25. Chapter 23
CHAPTER 23
Wren
P erhaps I should have stopped after the second martini. But wow, they were amazing. I wasn’t sure what kind of date Dean had planned since he’d refused to tell me the details, only giving me a little hint as to how to dress.
I’d worn a dress I picked out when he and Matteo had taken me shopping and to the salon to get a new haircut. And I felt so pretty, especially when Dean stood frozen at the stairs and watched me descend with nothing short of awe on his face.
We’d gone to dinner, took a walk through downtown to check out some local musicians, then ended up dancing and having a few drinks.
I was officially buzzed. Dean had stopped after the first beer, refusing to risk getting drunk at all since he was the one driving us around. He said he refused to risk my safety.
Now, we were sitting on stools, our backs against the bar, watching a cover band.
“You want to dance some more?” he yelled over the music, his lips near my ear.
I raised a hand and fanned myself as I shook my head. I was so hot. I’d lost count of how long we’d danced after the fourth song. And holy crap, Dean could move. He danced almost like he’d taken classes.
“Another drink?” he called out.
Sucking on my straw until there was nothing but ice, I considered whether or not it was a good idea. Because I’d already decided I would find a big ol’ piece of green clothing to wave in his face as the official green flag if that was what it took to make him understand I wanted more from him. My omega needed more from him. I’d started to feel a sting of rejection from both him and Winter, which was stupid. They treated me well, they were kind to me, waited on me hand and foot.
But I needed more touch than the snuggles and passing brushes of their hands on my head or shoulders.
“Maybe just one more,” I said with a wide grin. I needed the courage, but I wanted to remember every moment of tonight.
Dean turned and signaled to the bartender, pointing at my glass and holding up a finger, telling the beautiful beta to bring me one more.
There was a pretty big crowd. Normally, I would have cowered from so many alphas in one room. But Dean made me feel safe with his arm casually draped over my shoulders.
And I wore Raece’s bite proudly, the shoulder of my dress revealing I was claimed and no longer up for grabs to some random asshole.
The singer announced a set break. A few people remained on the dance floor as the DJ started up some fun hip hop song from the nineties. Before my time, but I loved music from all eras.
Had I ever had as much fun as I had tonight?
I knew I had never been allowed to let my hair down and dance the way I did with Dean tonight. And I sure as hell was never allowed alcohol while at the Center. Other omegas had been permitted to go on dates or allowed alphas or packs to court them, but not me.
Although, I probably brought that on myself with my actions through the years. Had someone told me while I was there I would one day find myself happily tied to three alphas and two betas I would have laughed in their face.
“Hey, beautiful,” someone said to my left.
I ignored it and smiled as a couple betas danced, their arms high over their heads as they laughed.
Did I look that carefree tonight? Had anyone watched me and smiled because I looked so happy?
“I’m talking to you,” the person said louder.
Glancing over, I did a double take when I realized a big alpha was leaned against the bar and staring right at me.
“I have a pack,” I said proudly, turning my attention back to the dancers.
“I don’t see a pack. I only see a beta hanging all over you. Only an alpha can give you what you really need.”
I tensed as my heart began to thump like crazy behind my ribs.
Dean must have noticed the minute change because he leaned forward, his eyes on my face, before he caught sight of the alpha doing his best to flirt with me. At least I assumed that was his idea of flirting.
“Fuck off,” Dean yelled over the music, pulling me tighter against his side.
“Six alpha pack, beautiful. Six knots. No betas. Do you know how good we could make you feel?”
“I said fuck off,” Dean said.
And then he slid off the stool and pushed to his full height. The two men matched in height and size. Alphas tended to be stronger, faster, and more aggressive.
But I had finally been told what my pack did for money, and that kind of job meant you had to know how to fight and how to handle guns.
Except two more alphas stepped up behind the first. That meant Dean was outnumbered, and I was caught right in the middle. If the four men started throwing punches, no way could I move fast enough to avoid getting hit by a wild swing.
“Problem here?” one of the alphas asked.
