13. Avery
Avery
L eaving Bridget and her seething sister, we drove downtown, toward the Loop, to find the sampling party so we could talk to Lucas.
I warned Bridget and Saoirse before we left that if either of them called and gave Lucas a heads-up, for any reason, before I got a chance to speak to him, that one, or the pair of them, would be charged with interfering in or obstructing an ongoing homicide investigation.
“Don’t test me,” I warned one of my oldest friends and her little sister.
Both of them had nodded their agreement.
“Listen,” I warned the other two occupants of the car as we made our way downtown. “I can’t have you guys walking in there with me, so maybe you should wait outside.”
Graeme scoffed. “I would never allow you to walk into a party like that alone.”
“I can assure you I walked into much scarier situations than this on a regular Friday night when I was a patrol officer.”
Wade nodded, backing me up. “There’s no doubt.”
“And now?” Graeme wanted to know, and I could see the flash of concern on his face.
“Now?” I grimaced. “It’s so much worse.”
“Let me understand,” he murmured, and I could see how hard he was gripping the steering wheel. “Your life is in constant danger?”
“No, not constant danger,” I assured him. “Police work is eighty percent watching, waiting, following up, and only twenty percent is bullets flying at your head.”
“He wears a vest,” Wade chimed in. “When he remembers,” he finished unhelpfully. “But we work homicide, not vice or undercover or SWAT. As far as jobs go, we get shot at the least.”
“This is ridiculous,” Graeme began, his voice catching, “but somehow, having been there for parts of the investigation, seeing you two at work, I had an image in my mind that it was the drudgery of putting together leads, asking questions, and…the idea of people actively trying to do you harm hadn’t entered my mind. ”
“It shouldn’t,” I assured him, patting his knee. “We’re not paid-by-the-hour private investigators following cheating husbands. Even those guys get shot at more than us.”
He didn’t seem appeased, and I had a niggle of worry that I’d somehow pointed out a concern he hadn’t thought about or been aware of before I turned his attention there.
Lucas’s phone pinged a block away from where Graeme pulled over and parked the car.
Before we got out, Wade and I hid our IDs, his stuffed into the shaft of his boot, mine in an inside pocket of Graeme’s trench coat.
Wade left his shoulder holster on since he was supposed to be Graeme’s bodyguard, and I made certain my ankle holster was secure after we both checked that we had a full clip ready to go. It was always best to be prepared.
It was easy to find the place once we located the narrow alley between two buildings, but Graeme was not pleased about us separating. The problem was, I couldn’t walk in with him. I knew myself too well; I’d be far to possessive and unable to leave his side, and that wasn’t smart.
Gripping my arm, he walked me a few feet away from Wade, stopped, turned me to face him, and then took hold of my chin, tipping my head back so I had to look him in the eye.
“There will be suitors all over you, and you know, in a roomful of pheromones and adrenaline and ––”
“Just wait and see.” I leaned in close and inhaled his mossy, earthy scent. “That’s all I ask.”
The quick shake of his head spoke to my being deluded, but that was okay. Some things did have to be seen to be believed.
I went first, down the alley, reaching an open door and stepping across the threshold into a neon-purple-lit room. The bouncer asked for my invitation, and I explained I was a beta and had been invited by one of the omegas.
“They always forget who they fuckin’ invite,” he groused, gesturing me inside. “God, how much do I hate omegas?”
I suspected that a great many wolves who didn’t know any omegas felt the same way; the general consensus was that omegas were useless.
Unless you were a rich alpha, they were a burden, and lupine society would be better off without them.
A sampling party was not designed to change the hearts and minds of regular alphas, betas, or gammas.
All it did was perpetuate the stereotype that all omegas were good for was sex.
Grabbing a stool at the bar of the two-story club that had been rented out, I chatted up the bartender, who was appreciative of the fifty-dollar tip I gave him. Since I’d only ever heard about sampling parties, but had no idea how they worked, I asked him to explain.
The gist was that a group of omegas would get together, approach an alpha about a party, and he would then rent the space, shell out cash for the upfront costs—plenty of clean towels, security, and most importantly, the alcohol that needed to flow nonstop—and paid for the staff and the cleaning afterwards.
When I inquired as to what the alpha who paid for the party received, I was told that he alone—or he and whoever else he chose—got to have sex with the participating omegas.
That was the payment; the alpha got to put them into heat.
