Chapter 26
“Where did you find this place? Bark?” Eva asked as I pulled out her chair in the middle of the empty dining room. She lowered her voice to a whisper, turning her head as she tried to catch my eye. “It can't be very popular, there’s like, literally no one here.”
I cleared my throat as she sat, a tantalizing lungful of her sweet summery scent making it difficult to focus in the best of circumstances.
But now? It was like I was being punished for a crime I didn't remember committing. Sure, the rest of my pack had decided to take up the mantle of competition for who’d manage to put a baby into the omega’s belly first, but I wasn't keen on performing on command.
It didn't matter to me that we’d been together at the Packtacular; now that Eva was a viable candidate for a long-term arrangement instead of a wet hole to fuck at a party, my feelings on what was appropriate for this stage of our relationship had changed.
I’d been real fucking clear about what accepting our deal meant. And if she felt like it was still something she wanted to agree to, fine. But Eva had been clear about her terms, too.
Courting. Acting like she was any other omega that we were seeing.
Truthfully, that bit of the arrangement suited me just fine.
Maybe it was a little old-fashioned, but I liked to get to know a woman before I laid my hands—or anything else for that matter—on her.
Much less tried to knock her up with a baby that she was only sticking around for long enough that the check would clear.
Still, even with all of that plaguing my mind, I was being tested at every opportunity.
Not only by Eva herself, but by my packmates as well.
And, no matter how much I prided myself on my immaculately maintained self-control, I wasn’t immune to temptation.
If anything, I was particularly susceptible to the siren song of a woman that I couldn’t keep out of my mind for weeks after she’d disappeared from my life.
It’d been downright obsessive, the way that I’d lusted for Eva after we’d met at the Packtacular. But disappearing the second that the haze of her heat had lifted? That’d been a pretty clear order to back off. One that I’d forced myself to accept with an immense amount of difficulty.
I wasn’t going to let go as easily a second time.
Something about Eva drew me in, captivated me in a way that was as thrilling as it was terrifying.
And, much like the trope-filled horror films I'd come to love, I intended to dissect those emotions until I understood them.
To find the natural rhythm of the story beats until the tightness in my chest when I met Eva's eyes made sense.
The terms of our contract were clear: after she produced a child, we would transfer her the agreed-upon sum via bank transfer. But there was no clause that indicated our relationship needed to end at that time. Cameo ensured that. Nothing barred Eva from asking to stay with us.
I wasn't foolish enough to think that with the way Cameo went on, it was likely she’d want to stay, but she was already sweet on Indigo…
friendly with Joon. It wasn't outside of the realm of possibility that, with a bit of care and romance, she could be persuaded to see us as more than a quick buck.
Certainly, we’d already proved that we were to her taste at the Packtaular, the hairstyle Eva’d chosen for tonight reminding me of the first time I'd laid eyes on her in the middle of that dimly lit room.
With her face flushed and skin warm to the touch as she longingly watched the couples around her, I wondered if she asked Joon and Indigo to watch them, if the little fascination she'd discovered with voyeurism had left with her that night, or if she'd closed it tightly somewhere within herself, forgotten.
I had a lot of questions like that about Eva. Discoveries to make, like rewatching a favorite movie to notice a detail for what felt like the first time.
"Earth to Marcus?" Eva called, drawing me back to the present.
"Right, sorry. I'm… A little nervous," I admitted, giving my head a shake as I moved to push her chair in. As I did so, she adjusted in her seat, the hem of her dress lifting to reveal a smattering of thin red lines criss-crossing over her thighs.
Cameo, I thought venomously, irritation at the damage to our sweet omega's skin rising like the tense music before a jumpscare.
I'd have words with him later, at least… I’d consider it.
Since, if the twitch of my traitorous cock was any indication, maybe I was no better than he was.
Another depraved alpha who longed to see how beautifully Eva would whimper under treatment even rougher than I'd subjected her to in the mirror maze.
It was easy to be hurtful when the mask was on.
The little detachment of reality kept me from feeling the brunt of the emotional repercussions of my actions, like the damage was being done by some other nameless entity entirely removed from myself.
