Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
Avery
The helplessness I felt watching the vet tech rush Gizzy into the back was clawing at my insides. Once again, our negligence was hurting our pack, and I didn’t know how much more we could take.
Ever since we’d matched and then had it promptly rejected, things had not been the same between us. On the outside, we looked like a well-adjusted pack who had the world at the tips of our fingers, but we were barely holding on.
We hadn’t even spent a full day with the omega before she decided we weren’t worth the effort. It was a blow to our pack bond that was ready for an omega, and the added pressure of fame just made it ten times harder.
I sat down in the waiting room, cradling my head in my hands. Gizzy knew better than to eat random shit he found. He was a well-trained dog who could be left beside a steak and not eat it until told to do so.
The sliding doors at the entrance of the hospital opened and clomping feet ran toward the empty front desk. “Where is he?”
My hands dropped to my lap, and I sighed. “They rushed him back.”
Alvaro and Tate finally noticed me sitting off to the side. The fear in their eyes probably matched my own. Alvaro looked at the elderly couple sitting on the other side and then came to sit next to me.
Tate rubbed his temples. “How could we let this happen? Why did it happen?”
I leaned my head back against the wall and looked at the ceiling, trying to control myself from exploding. “Why was there an omega in our house? An unbonded omega?”
The receptionist that had rushed through the swinging doors with the vet tech came back out, looked at us with wide eyes, and went back to her desk. She wasn’t that much older than us and I hoped this didn’t end up all over the internet.
Cal came jogging through the doors and went to the front desk.
“Cal.” Alvaro sounded as tired as he looked. We all did.
We barely had any time off before we jumped right into rehearsals for our tour. Our record label worked us like we weren’t actual people, and as soon as this tour was done, we needed to reassess if this was really what we wanted out of life.
It wasn’t what I wanted.
“Here, sweetie. Fill out this paperwork for your dog since we don’t have him in our system. As soon as the vet decides what to do, we’ll have an estimate for you.” The receptionist held out a clipboard to Cal as he turned to walk toward us.
I kept my voice low as Cal fell into the chair next to me. “We have the assessment tomorrow and you decided it would be a good idea to have an omega sleepover? What’s the point of having a pack if the rest of us aren’t going to be thought of before life-altering decisions are made?”
Most of the time I stayed quiet about what bothered me, but not tonight. Tonight, I was fed up with never having control of my life. We had all the money we’d ever need, but what good was it if we couldn’t live life because of the record label and the alpha police?
“She needed a place to stay for the night. We texted you both.” Tate was playing mediator yet again. When was he going to get tired of it all and just let us come to blows? “You were pretty much dead to the world, Avery, or we would have woken you up.”
The swinging doors opened, and a vet tech walked out. She gave us a half smile, and I felt like my heart was going to rip through my chest and make a run for it.
The tech turned to Alvaro as he stood. “We were able to get Gizmo to vomit but are going to be giving him activated charcoal to absorb anything that wasn’t expelled and IV fluids.
The receptionist will have an estimate for you in a few minutes.
The vet would like to speak to you, so if you four could follow me to an exam room. ”
My leg bounced with nervousness. “Is he going to be okay?”
“You got him here very quickly, that’s a good thing. There are no cases of a dog ingesting heat suppressants, but with these new blister packages instead of the pill bottle, I anticipate we’ll see an increase.” She turned and walked toward a hallway. “Follow me, please.”
The rest of us stood and followed her down a long hallway to a private room with a bench seat and an exam table.
“The vet will be in shortly.” The door clicked closed behind her.
The blister packaging was a brand-new thing that had just rolled out a few weeks ago. It was much safer for omegas, and their pills were much less likely to be tampered with. The only problem was now they were easily accessible to pets and children.
As if we all suddenly were thinking of the same thing, we looked at Cal.
“What?” He shrugged off his leather jacket and hung it over his arm.
“Kara... where is she?” Alvaro leaned against the wall next to the door.
