Page 69 of Drama Queen

“Fuck off, Reaper.” I glanced at Reed over my shoulder, knowing he hated it when I used his unwillingly acquired nickname. “You get the joy of babysitting our new Queen. Maybe it’s you that should be concerned with last words.”

He scoffed at me, rolling his eyes and stepping back a bit. Anyone else would have gotten their ass handed to them for snarking me so much, but not Reed. He was the deadliest person in this house, even surpassing me by a bit, and I was always glad to have him on my side.

The guy had been my friend since we were children and my playmate since we had discovered that was an option, which just solidified when we’d both perfumed and realized we were scent mates. He was commanding and brash for a beta, clearly destined to be one of the guards protecting the Alpha, and even compared to me, he was a scary motherfucker. He was nearly as tall as I was, with black eyes and long dark brown hair that he kept messy and hanging down to the top of his shoulders.

“Maybe you two can braid each other’s hair. I think you would look fab–”

“Holy shit.”

Reed’s low voice cut through, and I realized that he wasn’t looking at me. When I briefly flicked my attention to Kai, it was the same. The guy was staring down the aisle, his mouth hanging open. I turned around, guessing they had to be distracted by the incoming omega.Horny assholes.

I rolled my eyes at how stunned they both looked, but when I finally focused on what was walking toward me, I was just as struck by the sight as they were.

“Jean.”

The word came out in a hushed whisper, and my entire body thrummed with electricity, a power to it that I’d never felt before. For half a second, I wondered why it would be different from the last time I’d seen her, but then I remembered her age then. She hadn’t perfumed yet when I’d seen her those years ago. Hell, she was like sixteen.

Fucking hell.

Nothing in my vocabulary could describe how incredibly stunning she was. I hadn’t paid any attention to what the staff had chosen for her dress, only insisting that it be something remarkable, expensive, and bound to leave an impression.

That it fucking did.

Jean was draped in white lace that stretched from where it framed her shoulders all the way down to the floor, running behind her in a long train. The lacey fabric was constructed strategically and had no backing fabric to keep her hidden. The warm golden tan peeked through the sheer sections of the gown, and all that delectable skin had my cock swelling behind my zipper.

Her long, deep brown hair had been piled up on top of her head, and Jean’s makeup was simple but alluring, particularly those gleaming teal eyes and her full, pouty lips. Her family had been a mix of Mediterranean and European ancestries, and they had come together to create the most spectacular specimen on the planet.

“Did you pick that fucking dress?” Reed growled, and I shook my head.

“No. You can blame the betas for delivering our Queen so on display.”

I wasn’t sure if I minded or not. Obviously, it was the sexiest fucking thing I’d seen–especially the mesh-like lace over Jean’s full breasts and the open panels along the side of them–but the idea that my entire family could see her like this made possessiveness boil through my blood.

Still, I couldn’t look away, and when she turned to bow gently toward the attendant who’d taken care of her train, the back of her dress was as sinful as the front. Silhouetted against the glowing light from the back of the room, I could see her lithe form through the lace, more sheer sections placed tantalizingly across the curves of her ass.

And the entire back was open, with only a thin row of pearl buttons running down her spine.

“I love it,” said Kai. “She looks good enough to eat.”

A flare of his syrupy omega scent rippled through the air, and it struck me like a damn Mac truck.Shit, the suppressants are supposed to be stopping that.

This was a problem. If I were already this desperate to claim Jean, it would be so much worse if her scent hit me. She was an omega, after all, and even if they weren’t a scent match, all omegas were designed to make an Alpha want to enter a rut.

Oh, and add in a male omega who can drive a female into heat? Ugh, I’m fucked.

“Keep yourself in check, Kai.” The command was subtle but still very present. “I’m not dealing with a heat until I say it’s time.”

“Of course, Alpha.” I watched him lower his head out of the corner of my eye. “But I don’t think it’s me that you need to be worried about.”

Just as he finished speaking, Jean reached me at the end of the aisle. I refocused, meeting her hazel gaze, and lowered my head toward her. She bowed in return, giving me the proper greeting as Alpha. As she sunk down, nearly touching her knee to the floor, my mouth watered. I could imagine her kneeling at my feet for so many reasons.

Goddamn, Cane. Come on. Pull it to–

But when she straightened, Jean closed the few feet of distance between us, taking her place to stand right at my side. Heat bloomed from her skin, and it hit me–saffron and incense, roses and sweet blackcurrants. It was perfection, and as one, we snapped our attention away from the officiant and toward each other. The suppressants were not, in fact, working well enough to stop what came next.

Mine. All fucking mine.

Four

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