Chapter 19 Whiskey Tasting
Whiskey Tasting
Ondine
This Whiskey Tasting is more fun than it was pitched to me. It helps that I’m in this mini dress Sabbies brought me. He even gave me shoes. Kitten heels. They are strange, but I’m having a fun time with them.
It also helps that the Wongs are absent.
“Black is your color,” Jake says as he scents me for the tenth time tonight.
He wouldn’t admit it, but he’s nervous to have an unbonded omega around so many people.
He rubs his neck and face against my throat and jaw over and over.
Usually, this act is private, but Jake has decided it needs to be done now.
I’m also, fun fact, a little drunk.
I forgot I have a very low tolerance, or, I’ve decided, I don’t care.
And Jake may be a little drunk, too.
So, when his hand slides up my thigh, exposing my panties, I have to slap him away. He growls at me. I make eye contact with him and say, “You want everyone in this room to see my bare ass? I’m wearing a thong, Alpha Meier.”
I’m not sure I get all these words out exactly because he gives me a big Cheshire Cat smile. “Yes. Then I’ll have to kill them for it. And that’ll be just as fun.”
I roll my eyes and turn away from his mischievous, irresistible face.
He’s joking. He just wants to sound like a baddie.
This place is classy as fuck. And intimate.
The staff smile at you. All the members of the club know the staff by name.
The bartender knows everyone’s drinks. The furniture is all old and beautiful and unique.
The chandeliers are breathtaking, but I’m the only one looking at them.
My pack is so comfortable here. Oh fuck. I mean, the Meier pack.
There are all these tables everywhere with different bottles of whiskey.
Everyone brought a bottle. Jake brought something from Japan, and Sabbies brought something from Ireland.
I don’t know where Shadow is. And there are tiny crystal stemware glasses that you use to taste.
So far, I’ve liked none of the whiskeys.
But, I enjoy the tiny cups. Everyone seems to be congregating in the hall, which is the large area at the top of the stairs before you go into the tasting room. And it’s where the bar is set up.
Jake toys with my hair. I put it in a half-up, half-down thing with a bow in the back. He likes the front pieces.
“I’m so surprised how quickly you forgave me,” he muses with his cute, drunk voice.
“What’re you talking about?”
“After what Shadow did to you.”
I frown in confusion. He has this strange, vulnerable look to him. Oh, I get it. He thought I would blame him.
Since he’s the pack leader, and his pack mate messed up.
I honestly forgot entirely that Shadow messed up. I’ve mostly been sad that he’s been avoiding me. I don’t want to think about it too much. I’m feeling too good. So I just lean over and kiss him on the cheek. That does the trick.
He’s so simple.
I’m hungry. I try to walk away from Jake, but he snakes his hand around my waist and yanks me into him. This is a fairly casual event, and we shouldn’t be this drunk. I don’t think. A man near us laughs at the look on my face. He comes over to us. “Jake Meier, who do we have here?”
The man is an omega. How very rare to meet a male omega. I smile really big at him. Thankfully, there are de-scenters in the air conditioning, so I can’t scent anyone if they happen to be perfuming. But I can tell all the same.
“My sweet and wicked omega, Ondine. Ondine, meet Geoffrey. His pack is somewhere. Who knows? He was a client of mine while they were courting.”
Geoffrey and Jake exchange a handshake hug thing. Then Jake comes back to holding me around my waist.
“You needed security while you were courting?” I ask with wide eyes.
He laughs, and it sounds like pretty bells.
Gosh, he’s pretty. “I was being courted by several packs. They all had boundary issues, so yes.” He laughs like he’s remembering something truly outlandish.
“I needed round-the-clock security. I think you guys ended up stopping many home invasions, prevented inappropriate gifts from getting to me, and retrieved me from at least two kidnappings.”
God, I forgot how heinous alphas are. I hear about this stuff in the news, but not knowing too many omegas, I haven’t heard about it firsthand.
Jake beams at Geoffrey. “Oh, we did more than you could imagine. But it all worked out. You were bonded by your next heat. And that was years ago. How’s the Aries pack?”
Geoffrey gets stars in his eyes, and he exhales.
