by Athena Blaez
“No you don’t. I’m the only one who understands you.”
“Too bad you’re not an omega. You’d make a great wife.”
Aaron snorted in the phone. “Just get home as soon as you can. The elders want to call a month-end moot. You really can’t afford to miss it.”
Gage filled the sink with cold water. “Right, right, right. I’ll be in after a bit. Going to head out and get breakfast—”
“Lunch, actually.”
“Shit, is it that late? Why didn’t you call sooner?”
“Check your phone more often, man. Don’t forget, Gage. The elders are serious about this.”
“Fine, you old hag. I’ll be there.” Gage killed the call and dropped his phone on his wrinkled shirt. Splashing cold water on his face, he pulled damp hands through his hair to tame his bed head. Finger-combing got it mostly under control. He found the omega’s toothpaste and used his finger to do what he could for damage control on his nasty feeling teeth.
Once he was satisfied he didn’t look and smell like a bum, Gage risked peering out of the bathroom.
The omega sat up and blinked blearily at him. “There you are. Figured you had bolted before saying goodbye.”
Putting on his best smile, Gage strolled in and flopped to sit on the bed beside the bed-mussed omega. “I wouldn’t dream of it.” He leaned in for a soft kiss, careful to avoid morning breath. “But I do have to go. Got people to do and shit to see.”
The butchering of the phrase sent the omega into laughter and Gage ground his teeth in a rigid smile. Christ, why did he go home with this omega?
Ryan-Brian-Bran-Band-Aid kicked the blankets off and swung his leg so he could straddle Gage’s lap. With his arms wound around Gage’s neck, he leaned in and started to nibble along the cut of his jaw. “Can I convince you to stay for another round? I’m ready to go if you are.”
The thought made Gage’s stomach roil in protest. What he wanted was to shake off this hangover before having to deal with the council of elders. Preferably with more hair of the dog down at the bar, and maybe something to eat to settle his queasiness. “Would love to, but sadly, my second called to bitch at me like an ex to get home and handle business.”
The omega pouted, lip pooched out in an attempt to be cute. “You sure? Wouldn’t take me long at all.”
This guy was getting on Gage’s last nerve now. With firm hands, he literally picked the omega up off his lap and shifted him to the side. He stood quickly so the omega couldn’t get his hands on Gage again. “Maybe another time.”
The omega was protesting something as Gage was out the front door like a shot. God, he really hated clingy omegas. It was like all they wanted was to bag some Alpha and tie them down.
Especially in Gage’s case. As the Alpha of the largest wolf pack in the state, Gage was prime marriageable material and it was like a siren’s song to every available beta and omega within a 50-mile radius.
And a huge pain in his ass.
The sun was annoyingly bright, which made the dimmer interior of Jinx’s all that much more comforting. The lower light level would help with the headache that was brought on when the sunlight burned his retinas.
Hangovers were not his favorite thing.
He lifted a chin to Sharon behind the bar in greeting.
“Hey, Gage,” she said as she gestured to the stool at the bar. “Usual?”
“And run a tab,” he said. “Gimme a menu. I’m fucking starving.”
She slid the neat whiskey in front of him next to the menu as he got comfortable. The drink burned down his throat as he looked over the lunch menu. Almost everything was going to be greasy and he self-checked to see if his stomach could handle it.
After he got out into the fresh air as he walked from Ryan-Brian-Bran-Band-Aid’s, it had settled down a bit so he figured he could keep a burger down.
It was the middle of the day and just after the lunch rush, so Jinx’s was quiet for the most part. A few tables sprinkled around had workmen huddled around, a young couple over against the far wall, clearly into each other. The pool table in the back had a game going.
Gage nursed his drink, watching the activity in the mirror behind the bar when he was struck by something familiar.
A face? No. Maybe. That may be part of it.
A scent.
Yeah. That was it. There was something in the air. Familiar, striking, deep and feeling very personal.
