Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Kayla
Over the next several days, I did a lot of thinking while trying to not let myself be persuaded by how good the sex was.
And that meant not letting any of them stick their dicks and definitely not their knots in me.
I’d been moving way too fast in the first place and needed my head and hormones clear.
It was easier said than done.
I lay on the bed in the primary bedroom, which I’d overtaken as my own. There had been another spare bedroom upstairs, but it had been used as a closet for their athleticwear brand. That was now moved to the room on the ground floor, so Beck had his own room.
I was all for sharing rooms and beds, but I also needed my own space. I wanted to backtrack a bit and get to know them more. Especially since I was ninety-five percent sure I was staying.
The video chat app on my phone finally connected with my sister, and I rolled over and propped the phone on a pillow. “Hey, Care Bear.”
“You look comfy.” She was in bed, lying the exact same way as I was. She had soft lighting on so her face was illuminated in a warm glow. “I was starting to worry you’d died from too much dick.”
I laughed. It was nice to hear her joking again, but I could still see the pain and sadness in her eyes even through the video chat. “I’m abstaining.”
“What? Why the hell would you do that? At least let me live vicariously through you.” She sighed. “You look happy.”
I curled my hands under the side of my face and wondered how much I should tell her. I didn’t want our relationship to turn into secrets and I knew she wouldn’t want that either.
“I am... I think I’m going to stay.” I bit my lip and kept my eyes glued on Kara’s for any signs of duress. “They want to bond with me.”
Kara mirrored me, her hands going under her cheek. “Is that what you want? You were so adamant that a pack wasn’t for you.”
“I know, but I just feel... at peace around them. It’s hard to explain.” It felt natural, like this pack was always meant to be mine. It was a ridiculous feeling considering Kara was supposed to be the one in my place. A fact I didn’t plan on telling her because it would do nothing except hurt her.
“I’m happy for you.” She blinked back tears. “I think we’ve swapped opinions on packs.”
“You don’t mean that, Kara. It just wasn’t the right time. I mean, think about how the whole system works. We hardly get time with any of the packs and then have to rank each other for some algorithm to match us. They might as well just auction us off instead.”
“That’s barbaric. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about Omega Match and have decided they can’t be trusted.
Who’s to say money doesn’t trade hands? Where there’s power, there’s money pulling the strings.
” Kara almost never spoke badly about anything having to do with how omegas are treated or matched in our society.
It was concerning the sharp turn she’d made.
There was still the question of how I ended up even matching when I opted out. I was sure everyone thought I was lying, and part of me still wondered if Kara really believed me.
“Are you going to start doing meetings and socials for the fall match? They told us the fall one is a lot less overwhelming.”
“What if I meet a fantastic pack outside of Omega Match? Am I supposed to just ignore my feelings and make them go through the whole process?”
“How do you plan on meeting a pack outside of it? I hope you aren’t thinking of sneaking-”
“No. I just... never mind.” Kara sat up, and I could see her room. It was a disaster of boxes and piles of things. “I should finish packing this mess. They’re moving me to the omega compound tomorrow.”
“Call me whenever you need to. I love you, sis.”
“Love you too.” She hung up, and I was left with an uneasy feeling in my belly.
There was a soft knock on my door, and it cracked open an inch. I’d told the guys I was going to take a nap, but really had been scrolling on my phone and then talking to Kara.
“Kayla? You awake?” Kane whispered.
“Yeah. You can come in.” I sat up and scooted back against the headboard. “What’s up?”
Kane was dressed in jeans and had a leather jacket on over his T-shirt. Odd attire for inside the house.
“I’m going to go for a ride and then stop at a food truck event. You want to go?” He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “I thought it would be nice to get out for a bit before we leave tomorrow morning.”
“A ride? Like on a motorcycle?” My heart sped up, and I scooted off the large bed when he nodded. “Hell yes, I want to go.”
I looked down at my pajama shorts and tank top I’d put on to take a nap. “Let me change.”
“You don’t have to wear a leather jacket or anything, but something to cover your skin would be good just in case.” He sat on the bench at the end of the bed as I opened one of the boxes I still hadn’t unpacked.
