“No trouble,” Kieran assured him, but went to clear the other tables.
Connie just looked amused. “Well?” she asked, wide-eyed and innocent. “I’m waiting to see alpha hands clearing the dishes.”
Thomas scowled at her, and weaved his way through the crowd to the trash can by the door, where another plastic bin was waiting for dirty dishes and silverware. He sorted it out, and turned, ready to go back to the table and gather his family up – since he doubted there’d be much chance to talk to Kieran that morning – when he saw it happen.
Kieran carried a heavy plastic bin, full of dirty dishes as he walked between the tables. His cheeks were pink with exertion, but there was a bright smile on his face as he grinned at Thomas, comfortable in his own space.
Kieran didn’t even glance at the alpha at the table. He certainly didn’t see when the alpha leaned over and grabbed his ass without any warning or word.
The change in Kieran’s expression was instant. From relaxed and happy to shocked and pained, eyes bulging in surprise, within a single second. Kieran fumbled the plastic bin, and cutlery and ceramic rattled and shook together, louder than all the conversations that continued around them. It was almost louder than if Kieran had dropped it altogether.
But even with the noise, Thomas could tell that Kieran hadn’t made a single sound. Not a squeak. Not a whimper. Nothing that could be heard over the jangling of the bell on the door as someone came in, and definitely not over his own deep-throated possessive-alpha growl.
Thomas shoved through the crowd as if it was butter. He didn’t even glance at Kieran, still staring stock still and in shock. Thomas hauled the offending alpha up and out of his chair, hands fisted in the other man’s lapels as his legs dangled below. Thomas could feel the anger rolling through him. The possessive rage turned into sheer adrenaline and energy now that he held the man in his hands. By contrast, the asshole looked about as small as a tomcat.
“Did you touch him?” Thomas demanded, more growl than speech.
The man’s eyes widened. Thomas was no longer conscious of anything else in the shop – just the alpha, and his own rolling anger, the way his breath cycled in and out of his lungs, the strain on his muscles and the feel of the fabric on his skin, rubbing and irritating and making him all the angrier.
“I….”
Thomas shook the man like a limp noodle. “Did. You. Touch. Him?”
The man’s eyes narrowed. “He’s an omega. He’s practically asking for it just by working here.”
Thomas’s growl rolled low and deep. The alpha vibrated from the sheer force of it. “Existence isn’t the same as asking, you asshole.” Thomas dropped the man back onto his chair, where he promptly slid right off and onto the floor. “Get out, and don’t let me see you here again.”
The man got up to his feet, glaring. “You don’t have the right—”
“But I do,” announced Cameron from behind the bar. “And if I see you in here – or see anyone manhandling my staff again – I’ll call the police.”
“Like they’d do anything,” scoffed the man.
“Maybe not,” agreed Cameron. “Easier to just shoot you. Hell of a pain to clean up, though. I suggest you leave quietly. Don’t worry about the refills you’ve been stealing, don’t come back and we’ll call it even.”
The man tugged on his coat, glaring at both of them, and left without another word. The moment he was gone, the noise in the coffee shop slowly worked back up to normal levels, and within a minute, it was as if nothing had happened at all.
Thomas breathed until he wasn’t seeing red anymore – and then remembered Kieran. Who had been standing there, last he knew.
Thomas turned, ready to ask if he was all right.
But Kieran was nowhere to be seen.
“Thomas?” asked Connie, a bit cautiously, and Thomas turned to see his sister behind him. Jessie was still at the table behind her, kneeling up on her chair, watching with wide, curious eyes, and Thomas didn’t think she was frightened, though Connie herself seemed somewhat uncertain, as if she thought Thomas might lash out again.
Kieran was nowhere to be found. Thomas’s nostrils flared for a moment – but the now-familiar scent of maple and oranges was a faint trail leading to the back of the shop. He wondered when Kieran had fled – at least it was to the back, where he was safe.
That’s what matters. That Kieran is safe. Even if Cameron looks like she’d rip my head off if I tried to find him. At least he’s safe.
