Page 73 of Rut Bar

“Be good,” I whisper. “I’m stepping out to get something we need. And remember, if you bite her, even if she begs for it, she’ll never forgive you. Keep your teeth to yourself while I’m gone, Jamie. Do you understand?”

Jamie nods, his brow knitting together.

I kiss him again. “I love you. Be back soon.”

He tracks me as I stand and leave the room. On my way out, I grab the rag we’re using to mop up the worst of the spilled fluids. Vee won’t let me change the sheets. When I try, she snarls. I shove a corner of the cloth in my back pocket and let it hang like a hankie.

Despite my warning to him, I’m not too worried. For an alpha, Jamie is as submissive as they come. Even when he’s topping, it’s more about servicing her and giving her what her omega instincts make her want.

I shove my feet into my boots, grab his car keys from the dish by the door, and get into his ridiculous van.

I have a stubborn alpha to track down.

ChapterTwenty-One

BRENDAN

“What the hell?”I say as I rush down the hallway from my office. The banging starts up again. It sounds like the police are about to knock my door down.

I throw the door open without looking through the peephole. “Can I help y?—”

My mind stutters to a grinding halt when I see that it’s the beta bartender from Rut. Anthony. The man who blew me last night.

My forehead creases with a frown.Why is he here? And how the fuck did he get my home address?

I glance in either direction to see if anyone is out and about. Two of my neighbors, middle-aged married beta women, power walk by in their expensive pastel athleisure outfits. They crane their necks to stare as they walk on. The tatted-up beta on my doorstep looks more at home at a biker bar rather than a sleepy suburb where every cookie cutter house looks like the next one.

“Anthony. Come inside.” I step aside and pull the door wider so he can slip in before the entire neighborhood can come out to watch.

Anthony pops upright from where he was leaning on the doorway. He looks me up and down as he strolls into my home like he owns it. His dirty boots leave marks on my clean tile. I shut the front door and lock it out of habit.

“How did you get my address?” I ask.

He wanders through my house, ignoring me while looking at everything with zero shame about his snooping. I feel suddenly protective of my modest valley home.

“The secretary at your office is a flirt.” Anthony folds his arms over his chest as he looks at the family pictures hung up in the hallway.

“What did you tell her?” I ask, worried. Ashley is a sweet girl, but she’s a total gossip.

“Relax.” Anthony turns to look at me and smirks as he shoves his hands in his jean pockets so they ride lower on his stomach. His black shirt is tight and a strip of inked skin shows in the gap. “I told her I was your cousin, the black sheep recently returned into the flock’s folds, but wouldn’t you know it? I broke my phone and lost your address and phone number.” He pulls a slip of paper from his pocket and shows me her tidy script on the yellow sticky note. “She was happy to help me reconnect.”

I resist the urge to take the bait and reach for the note. That’s probably what he wants. Instead, I fold my arms over my chest. “Well, you found me. What can I do for you?”

Was this entire thing a ruse? Some weird sort of blackmail to get their audit passed with flying colors? God, I’m so stupid. Of course, that’s what this is. It was stupid to think otherwise. What pack would want an old, injured alpha?

“She needs you,” Anthony says.

“What?” My crossed arms slip from surprise.

Anthony ignores me and wanders into my sitting room. He flops into a chair and puts his boots on my coffee table. And then he reaches into his back pocket and throws something at me.

I catch it out of the air to keep it from hitting me square in the face, but that doesn’t stop the waft of pheromones from punching me in the sinuses. My cock twitches to life in my pants as I get a good whiff of Vee’s heat-thick slick and their cum.

“It’s not surprising,” Anthony drawls with his chin pinched between his fingers, “that Vee’s a demanding little thing. We need another top to balance the pack.”

My hands clench around the pheromone-soaked towel, and I drop it away from my face so I can think. But no matter what direction my brain keeps spinning, I keep coming back to one thing. “Why me?”

He shrugs. “Why not? She likes the way you smell. I think your personality fits. Jamie thinks you’re cute.”

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