“She needed a few minutes.” Cal sat down on the bench seat next to Tate. “It’s probably better she just stays out in the car. If OPS or the Pack Health shitheads know we’re hanging out with an unbonded omega...”
I grabbed the door handle. “Where are the keys? She can’t just sit out there unprotected.”
“She has them.” Cal patted his jacket and pulled out his phone, the conversation finished.
I hated that this was how we were now. We were together, yet we were so far apart. It was completely fucked up that the entire six hours we had everything we ever wanted could fuck us so royally.
Alvaro grabbed my forearms as I started to open the door. “Are you okay to go get her?”
“Just as fine as the rest of you.” I wrenched my arm away and walked out of the room.
Finally, I felt like I could breathe a little and paused as the door shut to take a few deep breaths. That was a mistake because all I could smell was scared dog.
There were a few other people in the waiting room now with pets. Eyes landed on me, and I put my head down as I walked to the doors.
We could hardly go anywhere without being recognized, but hopefully, with their focus on their pets, they wouldn’t post on social media where we were. The last thing we needed was a two o’clock in the morning mob outside of a vet hospital when our dog was in bad shape.
Did dogs have HIPAA rights? How were we going to explain how he got ahold of heat suppressants?
I made it to the SUV and knocked on the back window. There was a squeal of surprise and then the door opened.
Fuuuuuck me.
There was no way she was on scent blockers because her perfume hit me like a blast of wind from a plane’s propeller. I stumbled back a few steps and brought my hand to cover my nose and mouth.
I wanted to breathe her in, to let her pheromones—that smelled a hell of a lot like warm chocolate to me—make my base instincts go crazy. I’d never scented such a tantalizing omega, even all those years ago when we went through profiles and spent days sniffing scent cards.
“Is... is he okay?” She swung her feet out but didn’t touch the ground.
No. No, he’s not okay. His dick is as hard as stone and his chest is rumbling and aching.
“They made him throw them up. We’re waiting on the vet.” My voice was barely recognizable with the low growl coming out of my mouth right along with it.
“I don’t know why I’m perfuming so bad. I took a blocker not even two hours ago.” She crossed her arms in an X and cupped the sides of her neck, which was where two of the scent glands were. “I’m sorry. I was drinking and I’m not thinking straight right now and-”
“You were drinking?” I lowered my hand from my face, shoving it in my pocket to remind me to keep my hands to myself. My skin itched from the need to touch her. Why was she not thinking straight? Did something happen?
She snorted a disbelieving laugh, tears springing to her eyes. “If I hadn’t been, none of this would have happened.”
“That’s why your blockers aren’t working well.”
“What? They’ve still worked when we’ve had drinks before...” She met my eyes and then quickly looked down at the ground.
“Were you around unbonded alphas and drinking before?” My spine straightened, and I dug my nails into the palms of my hands. The idea of her around any unbonded alpha, even at a meet and greet, made my blood boil.
“No, I’m not an idiot.” She stood, and if I hadn’t been prepared, the scent from her movement would have taken me to my knees. “Have you ever felt so lost that you don’t even know who you are anymore or what you’re doing?”
That was a little too close to home. I nodded because I couldn’t speak, and not just because I was trying not to inhale her scent. She knew what it felt like to have something right within your reach and have it ripped away.
With a shrug of her shoulders, she shut the back door and locked it. “I stole a car to get here from Washington.” She held the keys out and I took them. “Cal is an idiot for giving me the keys.”
“Cal trusts people too easily.” I pocketed them and couldn’t take it anymore. I walked toward her, trapping her against the car. “And apparently, so do you.”
She shuddered and looked from side to side at my arms blocking her in. “Alpha...” It was barely enough, but hearing that word fall from her plump lips was all it took.
I leaned in the rest of the way, pausing with my lips barely hovering over hers. “Let me kiss you. Just once. I need to taste you and your mouth will have to do.”
Her eyes fluttered shut and her head tilted back until it hit the window. “Yes.”
There was only one thing on my mind. Her lips. There were no thoughts of consequences or what this would mean. Alphas and omegas just didn’t go around kissing, and unless she’d kissed someone before emerging, her lips were mine to take.
