Page 140 of Why Cruise

“I’ll make room on my payroll for you. My pit could use a boss with your particular skill set.”

“My alpha’s a 9-5 type. I’m not working nights.” Ren casually drew a finger down his bite mark. It would be gone soon.

“Day crew then, the casino is 24 hours.”

“And let my omegas be all lonesome without me?”

Ren was dishing out his own cryptic shit now. “My alpha. My omegas.” He was claiming his own ownership of us. Win narrowed his eyes, making the corners crinkle as he read into the subtext.

“Moxie,” Ren said, done with the Win conversation, “Give Nico my love?”

“Give Nico the five thousand dollars you stole from him.” She was talking to Ren, but fixated on Theo and Mackenzie.

“Won, not stole.” Ren smiled.

Moxie took a step closer to the table and leaned toward Mackenzie. “What does he smell like to you?” She indicated Theo.

“Coconut.” Mackenzie replied, sitting up straighter in surprise.

“Did you two bite each other?” She asked Theo, who shook his head. “Childhood friend? No? Shared near death experience?” They shook their heads, looking confused as Moxie was. She looked back at Ren, taking him in from head to toe.

“Ren Twill, I’ll give this one to you for free. Consider it a pack warming gift, but you still owe Nico. Fix what you broke.”

That landed like a ton of bricks on Ren. I could feel it in the pack bonds, heavy and almost desperate. It was guilt. She turned to our omegas next, gesturing at them with both hands.

“I don’t know what the fuck this is. You two look like scent matches, and that is literally impossible. Omegas don’t scent match to each other. Can’t scent match to each other. We don’t have the biology. So I don’t know what the fuck to tell you.”

“You’re an auracle.” Mackenzie said in awe as our pack bonds went quiet with shock.

“And you,” Moxie turned to me, “Get over yourself. If you’re going to play this game,” she used her thumb to indicate Star and Win behind her. “Lean into this,” she made a circle with her index finger to encompass my pack, “all of it, with all of you.”

What the fuck does that mean? This was worse than cryptic mobster shit.

“I’ll go make your drinks. You. Come with me. I want a word.” She pointed at Theo and then strode away from the table.

Theo looked to me, then to Ren, as if for permission, and I refused to set that precedent.

“Excuse me,” he said to Aria as he followed Moxie to the bar.

Theo

Scent match? What did that mean? The auracle on the cruise ship had been wrong. She had told Mackenzie she had already found her pack. But Daryl… my steps faltered. Had she meant me?

Moxie was already behind the bar, gathering glasses. The bartenders in crisp white shirts and bow ties scattered out of her way, almost like they were afraid of her.

“What’s your name?”

“Theo,” I answered. A thousand questions flooded my head, but somehow it didn’t seem the right time to ask them.

“Was she abused?” Moxie asked, her hands flying around the bottles and tools. She set four different glasses on a little tray.

How to fucking answer that question? What was she seeing in Mackenzie’s aura? I thought back to Daryl, watching her delight as they passed her back and forth and then the moments that turned to discomfort.

“She doesn’t see it that way?” she prompted.

“I honestly don’t know how to answer that. You know how some alphas are.”

“And some omegas.” She dropped a maraschino cherry in a glass and topped it off with bright red liquid.

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