“I think I hit the jackpot.” He addresses me to explain.
“I’m bonded with a pack that has two female alphas and two male betas.
I know it’s strange, but it works so well for us.
I think every pack needs a beta. I’ve never felt more cared for and safe.
How are things with the Meier pack, Ondine? ”
Betas. Two of them. I can’t help but think of Arnie. I wonder where he is. If he ever thinks of me.
Jake isn’t worried at all about my answer, but he should be because I’m drunk. “I’m just on a temporary contract. Maybe I’ll have to find a pack more like yours with some diversity. Three aggressive male alphas are a lot for one girl. Perhaps I’ll get my own security team, too.”
Jake slams his whiskey glass on a nearby table and turns to me to see if I’m serious. The flaming anger in his eyes causes my smile to drop. Fuck.
“Excuse us, Geoffrey.” Geoffrey has the audacity to smile at me like he knows I’m in trouble. I do not resist the urge to stick my tongue out at him.
Jake pushes the small of my back, leading me to the giant set of stairs and down them.
We get to the bottom, and he herds me off to the left.
There are these large portraits everywhere of the scariest motherfuckers you’ve ever seen.
A male omega named Orrin Cash found the city, oddly enough, and he had a team of alphas that operated outside the law.
They weren’t his pack. They were actually more like security.
They founded this club. Basically, hired killers.
Wait. Just like the Meier Protection Group.
He takes me to a small gallery off of some hallway. We enter, and he shuts the double doors, locking us in. There are benches and chairs facing the art on the walls, and some busts in the middle on plinths, running down the center.
“Ondine,” Jake growls at me. A warning.
“What?” I say, like I don’t know what he’s mad at.
He paces between the plinths and benches, trying to decide what to say next.
I take this break to look at the art. More portraits of scary as shit alphas.
Long beards, psychotic eyes, shallow faces.
This one reminds me of Shadow. He’s got long, black hair and looks just as haunted as my alpha.
“Ondine,” he turns to me and gets my attention. “You haven’t forgiven me.”
I shake my head and say, “It’s not that.”
“What does that mean?”
Jake is, as always, on the edge of losing it when he’s being himself. And he’s not holding back with me right now.
I turn to face him. He’s on the other side of the room.
“I really wasn’t too upset about what Shadow did.
I was mostly sad he left me alone.” I pause to see if he wants to hear more.
He doesn’t say anything, so I go on. “He led me through it, safely, when he used his alpha bark, and released me quickly. It’s honestly not as big of a deal as you all make it out to be.
I agreed to carry on with the contract.”
He huffs a few times before asking, “Then why are you saying you’re going to leave me?”
“You’ve made me no promises. The only thing we’ve agreed to is two heats,” I remind him. “And it’s not like I’ve proven myself to be this good omega who can help regulate your pack or do anything good for you all. I don’t bring much to the table.”
“What? You feel like you…”
I cut him off—“Jake, I’m a bad omega.”
“What?” He sounds genuinely confused.
“Come on. I’m a bad omega. I was a halfway decent beta. But I’m fucking awful.”
“Who told you that?”
I huff out a breath, shocked by his question. No one told me that. At least, I don’t think.
“It’s true. I didn’t enroll in the Institute.
I lived on my own. I worked gig jobs. What omega does that?
All my alpha partners have been paid for!
That shouldn’t even be a thing. I don’t know how to care for anyone.
You brought me here to fix Shadow. And he hasn’t even talked to me in days.
No one even comes to me for comfort. When I was at your house, I slept alone at night. ”
His mouth hangs a bit open. He’s speechless.
Jake comes right at me and grips the back of my neck. “Have you been doing this the whole time?”
“Doing what?” I rock back on my heels, but he holds me in place with his firm grip.
He grumbles until real words come out. “Not telling me when we do something wrong. Not telling me how to fix it. And just using it to torture yourself.”
He didn’t do anything wrong. It’s all me that’s wrong. I don’t answer him. His other hand grips my side. He’s holding me so tight, and I can tell he’d like to throttle me.
“Why does everyone around me do this!” He doesn’t raise his voice, but it’s like he’s yelling. “Shadow withers away in front of me! And now you! Am I not capable of listening? Do I not make you believe I can solve your problems? Have you not felt my power?!”