Gage had never felt anything like it before. It was more than feeling. It was more than a smell. It was a deep, vibrating, resonance that had his entire world clicking into place, slotting neatly to finish a puzzle that had stayed unsolved for too long.
On an instinctual level, Gage knew this was what he had been looking for in all the omegas he took to his bed. It was something he longed for but didn’t know he missed until he experienced it.
In fact, now in the face of a day that wasn’t hazed by heavy alcohol consumption, he seemed to remember he had scented this the night before.
In the hall! Of course!
But he couldn’t remember a face. Just the heavy scent of an omega barely on the verge of their heat.
The itch at the back of his neck increased and he felt the rise of his Alpha wolf, looking for his prey.
Looking for his mate. An unusual feeling to experience but Gage was a creature of instinct so he went with it.
So…who? There weren’t that many there; they were mostly Alphas and betas, and they all appeared occupied.
The hall door that led to the bathrooms swung open and the scent he had whiffed before overwhelmed him when the slender omega stepped out, wiping his hands down his thighs.
The omega leaned on the bar next to Gage and tried to get the bartender’s attention. After a few aborted attempts, Gage cleared his throat. “Sharon.”
Sharon turned and Gage motioned with a tilt of his head to the omega.
“Sure honey, what can I do for you?”
“There are no paper towels in the men’s room.”
Dear God, even his voice sounded musical to Gage’s ears. What was this?
The omega was in heat. Shit.
“I’ll send someone back. Thanks. You ready to settle up?”
“Yes, please.”
Sharon went to get the omega’s tab and Gage took the opportunity to turn towards him. “Hey,” Gage said with a low rumble that always worked to make omegas’ knees buckle.
The guy turned a withering look on him. His eyes widened just a bit before they narrowed again. “Hey,” he responded shortly.
Well that was unexpected. A resistant omega in heat? Now Gage was intrigued. It was already dangerous for an omega to be parading around in public with a heat this strong. That sort of thing always invited trouble and why omegas were always encouraged to travel in twos and threes when they were in their heat cycle.
Alpha wolves were ruled by their instinct, although most of them, including Gage, did rein it in tightly. Most Alphas didn’t like to force themselves on anyone, but with an omega in heat, it was still bound to stir up trouble.
A feisty, resistant omega was just too interesting to let go. “Can I buy you a drink?”
The omega turned to face the bartender, not looking at Gage anymore. “No thanks. It was a mistake coming here.”
What?
A feisty, resistant, mysterious omega? The holy trinity of Gage’s biggest weaknesses in omegas. Now he had to know more. “The food not to your liking?”
“Something like that.” Sharon interrupted them, sliding the receipt and a pen over for the omega to sign the credit card information.
Gage wouldn’t be obvious but he did angle his head to get a look at the name.
Wyatt Morgan.
He looked like a Wyatt. Not exactly a nerdy type, but his wiry build showed the obvious tension in his body. Gage wondered if he wore glasses. The omega would probably rock a pair of glasses pretty hard, unless he was wearing contacts. He couldn’t get the omega to look at him to see.<
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Wyatt slapped the pen down on the bar, took his receipt, and pushed away, brushing by Gage in a hurry.
That was a disappointment. Gage wouldn’t have minded getting to know what would make Wyatt Morgan loosen up a little.
Just as well, Gage decided. Aaron was expecting him back at the mansion shortly. He couldn’t afford to piss off his second-in-command any more than he had already.
Aaron wasn’t just any second; he was an Alpha second, which made him more of a bitch to deal with.
In the mirror, Gage watched as a pair of Alphas stood from the table, tossed money down, and left in a hurry. His instincts warned him that was trouble on the move.
3
Wyatt
Wyatt felt like his legs were about to give out. Once he was outside, he leaned against the building and took in large gulps of air. That Alpha at the bar was definitely the one he saw last night in the hallway of Noah’s apartment. He smelled just like him.
When Wyatt looked into his eyes, they were still the same deep brown, although his gaze was much clearer today.
And when he looked at Wyatt, when he smiled at him, Wyatt felt his heart rate ratchet up into triple digits.