“Your boy here is playing Billy Badass and fucking with my omega.”
All three alphas looked over his shoulder then back at Dean. “You’re a beta. You can’t claim an omega.”
“She has three fucking alphas and two betas. She’s claimed and bonded and not for you. So again, I ask you to kindly fuck off.”
Time slowed. Or maybe I was drunker than I realized. The first alpha reached forward and grabbed Dean by the shirt, yanking him forward. I opened my mouth and screamed, but Dean swung a fist and knocked the alpha back a step.
“Shit!” I squeaked, scrabbling to climb on top of the bar as the other two jumped in and arms and fists began to fly.
Dean was fast, but he was taking hits. And there wasn’t a thing I could do to help.
Then again…
Glancing around, I found a beer bottle and swung it, smashing it over one of the alpha’s heads like they did in a movie I’d watched with the pack.
Except he didn’t crumple to the ground unconscious. He froze a moment, touched his fingertips to his head where they came away coated in blood, then turned a rage filled glare on me.
“Get the fuck away from her!” Dean bellowed, lunging and catching the alpha around the waist and taking him to the ground before he could punish me.
The area in front of the bar was chaos for what felt like hours. Though it was more than likely only minutes. Eventually, the security jumped in and pulled everyone apart.
“Get your omega out of here before every fucking alpha in here loses their fucking shit!” one of the big security guys ordered.
Which meant my scent was elevated. I wouldn’t be perfuming. No way had anything that just happened turned me on. But the fear and anxiety would have made my body temperature spike and alerted the others of my presence.
No one stopped Dean when he scooped me from the bar top and rushed through the crowd with me cradled in his arms. I wasn’t even sure whether he’d paid for our drinks.
All I knew was my beta was bleeding. There was a line of it running down his face from somewhere high on his forehead under his hairline. And he was definitely going to have a black eye.
“Are you okay?” I asked him when we were outside and no longer had to scream to be heard over the music.
He didn’t answer, just kept rushing across the lot until he reached the SUV, unlocked it, and dropped me into my seat.
The door slammed shut and he was jogging around the hood as I pulled my belt into place. As soon as the engine roared to life, he was peeling out of the parking lot and heading toward home.
“Dean! Are you okay? You’re bleeding!”
The most alpha sounding growl rumbled from his chest as he barely glanced at me.
“Did anyone touch you?” he asked, his voice deep and gravelly.
“No. Please, Dean. Pull over and let me check you out.”
“I’m fine, baby. I’ve been through worse.” A muscle in his jaw jumped a few times and his knuckles were white as he clenched the steering wheel tightly. “Fuck!” he barked loud enough I jumped. “Shit. Sorry. I’m sorry.”
His hand was gentle when he laid it on my thigh and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
Once the adrenaline wore off, I knew the night would catch up to me and my omega would go all emotional. But for now, all I could focus on was the fact my beta had been hurt while trying to protect me.
By the time Dean pulled the SUV into the garage, I was a ball of nerves and constantly fighting the urge to cry. I hated crying. But my omega was terrified of what could have happened, not to me but to the man who looked like he’d been trampled by a fucking bull. If he was in pain, he didn’t show it, simply kept his warm hand on my thigh.
The door leading into the house was ripped open and Doran’s head peeked out, his brows furrowed deeply. He would have felt me through our bond. I wondered if Matteo had picked up on it, as well, since they were the only two who’d I’d completed the bonds through sex.
Doran charged through the door the moment Dean pushed his open and ran straight for me. I was unbuckling my seatbelt when he reached in and pulled me out, running his hands over my hair, my face, down my body.
“I’m fine, Doran. He’s the one who got beat up.”
“I didn’t get beat up,” Doran argued, my sweet, flirty beta nowhere to be found.
“What the fuck happened?” Matteo asked as he stepped into the garage.
“Will someone please look at his cut? He’s being all…alpha-like and won’t tell me if he’s okay.”
Dean frowned at me. Then the corners of his lips quirked. Finally, a smile blossomed on his face. “Alpha-like. I’m not sure if you’re insulting me or what.”