Thomas breathed out. “It’s all right,” he said, and he could feel the anger slowly rolling back in, though it left him shaking a little. It was always like that, when the alpha possessive rage went through him – and the only thing that had ever helped was Felicity’s touch, her voice in his ear, her soothing scent to pull him back to center.
Connie reached out and touched his arm, gently – that helped. A bit.
Kieran’s hand would be better, he thought, but if he’d scared Kieran away… Thomas swallowed, and hoped he hadn’t scared Kieran away for good.
“Come on, time to go,” said Connie, and Thomas nodded. If he couldn’t have Kieran – just being at home would be enough to calm him the rest of the way down. To bring him back to center.
It’d have to be.
Chapter Eight
Kieran’s heart was still pounding, and in the dark stairwell leading up to the apartment over The Coffee Pot, it was easy to imagine that he could hear every beat echoing against the walls, louder for the silence that surrounded him.
Did. You. Touch. Him?
Kieran breathed. It was the easiest thing in the world to do, which was ridiculous, because nothing just then felt easy. It had all happened so quickly. He’d seen the alpha octopus sitting at his regular table, same as he was every week, but with his head so full of Thomas, he’d forgotten to dodge out of the way.
And then the pinch. Not even a pinch, it was more than that. Kieran could practically still feel the fingers as they dug into the cleft of his ass, as if seeking entry. The way they cupped and held the roundness of his butt cheek, pushing up into it, molding it into the palm of his hand, just before he squeezed, so hard that Kieran felt his entire body about lift up into the air.
Kieran squirmed on the staircase, wishing he could rub the feeling away.
The door below opened, letting in the noise from the coffee shop again – all bright chatter and the scrape of cutlery, the hiss of the coffee maker and shuffling of feet and chairs back and forth. Kieran saw the silhouette against the light, and his heart nearly stopped.
“Kieran?” asked a soft voice. Sally. Kieran tried to breathe again.
“I’m here.”
Sally closed the door behind her, shutting the noise away. Kieran curled up into a ball on the step and listened as she climbed up the stairs, and then sat on the step below his, stretching her legs out. She was so small, she fit perfectly.
“So,” said Sally. “That was him?”
“Yeah,” said Kieran through his folded arms.
Sally nodded thoughtfully. “Never seen an alpha rage before. That was….”
“Scary?”
“Intense.” Sally cocked her head a bit. “Did you think it was scary?”
Kieran reviewed it, and then slowly shook his head. “Sort of. Not because of him.”
“Why, then?” prodded Sally.
Kieran shook his head. “You’re a beta, you wouldn’t understand.”
The stairway was quiet for a moment, except for the sound of Sally’s breathing, slow and steady and uncommonly loud.
When Sally spoke, Kieran could hear the hard edge to her voice. “That asshole has groped me just as often as he’s groped you, and I’ve never had a knight in shining armor come to my rescue. Not like you just did. And you’re telling me you were scared? Hell, I’d want to throw myself at him and never let go.”
“Yeah, well,” said Kieran dryly, “that would be the scary part.”
Sally pursed her lips, th
inking. “What, that you actually wanted to throw yourself at him? Isn’t that the point? Big, super-strong alpha comes to your rescue, and—”
“And I’m reduced to the omega in distress, so grateful to be saved,” snapped Kieran, lifting himself up a bit. “There is a huge difference between being saved and being safe.”
“You don’t think he’d keep you safe?”
“Not from myself, no,” said Kieran firmly, wrapping his arms around his knees. “I’m not… I don’t….” Kieran sighed, frustrated with his inability to voice what he was feeling. “It’s a little difficult to separate out what I’m feeling in my head versus what the pheromones might be inducing, you know?”
“Not really,” said Sally. “Wanna try explaining the difference?”
Kieran laughed, and shook his head as he let it fall back. “You’re joking, right?”
“Nope,” said Sally. “I’m a beta. I don’t know squat about pheromones. But apparently I’m still fair game to alpha octopuses, so… educate me.” She threw her arms wide, which just made Kieran laugh harder. “Stop laughing, I’m serious.”
