Chapter 12
CHAPTER 12
Amir
I had known this pack had a beta. I’d known she was a woman.
What I hadn’t been prepared for was how badly my omega would pine for her after that first moment I’d heard her voice at the club.
Enzo had warned me she could be a little shy, that her past made her leery of strangers, mainly alphas. I wasn’t an alpha, but I wasn’t small like most omegas.
Yet…she hadn’t shown an ounce of fear from the moment I’d pretended I was her boyfriend to when one of her alphas had caught us in the office.
And then she’d gotten a little closed off when she’d mentioned continuing our little date somewhere else. The last thing I wanted was for her to think I was encroaching on her place in the pack.
Although…
She’d sounded like she was going to deny Enzo was her alpha when he’d come into the office at Vault. He’d cut her off, affirming that he was, indeed, hers, that she was his.
There were some questions I needed answered before I allowed myself to get too close to these people. The last thing I wanted was to let myself fall for a pack who was unstable.
They seemed close, seemed to care for each other, but I’d noticed the alphas didn’t touch Issa as much or as intimately as I’d assumed they would have.
Again, did she not feel a part of the pack or had the alphas done something to make her feel as though she was on the outside looking in and how would my presence affect their relationship as a whole?
We were all piled in the SUV, Issa between me and Ax as Cyrus drove, and Enzo took shotgun. The guys would occasionally ask a question or tease each other, but Issa felt tense beside me, even with the smiles and giggles from the alphas’ banter.
“Are you sure this is okay?” I whispered in her ear.
She turned her head to look into my face, the only light touching her coming from the passing streetlights.
After a few seconds, a slow smile stretched across her face.
“Yeah,” she said with a nod. “It’s more than okay. I’m sorry I’m acting all…” She waved a hand in the air as though searching for the right word. “I swear I’m not moody or possessive of these guys or anything like that.”
“It would be okay if you were,” I said, gently touching her face with my fingertips.
Fuck me hard.
Those were the words she’d said to me when I’d turned her to take her over the desk. That woman, the beta who’d fallen apart first on my tongue then around my cock, was so different than the woman who was watching me as though she was unsure of what to do or say.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure,” she said.
“It’s kind of personal.”
I swore I could feel all three alphas tense and hold their breath in unison .
“I saw that bite on your shoulder at the club. And I’m assuming it wasn’t from one of these alphas.”
Her hand raised to cover the mark hidden under the pretty blue dress she’d worn for our day date. It wasn’t the typical silvery crescent scars left by an alpha but more like her flesh had been ripped by someone.
“No. It’s not from them.”
I really hoped I wasn’t pushing her too far. But I needed to know how carefully I needed to tread with her, with her alphas, with this pack.
“They hurt you?”
“ He . Only one alpha. And yeah. But, uh…”
She was blinking a lot and fidgeting with her purse strap as her anxiety rose. I didn’t need to scent the change in her signature to see this wasn’t a topic she wanted to discuss.
“It’s over. And these guys…they saved me. Took me in. They keep me safe.”
“You saved yourself, beta,” Enzo said, turning to look at her over his shoulder.
I looked at him, at Ax, then caught Cyrus’s eyes as he watched me in the rearview mirror.
This sweet woman had apparently been through some shit. I’d noted a small scar over her eyebrow but had assumed it was from some old injury.
Now, I wondered if it had been caused by the same asshole who’d left that mark on her shoulder. It had been obviously covered by makeup, but the raised ridges were obvious, like the alpha had ripped through her skin then hadn’t bothered to tend to it so it would heal properly.
Anger built in my chest and tore a growl from my throat before I could swallow it down.
“Please tell me you three beat his ass.”
Ax huffed a laugh. Enzo smirked. Cyrus sighed as though we all exhausted him.
“Fucker disappeared before we had the chance,” Enzo said .
“So that’s how you met? You guys rushed in like knights in shining armor?”
“Actually, um, his brother is mated to my sister,” she said, pointing at Enzo.
“That’s kind of cool.”
Except the mood seemed to have shifted from my question and now I felt like the biggest dick for bringing it up.
But I wanted to know more about her, know why she kept shutting down. She would behave as though she was having a great time, then it was like she’d catch herself smiling too much and would retreat into her shell.
Instead of pressuring her with more questions, I came up with a plan in my head to break through her walls and keep her from rebuilding them. I could tell there were far more layers to this beta than she let the world see and I was determined to peel them away one by one until I found the diamond hidden underneath.
Clasping her hand and bringing it to my lips, I feathered a kiss to each of her knuckles before lowering our entwined hands to my thigh.
“No more shitty talk tonight. We’ve got time to reveal all our deepest, darkest secrets.”
I waggled my brows at her and earned a dick hardening giggle.
“Do you guys have something to eat, or should we order out? My treat.”
Enzo scoffed. Ax leaned forward to frown at me past Issa. “We’re courting you. No chance in hell are you paying for shit.”
Issa had a slight smile still on her lips as she shook her head and rolled her eyes. I’d caught her doing that a few times when it came to Enzo or Ax, as though they entertained her in the most annoyingly fun way.