With a roll of my eyes, I pulled from Doran’s embrace, grabbed Dean’s hand, and dragged him into the kitchen where Raece and Winter stepped in with wide eyes and frowns.
“What the fuck?” Raece said. His eyes immediately went to me.
“I’m fine,” I said, holding my hands out to stop anyone else from barreling toward me and checking me over. “He’s not.”
“It’s nothing,” Dean said with a wave of his hand.
Matteo stopped Dean and held his head in both of his big hands, turning his head this way and that. “Doesn’t look like anything requires stitching.”
“Someone tell me what the fuck happened,” Raece barked, causing me, Doran, and Dean to stiffen for a moment under his power.
“Some alpha was trying to steal her. She tried to turn him down. He and his buddies didn’t get the hint. So I intervened.”
“There were three of them. He was fighting with three fucking alphas.”
“Hey. You’re the one who smashed a bottle over one of their heads.”
Everyone turned to gape at me. Dean smiled like he was proud. Winter quirked a brow. Doran looked horrified I’d been in that situation.
Raece…well, he and Matteo looked as though they were seconds away from going back to that bar to murder someone.
“What? There were three of them. What was I supposed to do? Sit there and watch them hurt my beta?”
“Yes. That’s exactly what you should have done,” Raece growled.
I crossed my arms and glared. “You were nice to me earlier and I started to like you. Don’t ruin that now.”
His mouth popped open but snapped shut as a growl continued to rumble from his chest.
“Are you hurt, though?” Doran asked.
“I said I’m fine. No one touched me. Dean is the one who’s bleeding.”
Matteo gripped Dean’s head again, his fingers wrapped around the back of his neck. They were muttering something to each other, too low for me to here, before Matteo leaned forward and rested his forehead against Dean’s for a brief moment, pulling back and kissing him deeply. The kiss lasted barely a few seconds but was enough for my body to catch fire. The sight of two of my packmates being so openly intimate with each other made my omega crave the exact same.
I wanted to feel so comfortable around them, for them to be so at ease around me that it was normal to embrace, to hug, to kiss me in front of the others.
Yet they were apparently all waiting for me to set the pace.
Dean finally nodded, turned, and grabbed my hand before dragging me from the kitchen. Matteo followed closely behind. When I glanced over my shoulder, I realized the rest were right on our heels, as well.
The door to the omega wing was standing wide open and Dean walked through, my hand still entwined in his, and headed straight for the bathroom, grabbing the back collar of his shirt and tugging it over his head.
Then he hopped up on the vanity and waited while Matteo rummaged through the vanity until he found a first aid kit, setting it beside Dean’s hip.
My giant alpha was quick but thorough as he cleaned the cut on Dean’s forehead then checked over the others. By the time he applied a butterfly bandage over the gash to hold it closed, I was a bundle of nerves, clenching and twisting my fingers.
“Well? Is he okay?”
Dean turned his eyes to me. “ He is fine. Like I told you in the SUV.”
“They could have hurt you. Like, really bad.”
“As long as they didn’t get their hands on you, that’s fine with me.”
As Matteo stepped out of the way, I practically launched myself at Dean, unable to hold back any longer.
Wrapping my arms around the back of my beta’s neck, I slammed my mouth against his, my tongue instantly entering his mouth when he immediately opened for me, his tongue tangling and tasting and dueling with my own.
By the time we pulled apart, we both gasped for air.
“I don’t want you to get hurt because of me. Ever,” I breathed against his lips.
“Baby girl, I would gladly get my ass curb stomped if it meant protecting you.” He pulled back so I had to look into his eyes. “I know all this shit wasn’t anything we’d all planned, but you have to know by now how much you mean to me. To all of us. And if you don’t, tell us what we can do to prove it.”
“The nest. Please. I need you. All of you.” Because for the first time in as long as I could remember, I’d come close to losing someone I cared about.
And the realization that any of my five packmates would risk their lives or safety for me terrified me even more than the thought of being shipped back to the Center.