Page 5 of The Alpha: Part One
"I'm going to go sit down for a minute," I yell into Amber's ear. "I'll get us some water."
She grins and nods at me, then resumes grinding against Lucas. Lucas manages to drag his eyes away from her body long enough to nod at Sebastian to follow me back to the table. I’m at the bar to get water for everyone and when Alpha Flores sidles up next to me.
"It's nice to finally see you at a meet, Desir'ee. Are you enjoying yourself?"
I glance over at Sebastian. He shrugs, but I see his shoulders tense. Sebastian hasn't found his pack yet, and Alpha Flores significantly outranks him. He's also older than Sebastian. But Sebastian is my brother and one of my chaperones for this shit fest, so that gives him the authority to tell Alpha Flores to leave me alone if that's what I want. Lucky for Sebastian, I love him enough to try to avoid putting him in a position to go up against another alpha on my first night out as an available omega. And Alpha Flores is definitely the type of man to hold a grudge against an unestablished young alpha trying to be a buffer for his sister. "I'm having a good time so far. I'm enjoying being out with my family." The bartender needs to hurry up with those waters. I need away from this man. He smells like stale cigars and he keeps looking down the front of my body like he has any right to.
"Did I hear someone congratulating you? What are you celebrating tonight?"
Where is that bartender? "Oh. Um. Yes. I'm graduating."
"What have you studied? Last I knew, you were working toward a nursing degree, but that shouldn't take a smart girl like you more than a couple years, especially if she fast tracked like I'm sure you did. Yet you've had two additional years in school. Did something go askew?" He turns his body so that he's fully facing me and leans into me as he speaks.
I fight off a shudder and the urge to crawl across the bar to put something solid between me and him. "No, nothing like that. I wanted a secondary degree in natal sciences, and it took a couple extra years to complete after the general nursing degree." Sebastian's arm curls around my shoulders and I lean into him, taking in his neroli and bergamot scent in an effort to not smell the rank stench coming off of the other alpha.
Unfortunately, Alpha Flores's eyes light up with interest. "A baby nurse! How sweet! That will come in handy when you start having babies with your pack."
A gag clogs my throat, and I don't care who sees it. "Sebastian, I think I need to sit down. Can we get someone to bring our drinks to the table?"
"I'll be happy to deliver your drinks," Alpha Flores offers in his sickeningly sweet, condescending tone, and the bottom of my stomach drops out. I don't want him at my table. I don't know what I did to gain his undivided attention, but as soon as I figure it out, I'm going to do everything in my power to never, ever do it again.
"Here you go, Sebastian. Need anything else?" The bartender slides several bottles of water across the bar to Sebastian with a wink. Sebastian grins at him and picks up most of the waters, leaving one for me to pick up.
"Thanks, Nick. How's Cera doing? Will she be here tonight?"
Nick the bartender nods. "Yeah. A little later. She'll be happy to see you here. Dom and Case are on the way, too."
"Nice," Sebastian nods. "You gotta work the whole night?"
"Nah. I'm clocking out when Dom gets here. Management doesn't like it when the pack hangs around the bar the whole night, and Dom doesn't like it when guests get shitty with me. You staying, or leaving when baby sister has had enough?"
I smile at Nick the bartender, and elbow my brother. "Baby sister had enough before she ever got here. I won't make Sebastian leave when I do, so long as you guys keep an eye on him."
Sebastian snorts, and Nick laughs. "Cera will keep an extra close eye on him."
A noise of irritation comes from the nearly forgotten Alpha Flores, and I look back at him. Being polite to him, even if I'd rather not speak to him, won't hurt me. And it will keep him from being petty. "I'm sorry, Alpha Flores. I couldn’t miss a chance to catch up with Nick. Please don't be offended, but I'm going to take these to the table for my family, they're leaving the dance floor now. I'll see you later." I offer what I hope is a sweet smile, rather than an over exaggerated one, and hope that he lets me take them without any more fuss.
"Of course, Desir'ee. I'll see you at plenty more of these little meets, now that you're attending them. I'm sure we'll get to know each other very well. Enjoy your night."
I breathe out a sigh of relief when he walks in the opposite direction of where our table is.
"Later, Nick," Sebastian calls, and leads me toward the back corner table I parked us in. After the interaction with Alpha Flores, I'm utterly convinced that a table hidden in the back was the right choice.
"What was all that about?" Mateo asks as he pulls out a chair for Amber and opens a bottle of water for her.
"Flores is going to be a problem, and I'm not affiliated or old enough to handle him. It's like he's been waiting for Desie to show up at one of these. Has he mentioned being interested in her to you?" Sebastian slouches back in his chair and drains half his water. "Dom's coming tonight, and Cera. So, that's another thing." At the mention of Dom, Amber smirks. Dom is her younger brother. We pretty much assumed that it was just a matter of time before Sebastian officially joined their pack. It just took Cera's eyelash batting to actually get it done. She's only been Dom's pack's omega for a few months, and Sebastian's been running with them since he was a teenager. It's funny that it only took an omega to convince him to join up with them after years of playing around.
"No," Mateo says flatly, like it tastes bad in his mouth. "He's never mentioned her. Not once. What did he say?"
"Not much. He called me a baby nurse and said he's sure we'll get to know each other very well. Unlikely. He smells like an old ashtray." Being referred to as a baby nurse isn't really offensive, but the way he said it was just so condescending. Like it was cute or funny to him. I worked hard for my education and position. It isn't cute or funny. If he calls me anything, he can call me a natal specialist; and I'd rather he not even do that. I'd much prefer it if he forgot I exist.
Lucas hums and rubs the back of his neck. "No, we're not giving you over to the Flores pack. Even if you wanted them, we'd put a stop to it. They're slimy." Slimy is a fairly accurate word to describe the way it felt to be near Alpha Flores.
"So," I start, and take a sip of my water, "are you going to finally and officially join the Taylor pack?" I nudge Sebastian's knee with mine.
The corner of Sebastian's mouth lifts and he glances back at the bar. "Yeah. Nick's their beta. Dom wanted to get everything settled with Nick and Cera before I got involved. He didn't want Cera to have to adjust to too much. Nick and Case have been telling him from the start that having me around wouldn't be a problem, but Dom's a stubborn ass."
"Yeah, he is!" Amber calls. "Bossy, too. The way he acts, you'd think he was the oldest instead of me."
