Page 103 of Altius
Favors. Clout by association. Sex. Submission.
I’d long learned how to see through them. That’s how I knew, for all his slipperiness, that Joaquin was honest.
And the most terrifying type of alpha was a devoted one.
Twenty-Four
Morgan
“Ithink it’s the most wonderful idea, but Jacobi’s always been so smart,” Papa chattered in my ear as I marched up the stairs to the second floor of the loft. “Why didn’t you tell me he was in town? Then again, you don’t tell us much these days. Didn’t even know you had a heat, let alone a boyfriend.”
After confirming the TV room was empty, I strode down the walkway toward the guest suite.
“As soon as we hang up, send me their numbers, okay? Do it right away—so you won’t forget. All right, honey?”
“Uh-huh,” I said, kicking open the guest room door.
My best friend, the backstabber, was reclining on the bed, eating spicy chips he’d pilfered from my nest, awaiting me with a triumphant smirk.
“Love you, Papa. See you tomorrow.”
“Yes, tomorrow. I’m so excited! Can’t wait to see you. All of you,” he said, just as my temper neared its boiling point. “Oh, I love Christmas.”
After hanging up, I dropped my phone on the dresser and turned on Jacobi. “You.”
“How was I supposed to know you didn’t tell them about Cal?” he asked, licking cheese dust off his fingers with feigned innocence. “You never tell me anything anymore, either. Andhere I’d been so upset, almost bereft, at the thought of you muddling through your heat with half a dozen anonymous knots down at the designation center. When lo and behold, you were being pampered and worshipped for days on end by five exquisite specimens—”
I walloped him with a throw pillow.
“Athank youlunch?” Ignoring his raised arms and protests of surrender, I continued to pelt him. “I wanted to ease Cal into meeting my family, hadn’t even begun to think about reintroducing Wyatt, and now—now—it’s a huge fucking mess, all because ofyou!”
Jacobi wrestled the pillow out of my grip and scurried away, panting hard while trying to fix his hair. Not that it helped. His curls were the only thing that had fewer scruples than he did.
“Chill out, would you? They live across the hall. You work with most of them. And they took amazing care of you after your seizure. All perfectly justifiable reasons for your parents to treat them to lunch.” With a final swipe of his hand through his hair, Jacobi swooned against the headboard with an evocative sigh. “Throw in some delicious heat action, and—”
“You invaded my privacy!”
“Relax, Momo.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“No one calls me Bee anymore.” He wrapped his arms around the throw pillow and pouted.
“Stay on topic. You sold me out.”
“No, I greased the wheels. If they disapprove of your pheromone stud, four other easy targets will be sitting right there. And maybe we’ll finally get to see Wyatt fold Ethan into a pretzel.”
“You told them about my heat!”
“Oh no,” he said in a sarcastic monotone. “I reassured your parents their omega daughter has been doing omega things—thehorror. Because skipping heats for three years is totally healthy and normal. Not concerning in the least. I mean, don’t we all have seizures and wind up passed out on basketball courts?”
“It was an exam room,” I countered, despite knowing my argument was pathetic at best.
“Oh, I beg your pardon—I’ve never had the pleasure.” Jacobi threw the pillow in my direction, but I dodged it. “Tell me, was this exam room floor any softer than the one at the children’s hospital, you know, when you passed out from exhaustion and had to be hospitalized for a week?”
Clawing at my hair, I tilted my head back and counted to ten. “It wasn’t my fault this time.”
“Never said it was.” Jacobi softened, all sugar and sweetness now that I’d withdrawn my fangs. “But I will go out on a limb and say you bounced back in record time, thanks to Cal and the new neighbors. Especially that very pretty beta. The sausage egg thing he made—delicious. Maybe even on par with Kelsey’s cooking.”