I was so curious about the dynamics of this pack and found myself wanting to spend as much time as possible until I’d learned everything I could.
Like, other than owning The Vault, what did the alphas do in their downtime? Did Issa work ?
Who was I kidding? What I really wanted to know was the background behind her failed bonding and whether her previous alpha was a threat to the beautiful, sexy as fuck beta.
Holding my hands up in surrender, I let the alphas follow their instincts to care for an omega and pay for the food.
Issa and I voted for Chinese delivery.
Enzo, Ax, and Cyrus didn’t bother voicing their choices for dinner – they would end up getting whatever the omega and beta wanted regardless of whether they preferred the meal or not.
Good alphas. Issa was a lucky woman. I could only hope this would continue and wasn’t them putting their best faces forward to win me over.
I wanted a pack of my own. I’d always wanted a pack of my own. I wanted a big, loving family like my parents had, even if we never chose to have children.
But I wasn’t so desperate as to choose the first group of alphas who came along.
Actually, this was the sixth pack this year alone I’d allowed to court me. The first two hadn’t gotten past the first date. They’d made it obvious the only time I would receive any affection – or attention – was during my cycle. No thanks. I didn’t want a relationship built around convenience. I wanted love.
The other three…there wasn’t anything inherently wrong with them, I just hadn’t felt the same kind of connection with them as I had that first night with Issa then with her alphas today during our unorthodox day date.
All three alphas were easy and open with their affection. I might not look like a stereotypical omega, but I still thrived on attention and touch. I still craved the gentle caresses, the warmth of their hands around mine, and I even loved the way they teased and loved on Issa.
What confused me was the way she had first tried to deny they were her alphas, then the way she was almost tense any time one of the alphas would wrap their arm around her shoulders or hold her hand.
She didn’t act as though she was afraid of them, but it caused those questions about their dynamics to continue to rattle around in my head.
The pack house was large, but not pretentiously so. It was a sprawling two story with dormer windows. Was that a livable attic? A third floor? Or could it be the omega wing?
Butterflies erupted in my stomach, and I tried to ignore them. The last thing I needed right now was to get excited over the prospects of being mated to this pack before I had all my questions answered.
“Your home is beautiful,” I said as I climbed from my side of the vehicle and offered a hand to Issa after the vehicle was pulled into the four-car garage.
“Thank you,” Cyrus said.
We walked as a unit toward the door leading inside. I kept my hand wrapped around Issa’s and smiled when Enzo’s eyes dipped to our clasped hands then rose to my face before he winked.
The garage led into what I assumed was a mud room complete with a fancy washer and dryer, then into a massive kitchen. I could absolutely cook up a feast in here.
There were two doors leading from the kitchen, but we went through one that led into a large family room with vaulted ceilings that showcased exposed wooden beams.
It was almost like the house had a cottagey feel; it was warm and cozy and inviting with enough masculine elements that it was obvious alphas lived here without being overly macho or cold.
I couldn’t find any hints of Issa in the house other than her scent that seemed to float along with the warm and spicy scents of Enzo, Cyrus, and Ax, like her signature amplified or complemented theirs until I found myself wanting to faceplant into the nearest surface to pull all the yumminess into my lungs.
“Get comfortable. I’ll order the food,” Cyrus said.
“Do you want a tour while we wait?” Ax said.
And I might have been seeing things, but I swore he and Enzo exchanged a mischievous look.
“I’d love to see the rest of the house.”
My family lived modestly. It had nothing to do with finances; my fathers made plenty of money.
But my mom was the omega, and she loved the whole homesteading lifestyle. And, of course, her alphas couldn’t deny her of a damn thing.
That was how we’d ended up with chickens, horses, and how my parents had ended up with four kids so spaced out in age. Each time they’d thought they were done my mom would decide she wanted another.
“Issa. Why don’t you give Amir a tour while we get the couch set up?” Ax suggested.
Yep, he’d definitely glanced at Enzo from the corner of his eye.
These two were trying to give me some time alone with Issa without embarrassing her.
“Sure. Um, you saw the kitchen and the living room.”
Her cheeks grew pink under my attention, and I so desperately wanted to peel away that first layer to see who she was or could be if she simply let herself go the way she had at the club.
Twining my fingers through hers, I smiled warmly at her and let her lead me to a dining room that was off the kitchen. That was apparently where the second doorway in the kitchen led.
Then, she dragged me upstairs and started pointing out bedrooms, going so far as to open each so I could get a peek inside.
“This is Ax’s room. Across is Cyrus’s,” she said, pushing each door open and flipping on the light so I could step in and look around.
Cyrus’s room was immaculately clean. Ax’s looked the way I thought it would, clothes everywhere, bed unmade, and a towel laying on the floor near the hamper instead of inside of it.
The door beside Ax’s was Enzo’s. His room was tidy, but nothing like Cyrus’s.
Each of their rooms smelled so strongly of them, of wet wood that had sat out in the sun warming all day, of spiced rum that made me want to lay on a beach and listen to music, of sweet, tangy copper.