“Okay, fine,” said Kieran, focusing on her again. “Well, when an alpha and an omega reaalllly love each other – or at the very least, the omega’s about to go into heat—”
Sally shoved him. “Not that basic, you idiot. Tell me what you felt when the great big hunka-hunka-hunking alpha was shaking the octopus two feet off the floor just now.”
Kieran rested his chin on his hand, thinking. “I… like, this gravitational pull, you know? Like he was kind of drawing me in, and all I wanted to do was sidle up behind him, and keep him in between me and everyone else. Like he was a shield against the rest of the world.”
Sally’s eyebrows raised. “Like he’d keep you safe?”
“Yeah,” said Kieran, but he was shaking his head. “But… not really? Because in my head, there was an asterisk there. Safe, but only safe from anyone who wasn’t him, and it didn’t really matter if I was safe from him or not, because… I don’t know how to explain it, exactly.”
But Sally was already nodding thoughtfully. “Because he was claiming you, and if you gave in, you’d submit to being claimed, which makes it all right. Sort of.”
Kieran’s breath caught in his throat. “…Yeah,” he said, thoughtfully. “I… yeah. Sort of.”
Sally was still thoughtful. “So… not so much sexual as… just seeing him as a safer haven than any other option?”
Kieran frowned. “I guess. I mean, there’s a sexual element in there too, because that’s what would happen next. Or would, back when we all lived in caves with the dinosaurs. Alpha fights other alpha, dominant alpha claims omega as spoil of war, cue mating.”
“Okay,” said Sally. “But what did you feel about him before the alpha octopus decided to get frisky? And don’t tell me nothing,” she added, “because I saw you leaning on his chair. Sum it up in one word.”
Kieran winced. “I wasn’t—”
Sally snorted. “One word.”
Kieran sighed, and shut his mouth, thinking.
The warmth from Thomas’s back – the fabric of his shirt just faintly brushing up against Kieran’s knuckles – the scent of his hair rising, stronger than the coffee or omelet or scone. The frustration every time Kieran was pulled away from watching them, every time someone gave him something to do that delayed his ability to go over and talk to them.
“Need,” said Kieran. “But… not sexual. Not exactly. Just… I wanted to be near him. Talk to him. Have him look at me, and see me, you know?”
Sally’s smile was slow and steady. “Sounds a bit like the beginning of love, to me.”
“It’s not love,” insisted Kieran.
“Not yet, anyway,” said Sally. She leaned forward. “What do you feel right now, when you think about him?”
The warmth spread upward, straight from Kieran’s gut and into his chest, out along his limbs, leaving him limber and loose. The stair became almost too hard as every nerve ending sprang into focus, flexing out and relaxing.
Sally began to chuckle, watching him, and Kieran felt the warmth on the back of his neck. He wondered what had given him away.
“You do like him,” said Sally, amused.
“It’s just the pheromones,” said Kieran firmly, holding himself in tightly.
“Oh, yeah? Then tell me this: Cameron’s the one who actually banned the octopus from coming back. You feel the same about her?”
Kieran snorted. “No. No. She’s… she’s like my sister.”
“Exactly,” said Sally. “And you’ve been living with her for, what, six months now? This isn’t your omega pheromones responding to just any random dominant alpha, Kieran, or you would have reacted to Cameron just as strongly and a long time ago. You liked this guy before he showed his dominant side – now your pheromones are just kicking in their opinion, which, incidentally, lines up with what your brain’s already picked up on.”
The looks he and Thomas had exchanged; the hesitation as they’d stood in the same room, separated by a Lego city; the laughter as they bantered together, eyes bright and mouths smiling.
The kiss in Thomas’s car as the rain had pelted down around them, a tiny grey metal cocoon. The one neither of them had mentioned since, as if imagining it hadn’t happened could possibly diminish its importance in either of their minds.
“Oh, shit,” Kieran groaned. “What the hell do I do now?”
Sally rolled her eyes. “And here I thought omegas and alphas had it easy,” she said to the wall. “Listen to your pheromones, idiot, and jump him.”
“He’s my employer, Sally,” snapped Kieran. “I can’t just sleep with him.”
