the two of them almost acted as one unit, Mackenzie making the decisions and Tornado acting them out. If my opinion did make any difference to Tornado, then he ought to know I was fully on board with the plan.
I held my hand up out of the water, droplets falling to the bathmat. His eyes tracked my skin from my head, where the ends of my hair stuck to droplets of water on shoulders, down over my breasts and into the rippling, clear water. “Please,” I said.
He handed a wrapped bath bomb to Mackenzie and then pulled his soft gray shirt off over the back of his head. Tornado was tall, with wide shoulders and narrow hips. He wasn’t as built up as most of the pack, but getting a good look at his shirtless body, it was clear that what bulk he had was pure muscle. A thin dusting of black hair covered his chest, trailing down to the jeans he was opening and shoving down lithe thighs.
Damn. My mouth was watering. Tornado was pretty to look at. He was slightly hard, hanging from a nest of dark curls, the flesh of his cock a deeper and rosy shade of brown. He kicked off his socks and pant legs in one go, nudging them toward the door, and then joined me in the water without another look, sliding in behind my back, his legs tucked to the far wall.
I waite
d for Mackenzie’s next orders. If he had a lid on whatever made Sanjay ‘Tornado,’ I didn’t want to interrupt their dynamic.
“Go on,” Mackenzie said to his friend, grinning. “Cuddle her up like you want to.”
Just like that, Tornado’s arms wrapped around my waist and shoulders, hauling me back to his warm chest. He may not have had Bullet’s padding, but I fit nicely against him and it was easy to melt into his arms.
“Where is everyone?” I asked. “What happened after the Hangmen left?”
Tornado was cupping handfuls of water and running them over my chest and the bathroom heater was running, keeping the space humid and warm. In my head, Yvonne raised an obnoxious eyebrow. Maybe a jacuzzi tub would be nice. Mackenzie dropped the bath bomb in and watched it fizz for a moment before answering.
“Most of them are here, holding down the fort. Coal, Bullet, Bomber, and Scorch will be back soon. They went to make sure the neighborhood was safe,” he explained. “It’s been a long time since we had to really worry about it but…”
“Bullet told me about Nine,” I said, and when Tornado tensed behind me, I found his hands and smoothed my fingers over his fists until they loosened.
Mackenzie nodded. “He started the Howlers. Took some fractured clubs in the neighborhood, brought them together. That’s where Chef, Flea, and Dusty come in.”
My nose wrinkled. “Flea?”
“Roger,” Tornado said. “He likes you calling him by his real name.” Then my shy, ‘unruly’ alpha turned his head just enough to press a kiss to my temple, and I realized Mackenzie was right about my fever. I wanted to twist in the water and start demanding full kisses from Tornado.
Mackenzie was smiling at the pair of us, eyes watching every movement with careful observation. “Hangmen had kind of just started up in Old Downtown, and they were trying to spread. But they were dealing drugs, holding up local businesses, that kind of thing. So Nine and the others held ground. Brody joined up and I followed. Jonah appeared out of nowhere.”