We left Enzo’s room and she pointed to a door. “That leads upstairs to the omega wing.” She started walking that way, but I pulled her to a stop .
“Nope. I want to see my beta’s room.”
I hadn’t meant to let the possessive term slip from my lips, but there was no reason to hide the fact I was highly attracted to her. As much as I would love for this pack to be the one for me, I would be as content to have Issa in my life.
If she would accept me without the full pack being onboard.
She rolled her lips into her mouth and that sweet pink hue washed over her cheeks again. “It’s nothing special.”
“It’s yours. That makes it special.”
Glancing over her head, I eyed the door she hadn’t opened. Then, without waiting for her, I reached around her and turned the knob, pushing the door open and stepping inside, pulling her along with me.
The light flipped on and illuminated a room that was…well, lacking. As in lacking personality. The walls were white, the bedding was plain, the dressers and other furniture looked as though it was already here when she moved in with the pack.
The only way to know it belonged to Issa was her clean linen scent and a few pieces of clothing lying on her made bed as though she’d had a hard time deciding on what outfit to wear for our date.
“No art. No family photos,” I muttered, turning in a slow circle.
She carefully pulled her hand from mine and fidgeted with her skirt. “This was supposed to be temporary.” She shrugged and forced a wobbly smile.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
She shook her head.
“Can I ask another personal question that has nothing to do with your past?”
Her brows raised. “Sure. Can I plead the fifth if I don’t like the question?” Her smile was more genuine this time.
Crossing the small space separating us, I pulled her closer to me. “You want those alphas.”
She blinked a few times, and her eyes went wide.
“But when I asked that first night whether Enzo was your alpha, you started to deny it.”
“It’s kind of…it’s a long story. Complicated. ”
“I like to think I’m intelligent. Give me the abridged version. Or at least as much as you feel comfortable telling me.”
She sighed and rubbed her cheek against my chest in an instinctual move, though I wasn’t sure whether she was scent marking me or borrowing mine to settle her nerves.
“I told you Enzo’s brother is my sister’s alpha.” I nodded. “Well, I was…hurt. And I went to Cora’s house – that’s my sister – to warn her. These alphas were there. They took care of me. Then offered me a place to stay while I got on my feet.”
I waited for her to continue.
When she pulled away and sat on the sofa on one side of the room, I followed her. And waited some more.
“And?” I asked.
I didn’t want to push her too far, but I had a feeling Issa was the kind of person who needed help stepping outside of her comfort zone until she could truly discover who she was outside of whatever box she’d been shoved into before meeting this pack. And me.
“And what ? That’s how I came to live with these alphas.”
“But that doesn’t explain the fact you denied they were your alphas, or the fact all four of you are obviously head over heels for each other but I’ve yet to see…anything other than casual touches.”
“They’re just flirts,” she said.
But I noticed the way her eyes darted to the side as though she was either lying or didn’t quite believe her own words.
Turning so one of my knees rested on the couch and I could fully face her, I tilted my head.
“Either you’re in denial or completely blind.”
Her brows shot up her forehead. “Excuse me?”
“Those three alphas watch you like you hung the damn moon.”
“They do not,” she said, that sweet pink brightening her olive cheeks again. Her complexion was only a tad lighter than my own.
As I watched her, I realized it wasn’t that she was in denial or blind. She didn’t believe someone could truly see her, that they could truly care about her.
And the urge to find out who the fuck had hurt her, who had caused her to believe this way about herself was nearly as overwhelming as the urge to drag her onto my lap and wrap my arms around her for the next few hours.
Nah. I would rather run my hands and tongue across every inch of her skin, to worship her the way she deserved, to show her exactly how perfect she was.
But that would do nothing about the doubt she carried about her alphas’ feelings for her.
“Have you never had a conversation about your place in this pack?”
She’d been so strong and confident that first night, had asked for exactly what she wanted from me.
But I was an omega. Not an alpha. I wasn’t a risk to her. She had no reason to fear me, regardless of my size.
“Ax…” She ducked her gaze and a smile pulled up her lips.
“Yes?” I asked, drawing out the word.
“We all crashed in my bed that night. After the club.”
Yep. Her cheeks were definitely growing darker with a blush.
“I couldn’t sleep. I kept thinking about…everything. And Ax–”
She cut herself off and covered her face with her hands for a brief second as the sweetest giggle escaped from her lips.
When she dropped her hands, she refused to look in my direction.
“He’d said they thought I wasn’t interested in sex. Said I acted as though I wasn’t interested in them. But I thought they weren’t interested in me. They’re always fooling around with each other. And I got the privilege of lying there and listening to all the moans and sucking their hormones into my lungs with only my own hand to–”
She cut herself off again, turning wide eyes on me as though she hadn’t meant to speak those words out loud.
Oh. This girl was so sheltered and not in a good way. I’d seen the way she could let loose, the way that, once her inhibitions were lowered, she could go after exactly what she wanted.
And, in that moment, I made it my personal mission to teach her how to get exactly what she wanted from these alphas every moment of the day.