Chapter 6
CHAPTER 6
Issa
T he club was already packed when we parked around back and entered through the employee entrance. Ax tried to talk me into letting him escort me through the front door so he could watch all heads turn my way. He said he wanted to show me off.
I, on the other hand, wasn’t quite ready for that type of attention.
Even as I sat on the barstool near where Cyrus was pouring drinks, I kept fidgeting, pulling the top of my dress up while trying to keep the hem from riding up my thigh any further.
A martini sat in front of me, barely touched. I wanted to drink. I wanted a buzz so I could squash the nerves over meeting this person who could make my alphas forget I existed. But my stomach was turning with nerves.
“Here,” Ax said, setting a shot glass in front of me as he slid onto the stool beside me.
“What?” I asked, looking at the liquor then to his face.
“You look like you need this. Ready?” He held up his glass and waited for me to do to the same with mine. “To meeting new people.” I forced a smile and threw the drink back, almost choking on it when he added, “And getting my beta drunk so I can take advantage of her later,” before tossing his own shot back.
Coughing, I slapped his arm then took the napkin Cyrus offered to wipe my lips and chin. “You’re a jerk.”
“Had to say something to make you smile. You’re over here looking like we forced you to clean the bathrooms. This is a club. With music and dancing and hot people. Have fun. We have plenty of bouncers and employees to make sure you’re safe.” He pointed overhead. “And those things are working overtime to keep the hormones and perfume under control. You’re safe here.”
He pushed to his feet, ordering two more shots from Cyrus, offering me another.
“To an amazing show by the hottest alphas in town.”
“Including you,” I said with a smile and a shake of my head.
“Well, duh.”
We threw back our shots, with me wincing at the burn as it went down my throat, then he kissed the top of my head. “I expect you front and center when I get on that stage.”
He pointed at me as he backed away, a wide grin showcasing his straight white teeth, before he disappeared through the crowd, leaving me to my own devices.
It only took about ten minutes before I began to feel the effects of the alcohol warming my stomach and chasing away the nerves.
Ax was right – I’d needed those.
So what if they were meeting an omega. So what if she would join the pack. That didn’t mean I couldn’t be friends with her. That didn’t mean they would mistreat me just because they’d found their mate.
Being as I only had one sister and had only recently formed a close relationship with her, it might be nice to have another sisterly type in my life. We could become best friends and gang up on the alphas.
A smile pulled up my lips as I made my thoughts turn from dreading the addition of an omega to actually looking forward to another female in the mix .
Fingers trailed along my shoulder, and I jerked away. An alpha sidled up beside me, leaning sideways on the bar, his eyes on me. Or rather on the almost vulgar display of cleavage from my dress.
“Dance with me,” he said. Not asked. Said . Like he was trying to use his alpha status to influence me. There were only three alphas on this planet that made me actually want to obey, and this smarmy jerk wasn’t one of them.
“No, thank you. I’m waiting for someone.” Not like I was lying. My pack was waiting for someone.
I raised my eyes to the bar, leaning to the side in search of Cyrus. He was currently leaning forward, his head tilted as though trying to hear the order of the group in front of him over the thumping of the music.
The alpha ran his fingers over Antonio’s mark, and I couldn’t help jerking away. The pink scarring had been covered with makeup but there was no way to hide the raised ridges.
“Hmm. Is someone looking for a little fun away from her pack?”
I curled my nose at him. “No. I’m not. I literally just said no thank you and told you I’m waiting for someone.”
“And here I am,” he said, holding his arms out and grinning as though he’d made the best joke. “Just one dance while you’re waiting.”
“Sorry I’m late, baby,” a male said from behind me, turning the stool so he could cup my cheeks and plant a kiss directly to my lips.
Even with the scent filtration system working overdrive, I inhaled the most delicious chocolate covered strawberries. The taste was even better when his tongue touched the seam of my lips and I opened immediately for him. I hadn’t had much more than a glimpse of seafoam green eyes and wild, long, curly hair before he’d slanted his mouth over mine.
The alpha growled in frustration, but eventually, I felt more than heard him leave my side.
“I think the coast is clear,” the man – the omega – said against my lips.
All I could do for a few seconds was blink at him, my eyes devouring every inch of his beautiful face. He had a strong jaw, straight nose, thick, dark brows, dark lashes that lined a pair of eyes I could stare into for hours, and the most beautiful hair that suddenly made me feel a little self-conscious about my own that I’d only recently started to grow back after fleeing Antonio. I no longer felt the need to keep it shorter since the three alphas I lived with would never grab the tresses to hold me still while they beat me senseless.