It would have been so easy to follow through with Noah’s ridiculous plan to ask an Alpha to please knot with him so he could finish this stupid heat.
There was one problem with it, though.
Wyatt’s pride got the better of him. While he was contemplating lying down with an Alpha, no strings, just to get knotted, he still had his pride.
He didn’t believe he should have to beg someone to have sex with him. That wasn’t how relationships worked.
At least Wyatt wanted to believe that.
And that Alpha? He would only view Wyatt as another piece of omega meat. The idea chafed Wyatt’s pride. It insulted him.
When he was able to rebuff the Alpha’s advances and push away from the bar before succumbing to instinct and offering to suck the Alpha right there in the restaurant, Wyatt considered that a huge win.
Now? He needed to be gone and away from there. He’d figure something else out. If he couldn’t, he’d just eat the vacation and try again next year.
He didn’t see he had any other choice.
After a few deep breaths, Wyatt pushed away from the building and headed down the sidewalk to the corner to catch the bus.
Behind him, the door squeaked open and slammed shut. The overpowering scent of an Alpha—no, two Alphas—almost brought him to his knees a second time. It wasn’t the same tantalizing one he experienced at the bar inside.
This time, Wyatt felt queasy. It didn’t sit right with him. Intuitively, he knew he was in trouble. Maybe if he ignored them it wouldn’t be a problem.
“Hey, baby,” one of them said, crooning in his ear and giving him a start. Wyatt hadn’t expected them to catch up, but there they both were, one on each side. “You look like you could use some company.”
Oh God, no. Never.
Wyatt’s heat flared up, almost overriding his good sense.
With a deep breath, he focused his attention straight ahead. The bus stop was only a block away. Once there, maybe the people would dissuade his hangers-on to go away.
“Don’t be like that, pretty baby,” the other said. The Alphas closed the gap, crowding Wyatt’s personal space until they managed to get him to stop.
“No,” he said. It hurt physically to turn them down. Now was Wyatt’s chance to get rid of this damn heat and go on his vacation. That was why he went to Jinx’s in the first place, right?
He lifted his gaze to challenge the Alphas in front of him. They weren’t bad-looking, as far as annoying, pushy Alphas went, but they weren’t what he wanted. His heat may have been screaming in his head but his own inner wolf knew neither of these were what he truly wanted in his life.
Fine time for his inner wolf to get picky about it.
The first Alpha put a rough hand on Wyatt’s shoulder. “I think we can take really good care of you, man. What’s your name?”
Before the Alpha could hold on to him, Wyatt took a step back. “Buzz off.”
“Buzz, that’s a cute name for a cute omega. Don’t you want to have some fun?” The second Alpha had circled around Wyatt to prevent him from backing up any further. “We can tell you need it. Your scent has been driving us crazy ever since you first walked into the place.”
“Not interested.”
Panic built quickly in Wyatt’s gut. He shouldn’t have gone out alone, not in this condition. There was no one on the street to intervene. Shit. Shit!
A cruel, hard hand grabbed Wyatt’s arm and jerked to pin him against the building. “It won’t take long, little omega—”
Before Wyatt could protest further, the second Alpha’s head jerked back and he dropped to the ground. The first Alpha spun around. His friend was on the ground and they both were looking at the Alpha Wyatt recognized from Noah’s apartment building and in the bar.
“He said no. Surely you gentlemen—” and that came out in a dangerous snarl, “know what that means?”
“It’s cool,” the first Alpha said, hands raised. He started backing up, dragged his friend to his feet, and took further steps back to get out of the new Alpha’s reach. “We didn’t know he was yours.”
“Well, now you do,” the new Alpha said, advancing on them.
Advancing wasn’t the right word. He stalked towards them. Every muscle strained beneath the Alpha’s shirt.
Wow, that was sexy.
The other two Alphas beat a hasty exit down the street.
Once they were out of sight, the new Alpha looked at him again and Wyatt felt that same deep connection he first experienced in the apartment building hallway. “Did they hurt you?” the deep voice asked him.