But that wasn't the truth, and the alpha who'd had Eva lick the dirty floor in search of scraps wasn't far from the surface.
Still, I didn't know how many times I had to lecture that stupid prick that knives were not toys, they were tools. And there were plenty of ways to invoke fear that had nothing to do with pain. The stupid bastard just wasn't creative enough to come up with any.
If it was going to be anyone that sent Eva running screaming from us when this arrangement was done, it would be Cameo. I was certain of it… Even if he’d been the one to drop her off at the restaurant coated in his scent.
"Nervous," she echoed. "Why?"
"I haven't brought a date here before."
"Probably for the best," Eva said, leaning forward to offer her hand to me across the table as I took my own seat. She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, a smile tugging at her glossy pink lips. "The food can't be very good."
"Oh, it's popular enough." I laughed, her comment from before I'd noticed the cuts finally sinking in. "It's just closed."
"Closed? Then how are we sitting here?"
"Your alpha has some connections, you know?" I said, motioning for Erika, my favorite floater and the only member of my front-of-house staff I'd had to ask before she'd agreed to come in on her day off, to bring us our menus.
For tonight, I'd kept the number of people on hand as minimal as possible.
Only my sous chef, Marty, in the back, and Erika out front.
It was only Eva and me, so there shouldn't be any need for more than two of them to flawlessly execute the tailored experience that I'd prepared.
A bit of a showcase dedicated to the first love of my life, artfully designed to try and impress the woman that I hoped would be the second.
I couldn’t watch another omega walk away from my pack. Not after Mindy. And if I needed to be the one to step up and make sure she stayed… I’d be that.
"You've been here before, then?" Eva asked, brushing one of her pigtails over her shoulder to reveal the perfect line of her unmarked neck.
I wondered, for one deliriously foolish moment, if I would find it even sexier when my silvery teethmarks interrupted her milky skin or if the appeal was in the need to wait.
"Good evening," Erika said cheerfully, handing each of us a menu. "It's lovely to see you on this side of the wall for once, sir."
Understanding dawned on Eva's face, an embarrassed blush creeping up the column of her throat, drawing my attention there again.
Marking hadn't been much of a fantasy of mine, especially not after the incredible failure that was my last attempt to bring an omega into the pack. But with Eva? The desire was never far from the surface.
Maybe this was the power of a scent match. My hindbrain had latched onto my basal attraction to Eva and transformed it into a clawing need that scraped along the back of my mind like the spindly fingers of a tree branch against a window pane.
Even I couldn’t pretend that this was a perfunctory date because she’d asked for it. My interest in the girl revealed itself with every menu item I selected.
I didn’t just want Eva. I wanted her to like me. To want me back.
"This is your restaurant," the omega whispered, looking between me and our server. "And I've been so fucking rude."
"Only a little," I said with a shrug, making Erika laugh. "These are mainly for show. I've requested my sous prepare a few things in advance that I think you'll like. But if there's something that catches your eye, please, let Erika know."
"And if you want to sneak out the window in the bathroom, I'll give you a boost," the beta teased, dark ponytail swaying.
Eva laughed, shaking her head. "I think that I'm right where I want to be."
I caught her hand where she'd let it rest on the table, offering her fingers a soft squeeze. "Just the mocktail pairing for the appetizer to start, please."
"Right away, sir," Erika said, disappearing behind the bar to get to work.
"Why a mocktail?"
"Because, in the off chance that you're pregnant and we’re not yet aware, I don't want you accidentally over-indulging," I explained, leaning forward to draw her hand to my lips for a soft kiss against her knuckles.
“You'd mentioned during negotiations that you appreciated it when your partners took initiative.
The door is open for you to choose from the menu if you'd like, but I have pre-selected some dishes for you. Would you like me to point them out?”
Chivalry, in the world of Eva Kent, was not dead. And I wanted to be instrumental in ensuring that continued to be true, for however long I had to do so.
She grinned. Not the carefully calculated smile that I’d seen on the SLCK’d stream, no, this was so much more. Her straight white teeth were on display, and the corners of her eyes creased with delight as they met mine.
"That's so thoughtful," she whispered.
Maybe my wants weren’t so crazy after all.