“You okay?” he asked, bending at the knees to see eye to eye with me.
“Huh? Oh. Yeah. Yes. Thank you.” I raised my hands and touched my fingertips to my lips. I swore they tingled and my whole body was warm.
This man was absolutely an omega, yet he was so tall. Not quite as big as Ax, Enzo, or Cyrus, but at least close to six feet tall. And he was ripped and solid. I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen an omega so…big. Even the male omegas tended to be on the smaller and softer side. Not this guy.
He was…holy shit, he was hot.
Or the alcohol was officially kicking in. I was definitely feeling buzzed and now, after that toe curling kiss, I was definitely feeling horny, as well.
“Amir,” he said, offering his hand, then bringing mine to his lips to feather a kiss to my knuckles.
A giggle tore from me as I ducked my gaze a second. I’d only ever seen a man kiss a woman’s hand in the damn movies. No one I’d ever been with had ever done something so sweet and romantic.
“Isabelle. Issa ,” I said.
I glanced over my shoulder again, looking for Cyrus, but he was with another group, pouring drinks into a row of shot glasses.
“Want to dance?” he asked.
“Uh…” I wasn’t sure where Enzo was, and Ax was getting ready backstage. But they’d assured me there was plenty of security here to make sure I was safe. Surely, being on the dance floor couldn’t be seen as risky being as I would be surrounded by so many people.
And, it might have been stupid, but Amir didn’t feel like a threat, and not only because he was an omega .
“Yeah. Actually, I’d love to dance.”
When was the last time I’d gone dancing? When was the last time I’d truly let myself just…be? I literally couldn’t remember. Whether because it had been so long, because the alcohol was officially screaming through my veins, or because my body was hyper aware of everything Amir did from the moment he wrapped his hand around mine to pull me onto the dance floor to when his body pressed close to mine and began to move to the beat, his moves as smooth and sure as Ax’s.
One of his big hands was pressed to the small of my back, the other held my hand. Our lower halves were pressed so firmly I could feel his hard length against my belly.
Between the alcohol, my unrequited crush on my pack, this omega’s delicious scent, and the beat, I began to wonder if this was how an omega felt before going into heat.
Tilting my head back, I smiled up at him, pressing myself closer. I had never been good at coming out and asking for what I wanted, probably because it had never mattered to anyone in my life.
But in the three short months since I’d moved in with Enzo, Ax, and Cyrus, they’d shown me alphas and the opposite sex of any designation could be kind and caring and generous. They’d taught me it was okay to be myself.
Problem was I was still trying to figure that out. I had no idea who I was if I wasn’t the daughter of Pack Alvarez, if I wasn’t the beta of Antonio Rossi.
Amir’s striking green eyes bore into mine as the sexiest smirk pulled up his pillowy lips. Did he have a pack? Did he have alphas somewhere in this club or at home waiting for him? And how free it must have been to simply be able to go out without either someone hawk eying your every movement or dictating your every step.
The music slowly faded out and the lights dimmed until only the bar was lit.
“Ladies and gents, put your hands together for the men of The Vault!” someone called over the big speakers all around the room.
Amir didn’t release his hold on me, instead moving me to stand in front of him and wrapping his arms around my waist to keep my back to his front.
And yep, he was still sporting a rather impressive boner that rested against my ass through his pants and my skimpy dress.
Oh, how easy it would have been for him to release his cock, lift my skirt, and take me right there on the dance floor while everyone was distracted by the men who were filing onto the raised stage.
It took me a second to find Ax. His eyes were on me, a wide grin flashing in the dark. A second later, the opening music to The Saints by Andy Mineo started and I squealed. I’d seen the choreography for this particular dance but had only seen my alpha practicing it alone. I couldn’t wait to see all of them dancing together.
The men began to move, some darting forward while another line moved back. It didn’t matter how many times I’d seen Ax dance – the way he rolled his hips made me wish he would see me…differently. I wished he would look at me the way Amir did while we danced. I wished he would see me as someone more than a packmate.
I wanted him to see me as his . I wanted them all to want me to be theirs.
But I would remain thankful the three alphas had taken it upon themselves to not only give me a place to stay where I would be safe but took it upon themselves to protect me on a daily basis. They were patient with me, taught me to speak up for myself, and gave me the support I needed to heal from the years of conditioning by first my fathers then my alpha.
Not my alpha. He was never my fucking alpha. He’d been someone my parents had chosen for me, regardless of what I wanted for my own life. It didn’t even matter to them that I wasn’t an omega like my sister. They had arranged the packs for all six of us, including my beta brothers.
