Page 46 of Shaken Knot Stirred

She angled her bodyin just the right way to capture attention. The lounge was rigged with spotlights, but the paragon didn’t bask in that glory. She kept herself half in shadow so the light would caress her curves, making the eyes chase for fulfillment.

Aria had been surprisingly helpful. She knew literally everyone and was deft at sorting them into different categories. Some she turned away with a sympathetic touch to their arm. Others she downright bullied out of the lounge. She might as well have“gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss” tattooed on her ass. The spotlight didn’t treat me half as well as it treated her.

“So as I was saying, I got my associate’s in hospitality management, and I was the president of Omega Mu Gamma at Caduceus, of course.”

I turned to the sacrificial lamb perched on the sofa beside me. Her coppery hair was cut short, framing her round face perfectly. I didn’t run into many omegas with short hair. Her fingers were twisted around an expensive fountain pen, probably a graduation gift. Win and Aria were no doubt in cahoots. Win knew I didn’t want this. Any of it. I didn’t want a pack just to fulfill family obligations that would put me in charge of the most luxurious heat hotel in the city. What the heck did I know about running a hotel?

“I’m sorry, you were saying?” I pulled myself back from the brink of poor little rich boy problems.

“Oh, yes,” she rifled through her black leather portfolio for a sheet with colorful charts. “I did my senior project on Pantheon. While client retention outperforms industry standards, the numbers do point to a potential issue in the area of staffing.”

My phone dinged. I itched to check it, but that would earn me a sharp rebuke from Aria. The paragon somehow managed to orchestrate this whole affair and keep me in line at the same time. It wasn’t this girl’s fault. She was seeking an opportunity that was rare and coveted. And I couldn’t blame her for that. But I also couldn’t care about it.

“Angelica…”

“Amelia,” she corrected me.

Fuck.

I was messing this up, too. “You’re amazingly accomplished and beautiful.” I felt her aura bloom around me. All omegas seemed to have praise kink worked right into their biology.

Except Moxie.

When I had her bent over the pool table, she hadn’t melted into complete goo at pretty words. When I was inside her, demanding an orgasm from her, letting her revel in my touch, that’s when she melted.

My breath caught. Moxie had been masquerading as a beta. I hadn’t picked up on her scent or her aura at all. I had made love to her as if she were a beta, and in that moment, she responded like an omega without the expectation of how an omega should be.

Amelia was talking again. Her smile was soft, but unsure. I looked at her neck, trying to picture my teeth there, and the image wouldn’t coalesce. There were only two people in the universe whom I could picture with my mark there. One I could never have. The other was in harm’s way.

I fished my phone out of my pocket and excused myself. I clenched my teeth and turned away from the picture-perfect omega before me, crumbling at my rejection. Aria gave me a sharp look, telling me how naughty I was being in no uncertain terms. I practically ripped a champagne glass out of a black-tie-clad server’s hand and downed it in one go. Sensing that I was in need, he handed me another.

Finally, looking at my phone, there was a text from Houston.

Houston:

At a hair salon a few miles from DL. Going through footage. Better shot of the truck.

I clicked on the image to enlarge it. If this was a “better” picture, Houston had better eyes than I did. It was grainy and pixelated, and even zooming in, I couldn’t see the license plate clearly. Two people were in the cab, but that was about all I could make out.

“Let’s not do this today.” Win kept his voice low, but I had been programmed since birth to respond to that tone. He was in Big Brother mode. That was the tone he used to bully his brothers.

Beg’s grin was wide and vicious as he blew off Win’s hand on his chest. The only thing he loved more than going after his brothers was family money. If Win was like a dark, elegant sports car, quiet in its luxury and power, Beg was a gaudy, tricked-out street racer getting off on causing public mayhem and evading the police.

I tucked my phone in my pocket and unbuttoned my suit jacket. Pay stepped in front of me, putting his body between us. He had always taken the stance that if we ignored Beg enough, he’d just go away. That hadn’t worked when we were kids.

Beg made an exaggerated move to lean around Pay and size me up. His mocking nod did all the speaking for him. Pay and Win always put themselves between us for the sake of family and pack.

“Aww, Pay, have they given you a raise for babysitting yet?” Beg said.

“Um, Mr. Knightbridge?” I did a double take at the little omega standing at my elbow. “Can… Can I go?” Her voice was barely above a whisper.

That’s when I noticed a wide circle had opened up around us. It wasn’t anything we said or our body language. People were instinctively reacting to our auras. Yet another Knightbridge brawl was about to go down.

I struggled to pull my energy back from the quaking omega. I turned my back on Beg and ushered her to Aria, putting her in good, safe hands.

“Leave your information with Aria, and we’ll talk,” I lied. I would never see this girl again, but that wasn’t the point.

“Little omega, c’mere and see what a real alpha can do to you.”

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