Page 7 of Pack’s Prize

I could always no-show tomorrow. No, I couldn’t. That was unacceptably rude.

I could show up and politely tell them that I had made a mistake, that it wouldn’t work out.

The lingering buzz of Theo’s fingerprints on my skin hummed through my veins in the stillness of my quiet studio apartment, and I squirmed, rubbing my legs together.

I knew I wouldn’t–couldn’t–do that either. I wanted it,him, them, too much to say no.

Maybe I should have gone home with some other alpha tonight after all, I thought as I slipped my fingers down inside the loose waistband of my sleep shorts. I had been so proud of myself for going to the club, and here I was in my sad apartment, horny and alone.

As usual.

The awful fate of a packless omega,I thought grimly, then tried to clear my mind, focussing only on the feeling of my fingers skimming over my skin.

I was wet with slick–I had been even at the club, had been as soon as Theo’s hand had clasped mine, helping me down from my bar stool and leading me to his packmates. I let my imagination wander, remembering the hungry looks on their faces and the bulges in their pants as they’d stood to leave the table. They looked big, the blonde–Elias–especially, and I pressed two fingers inside of myself, desperately wanting more, wanting the stretch of his thick cock. He had strong arms, too, and I imagined them pinning me down on the bed. Michael’s green eyes could pin me down, too, just with their intensity: Elias’s eyes had slipped over my body, Theo’s too, but Michael’s had never left mine, and I wanted him to watch me like that as Theo’s warm, softly-accented voice whispered in my ear and Elias’s cock filled me–

I came, gasping for breath in my quiet apartment, my back arched in my ratty tee-shirt, the faint scents of whiskey and smoke and cedar filling my nose.

CHAPTEREIGHT

Theo

All I wantedto do by the time we finally escaped Ardor and returned to our comfortable apartment was collapse into my bed.

Alone.

That way, neither of my packmates would be around to see me jacking off guiltily to the lingering scent of wine and honey on my clothing.

But Michael… ah,Michael.He had spent the whole trip home yapping about my perfect find, about how Ava was the mostomegaomega to ever live.

That much I knew.

That was theproblem.

“I knew you wanted to find an omega but… I mean…” I tried, as we lingered in the living room. He was drinking a short glass of whiskey, as if to make up for the lack of alcohol at the club.Merde, how I hated that place.

“Spit it out, Theo,” Michael snapped.

“Don’t you think she’s a bit… I don’t know, a bitmuch?”

Michael raised one eyebrow. “It looked to me like you were into that. I saw you eyeing her at the table and unless you’re heading into a real Rubens phase of your painting it didn’t look likeartistic appreciation.” Elias, in the corner, scoffed into his own whiskey. “You wanted her nude alright, but not for a portrait,” Michael said, and I glared at him.

“No–no, I don’t mean her body, her body is…” Gorgeous. Perfect. Soft and voluptuous, in a way my artist’s models had never been… “Well, Idowant to paint her–”

“In?” Michael asked, leering.

“Inoil,” I sniffed. “But I was trying to say that her body is gorgeous. She is gorgeous. It’s just…” I stalled, trying to think of an excuse that wasn’tI want to fuck her sideways and then cuddle her into tomorrow.Michael wouldn’t understand that; he’d probably be thrilled to hear it. To me, though, it sounded like… I didn’t want to think about it. About her. About Paris. “Don’t you think it’s a bit over the top to show up, after a decade of just the three of us, with an omegalike that?”

“Are you trying to imply we’re not, what, sexy enough? Rich enough? Because–”

“Alpha enough,” Elias said from his place on the armchair. “That’s what it is, isn’t it, Theo? It’s not that she’s too pretty, or too…whatever, it’s that she’stoo omega.”

For the space of an instant, I was back there, on the balcony in the apartment we’d shared. “Tu te prends pour un alpha?”I took a sip of my drink–sparkling water for me, thank you–letting the cool taste bring me back to the present.

I nodded, looking over at Elias for a moment. “Yes, she’s…” I gestured again.A lot. Too much, for us. For me. For my heart.

I’d sworn off omegas then, that last day with Louise; I’d told myself it wasn’t worth it to get your heart not just broken, but shattered irrevocably. I’d thought I would settle down with a sweet beta; after all, there were more than enough of them happy to snag an alpha.

Now…

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