Ax was back in the front, his eyes on me as he smiled and winked a second before doing this move where he jumped then dropped to the ground, rolling his hips like there was someone below him. With his body moving like water and Amir pressed against me, his scent wrapping around me and going down my throat with every breath, his arms tight around me and his cock pressed against my back…
I was going to combust. There was no way around it. I either needed to find a way to ease the constant sexual frustration or I would go out of my damn mind.
As the music came to an end, the men all stepped to the front of the stage in nothing but low-slung jeans or sweats and smiled as the crowd erupted into catcalls, screams, whistles, and applause.
Ax tossed his shirt at me, smacking me in the face with his yummy, spiced rum signature.
“Damn, girl. I think that man is flirting with you,” Amir said in my ear, his lips grazing the outer shell and sending shivers down my spine.
“He’s my…he’s a friend. I live with him and his pack.”
“He’s your alpha?”
“No…he’s…no. He’s my roommate.”
Yeah. They’d declared today that I was pack, had almost looked disappointed that I didn’t see myself that way, but it always felt like I was their kid sister with the way they touched me in chaste ways, the way they ruffled my hair and teased me.
The way they would have sex in the other room while I laid there each time trying not to be a perv, only to end up touching myself to the sounds and their increased hormones on the air.
As the dancers left the stage, the overhead lights started flashing again and the music thumped a seductive beat through the room.
And I could have sworn that same beat was thrumming through my body straight to my clit.
Amir turned me in his arms, swaying his hips with mine again. “Fuck, you’re sexy,” he said, his sweet breath brushing over my lips to land on my tongue.
Had anyone ever referred to me as sexy? Cyrus told me I was beautiful tonight. Ax and Enzo both teased me, saying I looked good.
But sexy?
“Let me buy you a drink,” he said, leaning his mouth close to my ear .
“I’m a beta. Aren’t I supposed to buy you the drink?”
He waved a hand through the air, giving me a look as though I’d said something ridiculous, before leading me to the bar. Cyrus wasn’t behind it anymore, but I recognized the bartender who’d been working alongside him earlier and flagged him down.
“Honey, the last thing I have ever or will ever do is go by rules made by stupid people. There isn’t a way in hell I’m letting someone…” His eyes roamed me from head to toe slowly and I swore it felt like he was physically caressing every inch of my body. “Who looks like you spend her money on me.”
The beta was already pouring me a new martini before I bothered telling him, then asked for Amir’s order.
“Can we have two shots of…” Shit. What had Ax ordered for us earlier? It had burned going down, but I swore it had been pure liquid courage. “Do you know Ax’s favorite liquor?”
With a smile, Jaden nodded and got to work, pouring a beer from the tap for Amir, then setting two shot glasses of dark liquor before us.
“To the most beautiful woman in here,” Amir said, holding his glass up with a beautiful smile that caused tiny creases at the corners of his light eyes.
“To the most beautiful man in here,” I countered.
Yep. One hundred percent pure liquid courage. Because no way in hell would I have ever been brave enough to dance with some random man, omega or not, had Ax not plied me with booze.
And I sure as hell wouldn’t be flirting so openly.
We finished off our drinks. Danced some more. Then headed back to the bar for two more rounds of shots. And I was officially tipsy. Or maybe drunk.
Definitely horny.
Amir had kissed me on the dancefloor, his tongue teasing mine, tasting me. His body had been pressed so close to mine, one of his hands dangerously close to the swell of my ass, the other cupping the back of my head to hold me in place.
There was a voice at the back of my head telling me to check for my alphas, find out if they’d met their omega yet. Especially since the point of me coming tonight was to meet her. But I was having entirely too much fun with Amir. And just because they found someone they might want to add to their pack didn’t mean I couldn’t find someone who wanted more from me than another friend.
“I want you so badly,” Amir growled into my ear. Or maybe it was a purr.
Didn’t matter. I wanted him, too. And because my boys owned this place, I just happened to know a few rooms where we could be alone long enough to play.
“I need to taste you,” he said.
Pulling back, I gave him what I hoped was a sexy smile, wrapped my hand around his, then began to tug him through the crowd and to one of the offices that not only locked from the inside but was rarely used.
Punching in the code to enter, I pulled Amir in behind me then turned the deadbolt into place. Just because it was rarely used while the club was full didn’t mean I wanted to run the risk of one of the employees catching me in a compromising situation.
Like bent over the desk with Amir pumping into me from behind.