But I didn’t. Not yet.
I brushed my lips along her chin, up her jaw, and to her ear. She was so intoxicating and made me feel so... alive.
“Has anyone claimed your lips?” I moved one of my hands from the window and ran my thumb over her bottom lip. It was just the right amount of soft.
“No.” Her tongue darted out to moisten her lips and touched my thumb. “Kiss me.”
There was no resisting that command, and I took her lips in a kiss that had me pressing my entire body against hers. I couldn’t stop myself from giving her all of me. My scent. My hands. My stomach. My cock. I wanted her to have it all.
She gasped, and her hands grabbed onto my biceps as I dug my fingers into her curly wet hair. Her taste was more than I could have imagined. I moved my tongue along the seam of her lips, and she opened, letting me in.
Would she spread her legs for me and let me taste the sweetness between them?
I groaned, gently pulling her head to the side by her hair so I could deepen the kiss. It had been so long since I’d kissed a woman, but kissing her was like coming home.
Our tongues tangled, hers fighting with mine and seeking entrance into my mouth. I let her explore and take over the kiss as I moved the back of my hand down her neck, across her shoulder, and down her arm.
My cock was so incredibly hard, and it hadn’t even been a minute since I’d claimed her lips as mine. But that wasn’t enough.
I growled into her mouth and hooked my arm under her ass, lifting her. She instinctively wrapped her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck, letting me even closer to her body.
There was no way I was going to be able to stop. The heat between her legs was beckoning me, and I rubbed my jeans-covered cock against her.
She gasped, her fingers digging into my hair.
I needed to get her in the car. I needed to-
“Get off of her,” Alvaro barked, grabbing me by my shoulder and attempting to pull me away.
I ripped my lips from hers, turning my head and baring my teeth. “Mine.” All of the anger and sadness I’d felt over the past three years were poured into that one word.
Alvaro backed up a step, his fists clenching at his sides and his teeth bared. He was pissed, but so was I.
“She’s no one’s.” His chin dropped so I would be forced to look him straight in the eyes. “Get away from her.”
His bark was more powerful than I’d heard it in a long time, and it sent a tremble through me, forcing me to let her legs fall from around my waist. I tried with all my might to stay close to her, but I was a mess and that was no match for Alvaro’s command.
I backed away slowly, my fingers brushing her cheek before Alvaro shoved between us, putting a finger right in the middle of my chest. “Are you fucking crazy?”
I growled, not liking that he was protecting her from me. “It doesn’t matter. We were just kissing.”
“Just kissing? Just kissing!” He stabbed his finger into me several times. “We’re all unbonded and she’s not even supposed to be here! You were kissing her, Avery. Do you have any clue what could have happened if I hadn’t been the one to catch you tongue fucking her mouth?”
Cal and Tate walked out of the vet clinic, paperwork in hand. Their frowns deepened when they saw us. Now I was going to have to listen to all three of them berate me.
I threw my hands up in surrender and backed up. “Fuck it.”
“What’s going on?” Cal looked past Alvaro. “Why’s the omega crying?”
“Avery had his tongue down her throat and was dry humping her against the car.” Alvaro didn’t take his eyes off me. “You lost control.”
“Please don’t fight because of me. Just take me home. I’ll sleep in my car.” Despite her tears, she spoke in a strong, clear voice.
I didn’t deserve her. None of us did. Not that we could even entertain the thought of it. Fuck. I was such an idiot for letting my instincts take over.
“You aren’t sleeping in your car.” Tate went to her and wrapped a comforting arm around her.
I growled.
Alvaro growled.
Kara whimpered.
This was going to escalate to the point of no return. I could feel it in my bones... and in our pack bond. “Is Gizzy going to be okay?”
“He should be. They’re going to call us this afternoon.” Cal ran his fingers through his blond hair.
I took the keys out of my pocket and threw them to Cal. “I’ll walk home.” I turned my back on my pack and walked away from them.
No one stopped me.