Chapter 33
CHAPTER 33
Issa
I loved my job. I really did. But I loved being home with my pack more.
The week we’d been together during Amir’s heat, then the extra time we’d taken off to meet our omega’s family had been a dream. We’d spent so much time snuggling in puppy piles, making love, and talking.
And now, four of us were back at work while Amir took up his post at the bar while he stole any and every chance to touch or kiss me and waited for our alpha to appear on stage.
I’d not only heard the two of them making love last night, but Amir had told me all about watching Ax dance, watching his body flow like water.
I’d seen our alpha dance, but I was dying to see him show us his ballet skills. Being as the three alphas owned this club, I saw no reason he couldn’t give us a show before or after hours before the patrons began to file in .
So far, our requests had gone unfulfilled. We had time, though. We had the rest of our lives.
Smiling at Amir as I passed, I felt a surge of affection glow in my chest, the sensation lighting up the thread tying me to Amir.
I’d felt the moment Amir and Ax had finally admitted how deeply their feelings ran for each other. It was like every single day, these four men showed me how absolutely beautiful life could be, how not all alphas were abusive assholes, that omegas weren’t all seen as nothing more than breeders or felt as though they were better than other designations.
Amir behaved as though he loved being an omega. My sister had always seemed to resent it. Although that had had a lot to do with the way our parents had treated her and the rest of us.
Within a span of less than a year, I’d realized how happy a person truly could be. And I owed it all to Enzo, Ax, Cyrus, and Amir. Not only because they’d protected me and given me a place to stay – and a pack – but because they’d given me the space and support to find my own strength, to find my voice, to carve out a place of my own in this world.
The Vault was filling up quickly being as it was a Saturday evening and Cyrus had announced on the club’s social media page that the male dance review had a whole new set. I’d heard music thumping from the basement, but the song had changed several times so I had no idea what music they would be dancing to. And I’d stopped peeking when Ax was working on new choreography so I would be as surprised as the rest of the patrons here.
I was growing more comfortable around alphas, especially since my three and my omega always kept an eye on me while I worked, but I was happy a majority of the crowd tonight consisted of betas.
While there had only been one incident since I’d worked here – and it had been started because of me – I was still always leery of drunk, power-hungry alphas.
“Here you go,” I said as I set down a variety of mixed drinks for a table of beautiful, giggling beta women, one of them donning a veil and a sash that said Bride to Be in gold letters .
A bachelorette party. And, yeah, this club was pretty popular in the area, but I was pretty sure they were here to watch the dancers, including my sexy as sin alpha.
I supposed others would be jealous that so many people ogled one of the loves of their life – and I hadn’t actually asked Amir how it made him feel – but I was proud Ax was mine, that, no matter how much he grinned and gyrated his hips to screaming men and women, he would be coming home to Amir and me.
It was us that he loved.
“What time do the guys start?” one of the women asked, her question followed by cheers and more giggles.
“Uh,” I glanced back at the clock hanging over the bar. “In about twenty minutes.”
“Have you seen the show yet?”
“The new one or the guys in general?” I asked.
“All of it. Are they…” She glanced toward her friends. “Are any of them single?”
Even that question didn’t send the green fog of jealousy slithering through my stomach. For the first time in my life, I felt secure of my place in someone’s life and their heart.
“I think a few of them are, but I’m not sure.”
The bride lifted her phone and turned it toward me, pointing out Ax. I tried to hide my grin but failed miserably.
“This one. Alpha Ax.”
“Sorry, ladies,” I said, lifting my chin and pointing to the mark he’d left to cover Antonio’s.
“OMG, girl! You are lucky as hell,” the bride said to nods from every woman at the table.
“He’s one of three. They own this place. And that sexy omega there,” I said, pointing toward Amir, who winked when he caught us all staring, “is mine, too.”
“Damn, girl. You must teach us your ways,” one of the women said before raising her hand for a high five.