“Heat?” I asked the bartender, making a face. “Really?”
“Yeah, man, really. Wait’ll you see it. It’s fuckin’ hot, until the fever breaks.”
“Fever?”
“You know, not like an actual fever. I mean, when they’re themselves again.”
It was an act, and I was sure it was a good one, because he seemed sincere that it was amazing to see, but I wasn’t buying it.
There was no such thing as an omega completely losing themselves, and remembering what I’d experienced myself, how out of control I’d felt, but only for a short time, I knew I was right.
I saw Graeme and Wade walk in from where I was sitting at the bar, sipping on a Pepsi, and left quickly to grab an empty table. Wade detoured to the bar while Graeme crossed the room and took the chair beside me, not looking comfortable in the least.
I turned to him, one eyebrow lifted.
“At the moment, it seems as though you were right,” he commented, deferring to me with a tip of his head. “I don’t understand how, but there are many alphas milling around, and as far as I can tell, none of them have even glanced your way. They truly can’t sense you’re an omega.”
“I told you.”
“But down here, near the dance floor and the bar, that makes sense. Upstairs, where I suspect most of the omegas are on display, with blood and pheromones pumping, things might quickly change.”
“I’ll still smell the same as I do right now.”
“Under different circumstances, though, they might discern that you are, in fact, an omega.”
“Maybe, but consider, too, that I’m telling them I’m a beta.
I’m presenting myself as one, and let’s face it, a cyne like you has to spend a whole helluva lot of time in your wolf form settling disputes, accepting challenges, and defending the members of their holt .
The more time you spend as a wolf, the more you trust your senses and not just your humanity. ”
He grunted. “That’s quite insightful coming from you, since your mother informed me that you and your wolf are not close.”
I groaned and leaned back in my chair.
“I’d like us to run together soon.”
Rolling my head to the right, I smiled at him. “I’ll run with you; I’d like that.”
He didn’t smile, but his eyes glinted as he stared at me.
“Did you have any trouble getting in?”
Instant scowl. “I’m a cyne , the man nearly pissed himself speaking to me. I didn’t even have to bother explaining who Wade was.”
I snorted. “Pissed himself, huh?”
He took hold of my chin. “I’m quite powerful, you know, even though you appear to be immune to my wolf.”
I turned my head, kissing his palm, and then eased from his grasp. “I’m not immune; I just don’t feel any fear, only your dominance.”
His jaw clenched as he breathed through his nose.
“And your dominance makes me wanna submit.”
“Avery,” he warned me.
“Roll over and beg you to––”
His growl cut me off. “If you want to remain here, I suggest you desist with your teasing.”
“Who’s teasing?”
“You’re playing with fire.”
I leaned sideways and kissed the side of his neck, nipping gently, and when I sat back, he was staring at me with his hand covering the bite.
“Just know that I want you all the time, all right? You never have to wonder, ‘Does Avery want me, crave me, ache for me?’ because I do. I would like nothing better than to be home in bed with you, but I appreciate you coming here and being my backup.”
He was quiet a second, like he was running through things in his head.
“Of course I’ve never had a mate before, but beyond that, I’ve never been the object of someone’s desire or affection.
I’ve never been wanted for more than a few hours, a day at most. No one’s ever looked at me like you do, with heat and longing and genuine warmth. I’m quite enamored of you.”
“Enamored, huh?” I teased him, leaning into his space again and kissing his cheek. “I’ll take it, for now, and hope the adjective gets better.”
He huffed out a breath. “Do you prefer beguiled or enchanted?”
“Stop, you’ll make me all verklempt.”
He opened his mouth, probably to growl at me because I was driving him nuts, but Wade joined us and put a snifter of what I hoped was brandy down in front of Graeme before taking the chair across from me. He took a sip of his own drink and then put it down fast, making a face that made me snort.
“Not good?” I teased him.
“It’s supposed to be a gin and tonic, but there is no tonic in that at all,” he said, glancing around. “You know, this is much less Sodom and Gomorrah than I was expecting.”
“Me too,” I agreed.
“That’s because the parts you’re thinking about are upstairs,” Graeme offered grimly.
Wade and I turned to him.
His sigh was both irritated and resigned. “When I was younger, before I knew I could say no to my friends, or if they were even friends or would respect my decisions, I was taken to more than one of these.”
I grinned at him. “And did you participate?”