“But why even bother solving my problems?!” I shout at him. “I’m a bad…”
“Don’t you dare finish that sentence, Ondine.
Shut the fuck up. So, what if you didn’t enroll at the Institute?
It’s not required for all omegas. And not all alphas sign up either.
It’s another government funded bullshit place.
Why would I tell you that you should have done anything at all different when I found you as you were?
And you worked for yourself? Lived alone?
And you stayed safe. And happy. You are a good omega. ”
The omega in me preens. She believes him. She loves this. She loves being talked to like this. I melt into his touch.
“And we are just learning how to lean on you, too, you know. Maybe we are just as bad alphas. We’ve been together this long without someone like you.
We are learning. We need time. We need more than two heats.
” His face softens, and he is so close we share a breath. “What do you want? And I will provide.”
Kiss me. I think. It’s what I want. I’m still feeling good from the alcohol. I want to make out. I want to get another cocktail. I want to talk to more interesting people. The omega in me just wants to fuck, honestly.
We can talk about our difficulties another time.
But I can’t get the words out. I don’t want to regret them later. I don’t know what the right thing is to say.
“Ondine, my dear, I want you.” His grip loosens, and he gently strokes my neck with the back of his fingers.
“I want you for me. I want you in this pack. You don’t have to accept Sabbies or Shadow just yet.
I’m your alpha. Your only alpha. I want to be.
I’ve never wanted someone more. I’ll give you all the money in the world for your haircuts.
I’ll protect you from everyone. I’ll make sure there’s a piano in every room you’re in.
If you don’t ever tell me how to make it right, I’ll still try. ”
Is he proposing that I stay in his pack?
“You’re drunk.”
“Maybe a little,” he admits. “But I’m serious. We can make another contract. A courting proposal. You’ll stay in my house. And when you’re ready, you’ll bond with us. I can take good care of you. I’ll show you. We can learn how to be good together.”
He kisses my forehead and wraps me up in a hug. He makes me feel so good. Do you accept something like this just because they make you feel good? The omega in me is doing somersaults and saying yes!
I know I want this, but I can’t just keep being agreeable and say yes to everything. I have to be sober and actually think this through.
He doesn’t expect an answer, and that alone makes me want to accept right now.
He eventually asks, “Do you want an orgasm before we go back?”
I laugh in his arms, and he joins me. “That would be nice, Alpha.”
For the first time, I feel his chest rumble with a genuine alpha purr. It is there to be comforting, but right now it’s happening because he’s so happy.
“You don’t deserve an orgasm, you wicked omega.
” His hands start to pet me up and down my dress.
“Every time you say you’re going to leave me, I’m going to spank you.
” Before Jake finishes his sentence, his hand cracks on my ass.
It fucking hurts! Fuck! But as the pain dissipates, I’m left a little excited.
“Every time you remind me you’re on a temporary contract, I’m going to pinch your fucking nipples.
” I try to leap away, but he has me pinned in his arms, so his thumb and forefinger get my nipple good.
I cry out, but it’s all pleasure. “And if you ever, ever, talk about bonding another pack, I’ll bite you.
” His mouth is on me so fast I don’t even have a chance to blink.
He bends my body back and presses his teeth to my collarbone.
He doesn’t break the skin, but his bite is still rough and hard. I moan, loud and lewd for the act.
A flicker of something passes through us. Like dialing through the radio and signal hits for just a moment, strong and clear. It feels like a bright light. Incredible.
His hand is under my dress before I even know it. My leg lifts up, and he pushes his two fingers into me. I drop my head back, and he bends me even further. His fingers fuck me exactly as I was hoping. I cry out, and he continues to bite my collarbone.
“Jake, fuck. I like this. I like this a lot.”
I can feel his smile on my skin. “Good girl. Good fucking omega. Tell me what you like, and you will get everything.”
He continues to bend me back until I feel the bench under my back. I lay down all the way, and he kneels in front of me, pushing my dress up to my stomach. He fiddles with his pants until his dick is out. “I’m going to fuck you now.”
I assumed as much.