Page 4 of Vegas Baby!

It was a stupid question. Ava didn’t know me, but I couldn’t leave her out here, and I sure as hell couldn’t let her go back to Andrew. I couldn’t even say that he was safe for her to be around in any sense. Before today I never would’ve thought he had it in him. Sure, he was kind of an arrogant prick at work, but this was a whole different level of fucked up.

“Ava?”

She turned toward the voice behind us and I took in the beefy dark-haired alpha standing there with two bags of takeout he’d dropped at his feet. It took a few seconds before recognition flickered in her eyes.

“Luke? What are you doing here? Do youlivehere?”

He ignored her question and said instead, “Is this guy bothering you?”

He asked it aboutmeand I instantly bristled.

“No, he’s?—”

“Her scent match.”

Ava’s eyes widened. Fuck. I wasn’t on blockers, but I had showered with a neutralizing wash after my flight had gotten in and it obviously hadn’t worn off yet. She didn’t know about thematch because she couldn’t scent me. While I was entertaining thoughts of tossing myself into the fountains behind her to wash it all away, the other alpha approached her, my growl slipping out.

“You’re being a shit scent match if your omega is crying in the streets,” Luke snapped.

“Fuck you! I’m not the one who made her cry.”

I might’ve been the reason she found out, but I certainly wasn’t the one running around here with a secret family.

“You’re the only one around here,” Luke countered.

Ava let out a soft distress whine and we both instantly shut the fuck up, turning back to her. “It’s not his fault. We just met and he was trying to help.”

Luke looked suspiciously between the two of us. I tried not to take it personally. He was looking out for my omega, but I didn’t know him, and from the sounds of it, Ava hadn’t been expecting to see him.

“You just met and he’s asking a crying woman back to his room? Classy.”

I growled. “I was offering her the space. I wasn’t going to stay there with her.”

“Sure. Super believable.”

What was up with his asshole?

“Ava, you want to tell me what’s going on?” he asked, much softer for her than he had been for me.

She spilled out the whole story, new tears falling, and Luke stood there dumbfounded, absorbing the details.

“I don’t know what to do,” she confessed. “I already quit my job and ended the lease on my apartment because I was supposed to move to New York at the end of the month.”

“I live in New York.” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop myself. She wasn’t going to want to move in withme either, but I wanted her to know that future was still a possibility.

Luke beat her to the punch. “I’m not letting her move in with someone she met today.”

“Who the hell even are you?” I snapped back.

“A family friend, not that it’s any of your business.”

“Luke and my brother were best friends growing up,” Ava explained. “I’ve known him my whole life, or at least I did before he moved away.”

At least that explained why he was so protective of her and she hadn’t expected him to be around.

“I don’t expect you to accept, Ava, but I want you to know the offer is there. We’re scent matches and I want to help. If you’re already planning on moving to the East Coast anyway, you could stay with me.”

“Aves, why don’t you come stay at my place tonight? It’s an apartment, but I can sleep on the couch. We can figure things out in the morning. Plus, I’ve got dinner ready to rock,” he said, picking up the bags of takeout.

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