“I have a leather jacket I never have reason to wear.” I dug to the bottom and yanked it out. “Is everyone going?”
“No, just us.” He leaned back onto the end of the bed with his forearms as I started changing right in front of him. “Have you ridden on a motorcycle?”
“Yeah, my dads have them. Drives my mom nuts. I’ve never driven one myself though. I think they were scared I’d ride off into the sunset if they taught me how.” I pulled on the jeans I had on earlier and swapped out my sleep tank for an N’Pact shirt.
“I could teach you how. I mean, not today, but once the season is over. Rio has a bike too. We could get you one.” He sat up and grabbed my hips as I came to stand in front of him. “Do you have your driver’s license?”
I cringed. “No. There’s been no reason for me to learn to drive and it’s not like omegas have freedoms where we can just go wherever we want when we want.” It really sucked, and I didn’t even know how I thought it was going to be possible to open my own shop with all the restrictions.
I’d have to hire at least two beta security guards to be in the shop and to accompany me to and from the shop. Might as well be a celebrity.
“What’s that scrunched up expression for? There’s no shame in not knowing how, but I think it would be good for you to learn in case you ever need to drive.” He stood and pulled me against him in a hug.
“I’ve driven bumper cars and on video games. How hard can it be?” The thought of driving in Los Angeles traffic gave me anxiety.
“It can be difficult. Let’s go so we have enough time to enjoy the food trucks and get back before it gets dark.” He entwined our fingers and led me out of the room. “Are you a fan of N’Pact?”
I looked down at my well-worn shirt. “Who isn’t?”
He laughed as we walked through the house. “They live down the street. We’ve been over there a few times for parties and stuff. I’d introduce you but they don’t have an omega, and I don’t want them to get any ideas.”
I zipped up my jacket as we went out into the garage. “I guess I can see why they wouldn’t have an omega. Too many beta chicks to wet their dicks with... You guys must have stopped getting so many throwing themselves at you to agree to take me.”
Kane stopped and I nearly ran into him. He turned and his face screamed that my comment had hurt. “Not all famous or popular alpha packs are man whores, Kayla.”
I cringed. “I know... I was just joking.”
But was I? My perception of alpha packs that were in the limelight was a pretty negative one. It was probably why I had such a bad reaction to Beck at first.
“I get why you would think that about us, and we definitely have had our fair share of women, but it’s not like we were sleeping with new chicks every week.” He backed toward the two bikes on the far side of the garage.
“How many is a fair share? Did you all sleep with the same one?” I shouldn’t have asked because all it was going to do was make me jealous as fuck.
Kane grabbed a helmet and handed it to me before going to a blue Harley-Davidson street cruiser. I knew nothing about bikes, but it looked faster than a regular Harley but wasn’t a crotch rocket.
“I haven’t kept count. We sometimes share a woman. Sometimes we pair off. Sometimes solo.” He threw his leg over the bike and looked back at me. “Don’t look so pissed off about it. None of them matter.”
“But that’s where you’re wrong. They should matter. They’re human beings.” I got on the bike behind Kane and wrapped my arms around him as he manually backed out of the garage. “Omegas aren’t allowed to explore their sexuality with other people. It’s unfair.”
Kane turned and flipped down my visor. “I agree. Hold on tight.”
I was already hotter than hell in the leather jacket, and the visor down just made it worse, but it was better to suffer for a short time than to end up getting road rash if we crashed.
He pulled out of the gate and headed toward the main road. About five houses down, he pointed, and without him even saying anything, I knew he was pointing out N’Pact’s house.
It was mostly hidden behind a brick wall, trees, and hedges, but I memorized the number to look up when we got back to the house. Kara would be so jealous to know I lived so close I could simply go over and ask for a cup of sugar.
I should have asked him where we were going because, ten minutes later, we were on the freeway, dodging traffic. I’d never been scared on the back of a bike before but going between cars made me fear for my life.
Kane must have sensed my unease because his body started vibrating with a deep purr. I thought at first it was just the vibrations of the bike until we had to stop when someone was blocking the path between the lanes.