Only this time, the deep voice wasn’t threatening, only soothing, like a cool spring flowing over bare feet on a hot day.
“N-no,” Wyatt stammered. “I’m fine. Thank you.”
“Alphas like that piss me off.” The Alpha stepped back and turned to face the direction of the bar. “You left really fast. I was willing to buy you a drink and maybe lunch. Have you eaten?”
Right. Wyatt had lost his nerve. After those Alphas, he wasn’t sure if trying to ride out this heat on his own was a good idea, unless he was willing to stay at home.
“No. I was just…thanks. Really, but I should be goin—”
“Come on,” the Alpha cooed. Funny, this time the coaxing enticement was actually appealing instead of a turnoff.
“I don’t want to be a problem.”
The Alpha blinked in confusion. “How would you be a problem?”
“Look,” Wyatt said with a resigned sigh. “I saw you last night with that omega. I don’t want to cause, you know, problems. Not interested in being someone’s one-night stand and I’m not interested in being used to make someone else jealous.”
“Whoa, whoa.” The Alpha held his hands up. “You’re making a lot of assumptions. I just offered to buy you lunch, not fuck you. Although,” he turned his hands palm up and shrugged, “I wouldn’t say no to that.”
“God, you Alphas are all alike.”
“Isn’t that why you went to Jinx’s to begin with? Everyone knows that’s where Alphas hang out. If an omega wants to get his freak on, they know to go there.”
Busted.
Wyatt’s mouth fell open, and then he snapped it shut with a click of his teeth.
“Thought so. Look. Hands off,” Alpha said, backing up to motion to the bar. “Just lunch. Then you go back and do your omega groovy thing somewhere else and I try to work off this hangover alone.”
“You did look pretty drunk last night,” Wyatt said with a soft chuckle.
“You have no idea.” The Alpha tilted his head in invitation. “I’m Gage,” he said.
“I’m Wyatt.”
“I know.”
There was a plate heaped with food waiting for Gage by the time they settled down at the bar again. Wyatt
ordered something light off the menu and a strawberry daiquiri.
Gage ate with gusto, with the verve of a starving man. Wyatt was actually a little impressed with the energy that Gage ate. His salad didn’t take long to get there and after the first bite, Wyatt was very glad to have something to eat. He didn’t realize his blood sugar was getting low.
“So,” Gage said, wiping at his mouth before taking a drink, “why are you here in Jinx if you’re not looking to get laid?”
Wyatt gave him a sour look and speared at his lettuce. “I was here to get laid.”
“Alright, what stopped you?”
Wyatt couldn’t figure out why Gage was so damn interested but the man was buying him lunch; he could at least engage in conversation. “I…need to knot to end my heat. I have a vacation coming up but the travel board is preventing me from going because my heat running its natural course will end only a few days before I fly out.”
“That is cutting it pretty close. I didn’t think omega heats were predictable.” Gage stuffed his burger in his mouth and chewed noisily.
Normally, that would have been a huge turnoff for Wyatt. With Gage, he found it rather endearing.
Or at least his inner omega wolf thought so. Wyatt needed to override that instinct. The need to breed was strong and coloring his perception. After they knotted, Wyatt was certain he’d find it annoying again.
“Yeah, it can be a little hard to pin down.”
“Surely you know someone who you can knot with to get it over and done,” Gage said.
“Not any Alphas,” Wyatt confessed. “I don’t have a lot of options.”
Gage grunted softly. “Wyatt, coming here in heat to knot? That was a really—”
“Dangerous, I know.”
“I was going to say stupid but dangerous works, too.”
Wyatt’s hackles rose at that. He was a lot of things, but he didn’t think he was stupid. “Well, thanks for the vote of confidence—”
“Come on, don’t be like that.” Gage wiped at his mouth and shoved his now-empty plate away for the bartender to bus. “I’m just saying that even during the day, Jinx’s can get a little rough. Like the two pushy assholes outside.”