Page 6 of Pack's Promise

“What?” I said, lost.

“You’re here to find someone–someones–for your heat,hmm?So you don’t have to spend it in the hospital? Like last time?” She prodded, and I nodded, agreeing without considering how embarrassed I should be by these personal details.

“Oh, I’ve read a paper about late bloomers–I mean, late presenting omegas, I mean, it can happen to late presenting alphas, too, of course, but–”

“Shut. Up. Lucas,” Gray hissed at the burly alpha, his eyes finally leaving Rian’s impassive face. “Nobody wants to hear about your research. You’re beingpropositioned, you idiot.”

I burst into laughter. I couldn’t help myself, even as–especiallyas–my friends, Rian, and the two alphas turned to stare at me. “I’m so sorry,” I managed. “This whole thing–it’s just–” I held onto Rian’s arm–still firm, still biceptacular–and a tear escaped my eye as I collapsed into giggles once again.

“She’s finally cracked,” Charlie said, as Sophia swooped in on my other side, smoothing my hair back, wiping away the tear that rolled onto my cheek.

“It’s just so ridiculous,” I said, and the feeling that rolled over me now was… I couldn’t name it. “I’ve been a beta for twenty-four years. It’s so stupid that–that–”

“It’s all different, now,” Rian whispered, so low that I was sure I was the only one who could hear it.

I nodded as he pulled me tight into his embrace, my nose rubbing against the soft fabric of his alpha-scented shirt, my body going limp and pliant in his strong arms.

CHAPTEREIGHT

Lucas

An hour later,the six of us–my and my pack, Madison and her two beta friends–were all sitting together, a fresh array of disappointing mocktails on the table and my cock swollen painfully as my foot beat a rapid tattoo against the floor. Her little giggle fit or mental break or whatever had broken the tension between her and my pack, but only for long enough that we had invited them to join us for another round. It had been building steadily since then, pheremones swirling just below the surface of our shallow conversation, and I needed to get out of here.

With her.

I wanted–wanted so hard I could feel it in my chest, my heart thumping louder than the repetitive bassline of the clubby music I hated–to take her home, to fuck her into submission and clamp my teeth around her neck and make the woman mine, but–

But–

“What made you choose Ardor instead of the Center?” I asked, instead. The man bringing the alpha to heel.

“I didn’t,” she said, glaring playfully at her friends, who sat together on her left. Rian was on her right, carefully distant under Gray’s watchful eyes. “These two forced me.”

“Don’t blame me,” the blonde–Sophia–said, shrugging. “It was Charlie’s idea.”

I wasn’t sorry she’d come here, rather than visiting the Heat Center, where omegas were matched with alpha packs for their heats using a complex algorithm that even I didn’t understand. We had considered signing up there, too, but they wantedalphapacks. Alphaonly.We had left without completing the documentation.

“But…” Madison was continuing, her teeth chewing thoughtfully on her full bottom lip for a moment, making my gaze linger on the shine of her lip gloss, her white teeth. There wa a slight crookedness to them that makes me want to pry open her mouth with my own, to lick over her teeth with my tongue…focus, Luc.“The Heat Center seemed so clinical. I spent my first heat,” she blushed at the word, making my cock twitch, “in the hospital, and I felt like the Heat Center would be practically just as bad. I do like the idea of a more… normal environment, to meet people, rather than getting matched by a computer, or whatever.” I feel, rather than hear, Gray scoff, and I know he’s thinking of the thousands of dollars we pay for the privilege of coming here to drink overpriced juice.

“I know what you mean,” I said, nodding along and ignoring Gray. “Especially as a…”

“Late bloomer. It’s okay, I don’t mind.”

“As a late bloomer,” I said, “this probably feels a lot more comfortable for you. More similar to how you would meet… other people.” Betas. Old boyfriends. The thought makes my instincts rise to the surface, jealous. “You aren’t seeing anyone now, though, right?” I can’t stop myself from asking.

She didn’t notice her friends exchanging glances, but I did.

“No,” she said, her back straight, her eyes looking right at me. “I’m not.”

“Okay,” I said.

“But…” I waited as she took a sip of her drink. It was orange, and had a wedge of pineapple stuck onto the rim of the fluted glass. “I don’t think I’m ready to–to make a serious commitment right now. I just…”

“You just need someone to spend the night with, baby?” I snapped my head over to Gray, who had been sitting quietly in the corner of the booth while the rest of us had chatted. Now he leaned back in the booth, spreading his legs once again. I could sense his arousal through the bond we all shared, but also something else, something unfamiliar. “Someone–something–to take the edge off, hmm?”

“Gray,” Rian hissed at him, almost pleading.

But she nodded, to my surprise–and Gray’s too, by the flare of satisfaction through the bond. “Yes,” she said, the flush rising prettily on her face once again.Oh.

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