These men just knew what I needed from them, and for someone who hadn’t thought they needed all the attention and comfort a pack would bring, I was soaking it up. I’d been naive to think I’d want to spend any more time alone with no alphas to take care of me.
Not just take care of me in a biological or financial sense, but take care of me emotionally.
I lucked out matching with this pack because they didn’t have to do the little things they’d done for me so far like taking me on bike rides, shopping with me, and helping me put together my quilt for my nest.
They didn’t have to rearrange major parts of their house to accommodate what I needed and wanted. But they had. They’d exceeded my expectations, and as hard as it was to admit it to myself, I couldn’t wait to see what the future brought.
Tears sprang to my eyes, and I let them fall inside the privacy of my helmet. I was going to do it; I was going to tell them I wanted to stay and bond with them.
Maybe half an hour later, Kane pulled off the freeway and drove a few more minutes before coming to a stop in a parking lot at the beach.
I’d stopped crying and decided to wait to tell them until after their playoff game.
They didn’t need the distraction of thinking about bonding with me while kicking some Alphaball butt.
It was still sunny out, but the sun was starting to sink, and I was excited to watch the sunset so close to the water.
The view from the pack’s house was great and all, but no matter what they said, it wasn’t really an ocean view.
Seeing a speck of water occasionally when the sky wasn’t smoggy was not a view.
Kane tapped my knee and I got off the bike, taking my helmet off and unzipping the jacket. I was dying a little and felt like I was burning up. It was probably in the high sixties, but with the sun and the leather, my body felt like it was at least ninety.
“You okay?” Kane asked, a concerned expression on his face as he took off his own helmet and jacket.
“Yeah, just hot.” I handed him my jacket and he shoved it into a small compartment under where I had been sitting. “Safety first, right?”
“Right... I guess I’m just used to it. You’re a little flushed.” He put his hand to my cheek. “Jesus, you’re burning up.”
I didn’t want to confess I was crying. “I’ll just rinse my face off in a bathroom.”
Looking around, I saw a public bathroom and started to walk toward it. Kane cursed and then jogged to catch up with me. “Kayla, you can’t just walk off by yourself.”
“The bathroom is right there.” I pointed as if he couldn’t see the sign in bold letters. “I’ll scream if I need you.”
He was holding one of the helmets still and rolled his eyes. “You’re going to be the death of me. If you aren’t back in one minute, I’m coming in after you.”
I waved him off and walked the few hundred feet to the bathroom. It smelled horrible and was dirty as hell. I looked in the cloudy mirror and was a little surprised at how red my cheeks were.
Shaking my head, because it was ludicrous to think it was my heat—it wasn’t due for several more weeks and it wouldn’t turn me the color of a lobster—I turned on the water and sniffed it to make sure it wasn’t gross before splashing my face.
The relief was instant, and I splashed myself a few more times before walking out with my face dripping wet. There weren’t any paper towels, and I wasn’t about to dry my face with toilet paper or stick it under the hand dryer.
There were two men talking with Kane, but he had his eyes locked on me the entire short distance back to him. As soon as I was within grabbing distance, he wrapped his arm around my waist and tugged me into his side.
“I didn’t know your pack had taken an omega.” One of the men gave me a quick once-over, his eyes looking closely at my neck. He couldn’t see my shoulder, though, so there was no way he could tell if we’d bonded yet.
Kane stiffened the slightest bit. They were both alphas, I could tell from their scents wafting on the breeze. But even if I couldn’t smell them, there was a way an alpha carried himself that alerted omegas to their presence.
We were outside, and there was a slight breeze, so hopefully they couldn’t tell we weren’t bonded yet. Something changed with an omega’s scent once the bond took place. My scent wouldn’t change for me or the pack, but other alphas would be able to detect a kind of warning pheromone.
“Well, it was nice to meet you. Good luck tomorrow.” The second man nodded respectfully and then grabbed his friend’s arm and steered him away.
Kane breathed a heavy breath out and kissed my temple. “I was a little concerned about the one when he stared at your neck. You feel cooler?”
“A little. It doesn’t help when you’re pawing at me.” I pulled away and grabbed his hand. “Now, where are these food trucks?”
Maybe stuffing my stomach with food would stop the ache that had started to build there.