Chapter 3
The new map was, in a word, fucking outstanding.
Except for one teeny, tiny, little detail, the entire time that I was trying to help my team get the generator running long enough to open the gate and escape—I was lost in thoughts about Eva.
Eva, Eva, Eva, Eva.
Eva’s perfect pink pussy swallowing my omega on the dirty floor of the mirror maze. Eva’s lips as she looked longingly into my eyes to beg me for attention that I was desperate to give her. Eva’s eyes full of tears while she took Marcus and Cameo together back at Omega’s Lust.
Eva, who I still couldn’t manage to get the courage to text after all that.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
It didn't help that she was playing Brit, either. The short skirt of her 3D animated self was a replica of the one I'd seen bunched around her waist while my omega's cock was stuffed inside of her, their lips locked together as he filled her with cum.
I gave my head a shake, trying to dislodge the memories I’d been ignoring as I entered the brightly lit lunch room, the gaming session finally on break.
They'd really gone all out for catering.
I knew this office always offered a great snack selection from the handful of times I'd visited in the past, but this was a step above. Today, Freespire had a local restaurant bringing in a buffet of options that had my mouth watering nearly as much as the sweet-smelling omega I’d chosen to sit next to all morning.
Salads, sandwiches with every kind of filling or bread you could imagine, and several plates of cookies and dessert squares waited for us in foil trays.
I grabbed a plate and loaded it up, wanting to try a bit of everything.
That was the joy of being an alpha: a big appetite. Especially when my packmate was a Michelin-starred chef.
You never could be too hungry in our house.
At the end, there was a local coffee place with a cart, making drinks. I was sure to order my favorite.
A strawberry matcha latte.
Once I was satisfied with my overflowing plate and drink choice, I took a glance at my options for a seat.
There weren’t many of us, so we were given a single round table with enough chairs for everyone.
Jason had already gone through the line, sitting at one side of the table, so I opted for the other.
He might have been in our circle, but the dude sort of got on my nerves.
There wasn’t any real reason for it. Just… something about the guy put me off.
Besides, I wanted to talk to Eva, and I didn't really want him butting into our conversation every five seconds while I tried to gauge why she never messaged me after Halloween.
I blew it.
That was the most reasonable explanation for what was going on, at least. Of course, it was weird that I'd just… you know, watched her get smashed for several days.
It wasn't all roses for me either. She'd thrown me into a rut, smelling like a fucking strawberry matcha milkshake and whimpering for me like that. But we were friends, and I didn’t want to cross the line while she was heat locked. It wasn’t fair, changing our relationship when she was too gone to consent.
If we’d been strangers… That’s one thing.
Heaps of omegas loved letting some strange pack pass them around for a few days while the heat hormones were flying high.
Friends though…? It felt like taking advantage of a situation to live out my fantasies with my crush.
So, I kept my hands, mouth, and cock to myself. Acting like support staff more than an alpha until she’d slipped out when her heat broke.
Poor Joon couldn’t walk for a week after my rut finally ended, my omega playing the sacrificial lamb as I worked out several days of temptation on his exhausted body.
Not to brag, it wasn't much of a surprise when he agreed to move in shortly after.
I was thrilled.
Joon was, in all honesty, everything to me. My mate in every sense of the word, all that was missing was the bond.
And even if he wasn't ready for that now, someday he would be. No matter what Marcus or Cameo thought about it, the impatient fucks could serve to learn a thing or two about relationships.
I just didn’t think it needed to be Joon’s responsibility to teach them.
A baby? What the fuck was Cameo thinking…
My thoughts were interrupted as I looked up from my plate to see Eva standing with her own, my heart leaping into my throat as I watched her consider her options.
Her blue eyes met mine in a clash of ocean and cliffside, and I raised my hand to wave her over, opening my mouth to call for her, when Jason interrupted me.
“Evie, over here,” he called, making the omega's head turn with a bounce of her pink pigtails.
My jaw tightened, smile dropping as she twirled, taking the seat beside him instead of joining me.
Yeah, I'd definitely fuckin’ blown it.
Jason shot me a smug smile and a shrug as if to say ‘sorry not sorry, bro,’ that did nothing to improve my mood. If anything, I was even more sour than before.
Fucking annoying. Eva was worth about fifty of Jason, and the idea that she was giving that bottom feeder the time of day really pissed me off.
“So, Evaliscious,” Jason started, entirely without preamble, the moment she'd sat down and taken the first bite of her sandwich.
Jesse nudged my shoulder as they pulled out their chair. "You're starting to smell like a Canadian forest fire," the beta whispered, cutting a look towards Eva and Jason as they sat down. “Deep breath.”
