Page 53 of Pack’s Pledge

“It’s all good stuff,” I said with mock offense. “I won’t be accused of having cheap liquor atmycabin.” My heart thumped in my throat, even as I teased her, and I gulped down a larger-than-necessary swallow of the cocktail. It was the best whiskey sour I’d ever had, and I shook my head. “You’re wasted at Ardor.”I took another sip. She really was a damn good bartender.

She smiled tightly. “I got what I came for, didn’t I?” she asked, shrugging. “I don’t know why I’m telling you this. I feel like an idiot.”

“Did you?” I asked. The alcohol dripped through my veins. Liquid courage. “Get what you came for? One heat? You just wanted to try it, to be able to say you’d fucked an omega in heat?” I caught her eye, held it until she was forced to drop her gaze.

“Of course not,” she mumbled. “You know that.”

“I do. So why did you leave?”

“Conall told me to.”

“So? This pack doesn’t listen to Conall for shit.”

She shrugged.

“Tell me,” I said, turning to her.

“It doesn’t matter, because Conall—”

“Fuck Conall. This isn’t about him,” I said. “What doyouwant, baby?” the nickname slipped out before I could stop it. I’d blame it on the alcohol if this all went south. “You want… Beau?” I asked. “Tell me.”

“Yes,” she said, barely a whisper. “But—”

“No, Britt, no buts,” I said. “Beau is mine. He’smyomega. You know that, right?” I asked. “You’ve seen my mark on him, haven’t you?”

She nodded, her face flushed, whether with alcohol or…was she thinking about my bite on Beau’s skin?I smirked.

“I don’t answer to Conall, baby,” I said. I drained my glass, and nodded to her. She did the same. I got up to pour us each another. “It’s Beau that wears my mark, and that means I answer to him. Conall may be pack alpha, butright now, I don’t give a shit what he thinks,” I said. What the hell, I’d bring the bottle back. “Right now, my omega is wanting, and it’s my responsibility to keep him happy. Lucky for me, he’s easy to make happy: all I have to do isgive him what he wants.” I sat forward to look into Britt’s eyes, despite the way my vision swam, and held out the bottle toward her. “And what he wants… is you.”

Her eyes flickered from my eyes to my lips, and I smiled.

“So tell me, baby,” I coaxed. My tongue darted out to wet my lips. “What doyouwant? You want Beau, I already know that, no matter what you tell yourself. No matter what you say to me. Another drink?” She nodded, and I splashed some whiskey into her cup. “Beau… And? What else?”

Gray eyes looked up at me from where she sat.

I’d seen those eyes glint with desire, as I teased her in the kitchen, standing a little too close, lingering a little too long. Seen them trace Beau’s silhouette greedily, and rest on Conall’s with the desperate kind of longing that wasn’t quite unrequited love.

I’d seen them wide with the horrible pleasure of heat, and squeezedtight tight tightas she came.

It had been so good, Beau’s heat, had been so sweet, but something had changed. My thoughts swam just below the surface of a pool of alcohol. I tried to grasp at one, but it darted out of reach, like a fish. The heat.

I shut my eyes tight, the room spinning around me as I remembered the way she’d looked, pinned under the other alpha, her body tightening around his knot, how my own cock had throbbed, spilling into Beau, how Beau had reached for her, again and again, and how she’d tasted, like mint and musk andpack—

“What else do you want, Britt?”

“And,” she said, and threw back her drink, grimacing at the burn of it, bracing herself for what she was about to say. I froze, waiting. “And a bite.”

“Fuck,” I swore, as my cock thickened. “From Conall, baby?” and she nodded.

“I wanted it, Adrian,” she said, turning her empty glass around and around in her hands. Had she picked that up from Beau? Or had he picked it up from her? They were so good together— “During Beau’s... during his heat. I wanted it, I was this close to begging—”

“He would have done it,” I said, sure of that, at least.

“No,” she said, pouring another. “He never would. He told me as much. That I’m not pack. That I’m a beta. I’m not part of this. I’m not—”

“Say that again,” I said suddenly.

“He doesn’t want me to be a part of this, because I’m a—”

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