“Who said anything about sleep?”
Kieran covered his face with his arms. “Are you seriously limited to three minutes of helpfulness a day?”
“I like to space it out,” said Sally, and she stood up. “Come on, you have half an hour before your lunch break and you are not stiffing me with the lunch rush.”
“At least we’re unlikely to have any other octopuses today,” said Kieran, letting Sally pull him to his feet.
“Hell, I’d say we’ve got a week-long grace period,” said Sally cheerfully. “Don’t suppose you could use those omega wiles to get lover-boy to repeat the performance as necessary? Totally make my life easier.”
Kieran snorted and followed Sally down the stairs. He didn’t have to even look at the tables to know that Thomas was no longer in the coffee shop. Not that he’d expected Thomas to wait for him – not really, anyway, he told himself, as he tried to ignore the disappointment as he stepped out of the stairwell. Maybe Thomas had been just as unnerved about his reaction to the alpha octopus as Kieran had been.
Which brought on a whole new set of worries. Kieran might have been just starting to admit that he might have feelings for Thomas… and the kiss they’d shared on Thursday night might have been the best kiss he’d had in his entire life, and fueled a few too many fever-inducing dreams since… but maybe Thomas wasn’t quite there yet. And he’d said Kieran wasn’t his type.
But his touch the night before… the possessive glint in his eye when he strode toward the alpha octopus… the way his breath had caught, when Kieran leaned over him….
The very real way Kieran could still feel the press of Thomas’s fingers as they circled around his back. The strength and purpose in Thomas’s arms, as they pulled Kieran closer to his chest, where Kieran could feel the pounding of Thomas’s heart.
The way Thomas’s breath had hitched when they’d kissed. Just thinking about it made Kieran want to head straight back to Thomas, crawl up into his lap, and never leave.
Imagination, Kieran told himself firmly, ready to start clearing tables again. Thinking about Thomas – and what Thomas might be feeling, or not feeling – was pointless, when there was still work to do, and plenty of time to brood about it later.
Kieran barely had time to pick up an empty plastic bin before he fe
lt two hands come down on his shoulders and spin him around.
“Are you all right?” demanded Mark Corvey, holding Kieran firmly at arm’s length, bending over just enough to look into Kieran’s eyes. “I saw what happened—”
“Hey!” shouted Sally, shoving against the attacker hard enough to jostle Kieran, too. “What the hell—?”
“It’s okay, Sally,” said Kieran, struggling to keep his footing. “I know him.”
Mark didn’t budge, or even seem to notice Sally. “Did he hurt you?” he asked, urgently, eyes darting over Kieran’s face – and to his neck, just where a bondbite would go, Kieran noted, and he wasn’t sure how to feel about that.
“Fa,” said Kieran, trying to keep calm despite his father’s iron-fisted grip on his biceps. He saw Sally suck in a breath out of the corner of his eye as she realized who Mark was to Kieran. “I’m okay. It’s okay. You can let go of me.”
Mark Corvey let out a thin breath of air, and then shook, as if suddenly realizing that he was holding Kieran tightly in public. He let go so suddenly that Kieran almost toppled over. “Sorry, I…” He ran a hand through his hair and glanced around, as if worried who might have noticed. Luckily for them, they were still in the alcove at the back of the shop; no one except the baristas could really see them. “I came in just as that man grabbed you.”
“Well, he won’t be coming back in anymore,” said Sally, still wary of Mark. She shot Kieran another assessing glance, and he smiled at her. “Kieran, if you’re all right?”
“I am,” said Kieran firmly, and waited until Sally had nodded and moved away before turning back to Mark. “I really am, Fa. I’m sorry you saw that, but it’s fine.”
“It’s not fine,” said Mark, the growl barely perceptible. It sounded different coming from Mark than it did Thomas – or maybe it just had a different effect on Kieran. Thomas growling, that had sparked warmth and want and wet – but Mark? It just made Kieran feel small and young, and the combination was irritating. “You shouldn’t have to put up with that nonsense.”
The Omega Nanny Page 12