Which, of course, I returned because yeah…I was definitely lucky as hell .
“Since when does a beta claim an omega?”
That voice. It was the same one from my nightmares.
I couldn’t move. Couldn’t turn to look. I could hardly fucking breathe.
A hand gently wrapped around my bicep and turned me until I was staring into a man’s chest.
An alpha’s chest.
Antonio’s chest.
I didn’t have to look into his face to know. I would recognize his voice and his wet newspaper smell anywhere.
Fingers dipped under my chin and gently raised my face until I was forced to either look up at him or make a scene. And being as I’d already been the cause of one fight that resulted in the police showing up at my alphas’ club, I didn’t want to have a repeat performance.
“You look amazing,” he said, his voice deceivingly tender, as though he gave a single shit about me.
Why was he here?
I had zero to offer him now that my parents were dead and any amount of money or power was gone with them. Not that I would have ever been a cash cow.
Cora had been the golden ticket, the one alphas fell over themselves to claim, the one my fathers had made a deal with another powerful family in exchange for her place in their pack.
“Excuse me,” I said, pulling my face away from his hand and turning my back on him, hurrying through the crowd while struggling not to return to the old Issa, the one who would curl in on herself, lower her eyes to the ground in submission, and allow a fucker like Antonio to make me feel inferior.
Inhaling deeply, I blew the breath through pursed lips, then smiled at Amir when he frowned and tilted his head in his little silent way of asking if I was okay.
No way would I tell him who had found me, who was currently in the middle of the club. He wouldn’t waste a second to confront him and that was the last thing I wanted.
I would simply finish up the night, ignore him as much as possible, and hope he got the message that he wasn’t welcome here and I had a new pack, one that didn’t involve him. The asshole had held a knife to my sister’s throat when she’d allowed her alphas to claim her.
No matter how nice he tried to pretend he was in front of that table of betas, I knew the real Antonio.
Memories assaulted my senses, the names, the curses, the physical, emotional, and mental abuse. Most of my time with him was a haze since he’d kept me sedated and pliant, but those memories were still as vivid as if everything had happened yesterday.
No. I was happy now. I was stronger than the woman who’d allowed him to treat me that way. I would not allow him to take away my peace.
Stepping between Amir’s spread knees, I pressed a soft, but passionate kiss to his lips then turned and went back to checking on my tables and taking orders.
There were a few of us waiting tables tonight, so I’d hoped Antonio found himself in one of their sections.
When I wandered over to a table with a mixture of alphas, betas, and two omegas, I spotted my former alpha from the corner of my eye…and the asshole was absolutely sitting in my section.
How long had he been here? Couldn’t have been long or I would have noted a new patron and would have taken their order. So that meant he’d watched me, waited to see where I was working, then took up space there.
I was shocked he’d been able to find an empty table, even the four-seater high top. Tables were valuable and rare real estate on the weekends.
I should have alerted my alphas to his presence. At least let them know in case there were any issues.
No. I could do this . I would remain professional, do my job, and treat him like any other asshole I’d waited on in my short stint as a server at The Vault.
Squaring my shoulders and lifting my chin, I made my way to his table, keeping my eyes on him the entire way, and stopped with my tray under my arm. “What can I get for you? ”
He didn’t speak for a few seconds, merely studied my face as though looking for a difference or seeing me for the first time.
“If you’re just here for the show, I’ll bring you a glass of water.” I turned to check on my other tables, but his hand wrapped around my arm again. Turning just my head, I glared at him.
“That’s the second time you’ve put your hands on me. I would suggest keeping them to yourself.”
A smirk pulled up one corner of his mouth and his body shook slightly with a chuckle. “Look who learned to speak up for herself.”
I tugged my arm from his grip, keeping it casual so as not to garner attention from my coworkers or pack, and returned his smirk.
“Easy to do when my alphas aren’t drugging me to keep me silent. Last chance – do you want something to drink or not?”