I focused on my plate, willing my traitorous ears to stop listening to their conversation—made entirely impossible by the alpha’s grating voice. The thing just had a way of carrying.
“How about we go out tonight?” he suggested, leaning back in his chair with a creak of the plastic back. “There's this sick barcade across town I've been wanting to go to for a while that Jesse told me about.”
Eva choked lightly on her sandwich, working to chew as she covered her mouth with her hand.
Jesse met the look of betrayal in my eyes with a silent apology. Not only had he given important intel to the enemy team, but I was the one who told him about that stupid fuckin’ barcade in the first place!
Where did this bastard beta get off spilling my date spots to useless, stinky alphas who wanted to horn in on my girl?
“She's busy,” I said before Eva could swallow.
She cleared her throat, probably trying to dislodge some bread or something, and I readied myself for her to agree with me, rushing to come up with alternative plans that we absolutely hadn't made before this moment but that I’d follow through with in a heartbeat.
“No, I’m not,” she said with a cocked eyebrow, leveling me with a look that screamed whatever glimmer of hope I'd had in the testing room was deeply incorrect before turning back to Jason with a smile. “Like a date?”
Fuck me, I really did botch it.
“Well, I was thinking—” Jason started, but Jesse, my beautiful, perfect, best friend on the planet, Jesse, cut in with, “Didn't your pack just start seeing a new omega, Jason? Ivy, right?”
I could've kissed them. I wouldn't, because I was pretty sure that his omega would beat my ass, and she scared me a little, but I could’ve.
“Oh, um, yeah—but—” Jason stammered, trying to correct course.
Gotcha, asshole.
“Well, that's perfect,” Eva said with a smirk. “If it’s not a date, then everyone can come. Right, J? Wouldn't want to keep a cool place like that all to yourself!”
“I—uh—yeah—of course everyone—”
“And you'll invite Ivy?” Eva pressed, her smile only growing with his discomfort.
God, that was so my girl. I just needed to figure out how to get over this weird block between us…
Explaining myself about what happened during her heat was a good place to start.
If I could get her alone, that was. There wasn’t a chance in hell I’d bring up something so personal with a bunch of ears listening in.
“Yeah,” Jason agreed with a sigh of defeat. “I'll invite Ivy…” His attention turned to us across the table. “You guys coming?"
“Wouldn't miss it,” Jesse said cheerfully, nudging me under the table. “I'll text Tara and Charlie.”
“I'm in,” I said, not that I’d really been invited based on the way that Jason’s eyes narrowed. But that didn’t matter, not when Eva cast a shy smile my way that had my legs feeling tingly.
Though that could’ve been from her subtly sweet scent still in my nose… spending hours shoulder to shoulder was both easier and harder than I thought it’d be.
Either way, I was going to this bar. I wasn’t going to miss my big opportunity to try to turn things around between us.
I pulled out my phone, just as Jesse's message popped up in the group chat.
CUTIE PIES
J, Indi, Eva, and me wanna to blow off some steam after the playtest.
Who's in?
Jesse
I wasn't sure why, but a little prickle of nerves at my name, along with Eva’s, being sent to the rest of my pack formed.
It was silly, but definitely there anyway.
Like I was breaking some unwritten rule, going to spend time with her while she iced the rest of them out.
Intentionally or unintentionally, I didn't know. And I was pretty sure it didn’t matter, either.
What mattered was that it didn’t bug Joon.
Things had been good between us, and no matter what I felt for Eva, I wasn’t willing to put our relationship in jeopardy.
But… I looked across the table, Eva quickly averting her eyes, color blooming over her cheeks at being caught staring.
It was impossible to deny that there was something between us… the power of our scent match and easy friendship translating into a desire for the omega that I thought was only meant to be between bonded mates.
Omegas were rare, only about three to five percent of the population, so there wasn't a huge sample size to study, much less for me to come into contact with. It was pretty common for an omega to have several alphas she wanted to claim as her own, but an alpha with a couple of omegas? It just wasn’t the norm.
At least not outside of alpha-focused porn.
Maybe I was just greedy.
Eva’s eyes found mine again, as if guided to me by some kind of magnetic force, and I grinned, not at all bothered about being caught staring at her.
I couldn’t help it, I kept eye contact as I sipped the distinctly Eva-tasting beverage, my eyes never leaving hers.
The blush that crossed her cheeks had my cock twitching.
Yeah, that's what it was. I was greedy. Because if I had anything to say about it, I’d have them both. There was no doubt in my mind about that.