13. Arlo
Chapter 13
Arlo
I t was her . There was no doubt about it.
We had just taken to the stage, excited to be back with an American audience, and before we even made it halfway through the first song, I noticed her.
The scent hit me first. It was muted because with so many people crammed into such a small place, dancing, and screaming, naturally the room quickly developed an odor.
Underneath the stench of bad decisions and sweat, though, was something sweet, like rose or lilac. It had my heart pounding. Shaking my head, I convinced myself I must have been hallucinating, because it was the scent I had gotten a noseful of the morning I had woken Hendrix up and he’d had a beta in his bed, but the scent was undoubtedly omega.
Glancing up from my guitar, I noticed Hendrix. His shoulders were tensed up, and he was usually the most relaxed when performing. Had he also caught her scent? I glanced around at my bandmates. Despite the rigid posture, Hendrix looked good. He had color in his face, and his foot movements were quick, less sluggish than before.
It had to be her. She was here, and we couldn’t miss her.
My eyes roamed over the crowd. She had to be near the front if we were able to catch a whiff of her.
Turned out, she was hard to miss.
In a crowd of excited revelers, two women weren’t dancing, the brunette of the pair staring at the other guys with enormous eyes.
It could have been the girl from the footage, but the grainy image was hard to compare to the beauty in the crowd.
Her face was pinched, unhappy. I glanced between my pack mates. Phineas frowned at me, mouthing something that I think was everything all right? But I couldn’t be sure.
It was her; something about her just felt right . It wasn’t logical, but it made sense to me. Hendrix was clueless to our glances. He was in his own world, belting out lyrics and gyrating with a little extra pizzazz.
My eyes drifted back to the omega. To our soft, beautiful omega. As soon as the show was finished, I was going to scoop her up and say hello. From what I could see in the dim lights, Hendrix had good taste.
I wanted to bury my nose in her hair and get a lungful of that scent. Both Phineas and Beckett were glancing between the front of the crowd and me. We all knew something was up, but Hendrix was blissfully unaware despite the tension in the air. He was in his own little drug-induced world. He probably felt amazing because his omega was in the room and he didn’t even realize.
Turning back to the crowd, I made brief, glorious eye contact with our omega, and awareness of her rocked me down to my toes, every nerve lighting up in acknowledgment of her presence. She tore her gaze away, turned to her friend, and bolted, pushing her way through the crowds toward the east exit.
Where was she going? We couldn’t let her vanish.
Beckett raised his eyebrows at me, subtly shaking his head, like he could tell what I was thinking. He gave me a stern look, but I was already putting down my guitar and heading toward the front of the stage.
There was no way in hell I was going to let her go.
Hendrix, in his doped-up state, barely even registered me as I dove off the front of the stage, straight into the crowd.
It probably wasn’t the smartest idea, but it made sense in the moment.
Plus, it wasn’t like the other guys could rush off the stage with me gone. They’d have to keep going or ruin the concert, so that meant I could potentially get a little one-on-one time with our omega.
Hands reached out to grab me as the audience crowed in delight at my appearance, and security had them funnel me to the side so I could get my feet on the ground and barrel toward the exit my omega had just left through. Thankfully, there was security near the door, so I simply nodded at them and they got the message not to let any of the fans through.
The cold air in the dingy corridor hit me in the face as soon as I left the concert space.
It didn’t take much to find the omega. She had her hand against the wall and was bowed over at the waist, breathing deeply.
“Princess?” The pet name fell out of my mouth with ease.
Her eyes flew open and she gaped at me.
“We’ve been looking for you!” I declared excitedly, taking a few steps toward her.
“Oh, u-uh, you have?” Her nervous stammer was so fucking cute.
I nodded. “We didn’t know how to reach out to you, but we saw you on CCTV from the concert in Seattle. I must say, I was rather delighted when I found out you bit Hendrix on the ass. It’s the perfect place for a bonding mark, really.”
“I don’t remember biting him,” she admitted in a small voice.
“You look a little pale. Are you okay? Is the baby causing problems?”
Her eyes widened. “H-how do you know about that?”
“Henny boy has been sick . Serves him right for being a dick. I’ve waited years for an omega, and he goes ahead and bites a stunner like you, then promptly forgets! Inconsiderate, if you ask me,” I said, shaking my head.
“I—uh…”
“Oh, shit! What’s your name? We hadn’t gotten close enough to finding you to figure it out. I’m Arlo, by the way, just in case that wasn’t clear.”
“Meadow…”
“That’s so pretty. Suits you perfectly.” She was petite, kinda delicate, with her long brown hair in sweet waves, and those gorgeous eyes were bright green, just like I imagined a meadow to be. Had I never been in one? Where the fuck did someone even find a meadow…Not important. I had the only Meadow that mattered in front of me.
She went to move off the wall and tilted ever so slightly.
I cursed, lunging forward to steady her. “You need to sit down.” If I could sneak her outside right now, I could get her to the tour bus, give her some space and quiet, and offer access to both a bed and a snack fridge. “Our tour bus is outside those doors. Could I take you there, and we can wait for the others?”
There was a commotion behind us, and a sweaty, tall, blonde omega who smelled of peonies burst through the doors and toward us. “Meadow!”
My omega peeked past me and opened her arms to the blonde for a hug so tight, I heard her bones pop. “I’m okay.”
“You freaked me out!” The blonde turned to me and froze like a bunny coming up against a wolf. “Oh, shit.”
“Uh, hi.” I gave her a little wave.
“Clover,” said Meadow, “you kinda know Arlo. Arlo, this is my best friend, Clover.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Clover asked, turning back to Meadow.
“I was going to take her back to the tour bus to rest away from the crowds,” I told Clover.
Her gaze surveyed me as she clutched Meadow. “That sounds great.” She said that part out loud, but then mouthed, If you hurt her, I will kill you. And her eyes shot daggers at me like she meant it. Threats aside, I was glad my omega had someone who’d been looking out for her while we were away.
“Come on. We’ve got water and snacks on the bus.”
“Are you going back onstage?” Clover asked.
“They can handle it. I’ve got an omega to take care of.”
That answer seemed to relax Clover, and she nodded decisively. “All right. Are you comfortable going with Arlo, or do you want me to come too?”
“You might as well enjoy the rest of the show,” replied Meadow, though she made no move to extract herself from Clover’s embrace. “I promise I’ll text if I need you.”
Clover gave her another squeeze before thrusting her to arm’s length. “You’d fucking better. Arlo’s going to take the best care of you.” She shot me more of those eyeball daggers, and I couldn’t help grinning.
Meadow worried her lip for a moment before speaking. “Okay. I’ve already been bonded and knocked up in that bus. What’s the worst that can happen if I go back a second time?”