“Vodka martini,” he said, his smirk gone and something dark and slightly sinister flashing through his eyes.
Putting on the most saccharine smile possible, I nodded. “Got it. Be back in a few.”
And then I hurried through the crowd, smiling at the bachelorette party, who had all turned their chairs toward the stage in anticipation for the show that would be starting soon.
I let the smile drop but blew a kiss at Amir, who was watching me closely. I could put on the best act in the world, but he would feel my apprehension and anxiety through our bond. Which meant our alphas would feel it, too, if they were paying attention.
His eyes left my face and looked in the direction where Antonio was sitting. He had never met the alpha, had never seen a picture of him. But he would have felt my spiking nerves and might have even seen Antonio grabbing my arm.
While I had no intention of telling him or my alphas that my former alpha was here right now, I would absolutely tell them after he left or when we got home, and fully expected a whole lot of lecturing.
I didn’t want to be the reason The Vault got a bad reputation, didn’t want to be the reason for yet another brawl to break out. I wanted to be seen as simply another employee as long as I was on the clock .
Aryn turned and raised her brows at me, then lowered them until there was a fairly deep groove marring her beautiful face. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing. Need a vodka martini,” I answered, trying to keep my voice and expression as neutral as possible.
She jerked her head toward the door that would flip open and allow me to step behind the bar, then pulled me close. Bending her knees, she looked into my eyes and narrowed her own. “Something’s up.”
“It’s fine. Just…tired. That’s all,” I lied. And I’d always been terrible at lying.
She didn’t back off. Instead, she rested her warm hands on my shoulders. “Someone fucking with you?”
“Not yet. But hey, the night is young,” I said, hoping my smile didn’t look like a grimace.
It was another few seconds before she straightened and stepped away to make the cocktail.
Setting it on my tray, she put her hand on my arm before I could walk away. “Say the word. If someone ever makes you uncomfortable, we’ll either have one of the other servers take the table or have them tossed out on their ass.”
“Thanks, Mom,” I teased.
Her nose scrunched up. “That makes me feel dirty. You’re far too hot and I’m far too young to be your mother.” Then she did as she’d done on several occasions and marked me with the scent gland on her wrist.
That was a huge faux pas being as I had a pack and was claimed by not only three alphas but her bosses. But Aryn didn’t do it because she was laying claim or trying to steal me away. It felt more like a big sister protecting me or like a best friend watching out for me and letting other alphas know someone was watching over me.
“You’re such a cock tease,” I heard Amir tease the alpha bartender as I carried Antonio’s drink to his table.
If I got my way, he would drink this one and hit the street. Because I wasn’t sure how long I could keep up this act or keep my pack from knowing how seeing him shook me to my core.
Staying on the opposite side of the table so as to avoid being within grabbing distance again, I set his drink on the table and forced another sickeningly sweet smile. “Anything else I can get you? Your check?”
The smirk was gone. Any hint of softness had completely vanished from his face. As he slapped his card on the table, he lifted his drink. “Nah. Think I’ll start a tab.”
Asshole .
The lights on the dance floor dimmed while the spotlight lit up the stage.
“Oh, look. One of my alphas is about to go on stage,” I said loud enough for him to hear, then skipped away to nudge and wink at the bachelorette party and join my omega to watch Ax’s new performance.
If Antonio thought I would let him break me again, he was in for a surprise.
Or rather four surprises.
I wouldn’t say anything about his presence unless absolutely necessary, but it felt good that all I had to do was say a single word to Aryn or Amir or one of my alphas and he would be carried out and tossed onto the sidewalk like a bag of trash.
This time, the smile that stretched my lips was genuine and right on time as River by Bishop started, the same song he’d played when Amir had watched him dance then the two had exchanged the three most beautiful words in the world. It was the song he’d danced to the night they’d admitted they were in love with each other.
Fuck Antonio.
I had a new life, a new pack, and men who loved me.
He…
Antonio was nothing .