Page 38 of Pack’s Pledge

I felt the red-hot rage trickle through my veins, making my hands clench into fists even as my cock throbbed.

I was analpha.

CHAPTERTWENTY-EIGHT

Beau

I’d madeit half way down the hallway when it hit me.

The first pangs of heat, low in my belly, my tailbone. My cock had been half-hard for hours but now, it was pressed painfully against my stiff pants, and my shirt collar itched. The scent of alpha that hung heavy in the air here, musk and sweetness and sex that even the strongest air filter could never fully remove, was thick in my throat, and I knew I was contributing more that my fair share. The hall probably smelled like fucking toothpaste.Minty fucking fresh.

Where was Britt? I just needed a little bit, to take the edge off, and I’d be fine. Better than fine, I smiled, letting the feeling wash over me. She was so good, coming to me like this, and I wanted to make her mine, wanted to keep her next to me through my heat, and the next one, and the next–

I shook my head.Don’t think about sex.That train of thought certainly wasn’t going to help my situation.

But the taste of alpha in my throat was choking, and even as I tried to convince myself I just needed a temporary fix, I recognized the signs: the cold chill over my skin even as my blood burned through my veins. The prickle on the nape of my neck that warned me that there were strange alphas nearby.

Yeah, no shit.

My instincts were screaming, desperate to retreat home to my soft bed, the familiar juniper and coffee scents of the apartment I shared with Conall and Adrian, to safety and warmth and security.

I will,I told them,but first, Britt.

I shut my eyes tight at the sound of footsteps.Yes, finally. My need for her over the past few weeks had been constant, sure, but it hadn’t been quite so…acute.

The footsteps stopped.

“Cutting it a little close, aren’t you?”

It wasn’t Britt’s voice that spoke over the thumping bassline from the dancefloor. I opened my eyes.

It was an alpha.

Two, actually, and I knew I was outnumbered. One alpha I could maybe get the upper hand on–I was stronger than they would expect, but with two, I’d have to rely on words and wits.

And, I was reluctant to admit even to myself, Conall and Adrian. But only if I was really,reallydesperate.

“Nah,” I said. “I’m good, thanks. Just waiting for a friend.” I looked down. They’d appreciate the deference, sure, but it also meant I could watch their feet.

“Are you?” the taller alpha said. “Good? How good can you be?” His smile–and that of his friend’s, behind him–was all teeth. “We can be good to you, too, and it seems,” his eyes swept over my body, and a rash of goosebumps followed, “like you mightneeda good alpha.”

A sudden wave of chills had me clamping my teeth together to stop them from chattering, and I pressed my back tight against the cold wall to ground myself. I was claimed–my body bore Conall and Adrian’s marks–but even still, this close to heat the man’s suggestion made my body react. It was all I could do to maintain a neutral expression, to stand here instead of fleeing like my instincts itched to do.Man up, Beau,I scolded myself.

“No thanks,” I ground out from between gritted teeth. This is how it always went. At a bar. At a club. At a restaurant, in the middle of the day.Fucking alphas,I thought, for the one zillionth time since my presentation.

But this time…

Sweat popped out along my hairline, and I lost any hope of just taking the edge of before calling in the reinforcements and going home.I need you, Britt,I thought desperately, and this time, it wasn’t for a bathroom quickie–I needed the closest exit.

And there she was, walking calmly down the hallway toward me, us, and even despite the burning in my belly, the ache in my bones, I grinned to see her polite customer service smile. “Excuse me, sirs,” she said, bland and pleasant, despite an omega falling into heat in front of her, despite two alphas looming over her–what, fuck buddy? Friend with benefits?

Boyfriend?a small part of me hoped.Lover?

Now was not the time to worry about what exactly we were, damn it.

But…

Mate?

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