Page 12 of Packed Up In Vegas

“The show starts in twenty minutes,” Miles said quietly.

“I have to do it,” I told them. “I need the money and I don’t want to get anyone in trouble.”

“What do you need that much money for?” Diego asked.

I turned to him, watching his hands flex like he was trying to keep himself from reaching for me. I didn’t have the mental fortitude to tell the whole story. Maybe after the heat when I wasn’t so raw. I didn’t want them to know how badly I had fucked up trusting Jerry. I had already spilled that he had betrayed me, but they didn’t know everything.

“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “I’ll do it. Please don’t ruin this opportunity for me.”

Miles looked relieved, and Amir looked the opposite, quietly stewing with his brows pinched.

“If we need to get other alphas to help me?—”

“No!” they chorused.

“Okay, okay,” said Amir. “This is complete insanity, but I’d rather let them see her than let anyone else touch her.”

Diego sat down on the other side of Kai and hauled me onto his lap. My conscious mind managed a half second of protest before my body went feral and I locked every limb around him. “I’ve got you,” Diego said quietly.

“What the hell are we even supposed to do with a mate?” Amir asked. “We can’t keep doing this job if we have an omega at home.”

Diego adjusted my weight and put his hands over my ears as if I were a toddler they were afraid of cursing around. “We’ll talk about it later.”

“Let me take care of her,” said Miles. “I haven’t taken any neutralizers for my scent blockers so she’s not going to react to me the same way as you guys. I’ll watch her until it’s time to get her on stage. You can all go out there and wait.”

Not a single one of them looked like they wanted to do that, but they all complied, Diego passing me over to Miles.

When they had left the room, Miles let me take the respirator off. The air was still thick with their scents, sending goosebumps rippling over my skin, and slick pooling between my thighs, but it wasn’t as strong as if they were in front of me.

“I’m sorry,” said Miles as he did his best to tidy my makeup while I was stuck to him.

“For?” I snuggled up against his chest, needing the security of his arms.

“I never would have offered you this job if I had known you were our mate.”

I pressed my fingers to his lips to silence him. I didn’t want to think about that part right now. The encroaching heat was making it too difficult to think and I didn’t dare consider the future, or what having mates actually meant. Only the next few days mattered.

“Nest?” I mumbled. All I wanted in this second was to crawl into a mountain of blankets and drag the alphas in after me.

“I’m sorry, sweetness. There’s no nest on stage, but I promise there will be something here for you whenever you need a break. It won’t be as good as a nest you make yourself, but I’ll get something put together once the show starts.”

“You’re still sure I’m going to be good at this?”

“Absolutely.”

“You don’t mind them seeing me?”

“I look at all of this a bit differently than the others. I don’t want anyone in that audience to touch you, but I do love the idea of them squirming with jealousy and desire for someone they can never have.”

That declaration had lust curling in my belly, my brain summoning up the images of all those people salivating over me, and my body lit up at the concept.

Miles only grinned at me. “I take it the idea isn’t unsavory to you?”

“It should be,” I admitted. “I’ve never been watched or thought I would like it, and maybe it’s the heat hormones, but fuuuck me. The other people out there can’t touch me, right?”

“That will be your choice,” said Miles. “It depends on how many tips you want and whether the others are going to be willing to allow anyone to touch you.”

“I don’t know how to do this, Miles. It was already a lot before the whole mates thing.”

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