Chapter 8
F uck. Fuckfuckfuckfuck.
James, the control room operator, turned to me. “Did I just see what I think I saw?”
“Yep. Keep rolling. Jesus Christ. I’ll be back.”
My teeth ached with the urge to bite Callie. She and Kai had bonded. My packmate and my omega had just put their teeth into each other on stage. That was not supposed to happen.
Diego and Amir looked at a loss for what to do, and Kai clung possessively to Callie, his growl radiating over the speakers, punctuated by her sweet whimpers. Amir was still balls-deep in her when I arrived in the wings. Every cell in my body wanted me to strip down and join them, but that wasn’t how this fucking worked. I couldn’t touch her. All I could do from here was watch, and while that was generally one of my favorite activities, every moment that passed with her and my pack made me want her more.
It was very stupid of me to be down here. I had followed my instincts to where I was still out of sight from the stage. Now that they were all off their blockers, I could smell their scents wrapped around one another, and even though I was still on my own blockers, I was bordering on desperate, scenting Callie in heat. My cock fought a valiant battle against my pants and I ground the heel of my palm against it.
There was nothing I could do. I had already been daring to hope Callie would stay with us, but now she definitely didn’t have a choice. We couldn’t let her go after this.
Amir slid free and Diego backed off, Kai flipping Callie and thrusting back into her glistening core. She writhed beneath him. That bite of hers must’ve sent him into a rut. The others wouldn’t be able to safely touch her until he knotted her.
I was going to die standing in the shadows. Every sound she made was like a siren call drawing me toward her. I sank down to my knees, as if bracing my hands against the floor could anchor me to the spot and stop me from following the urge to go to her.
Her body jostled with every thrust, the spotlight highlighting the bounce of her breasts and the graceful arc of her throat, teasing out a rainbow of golds and reds from her hair.
Diego and Amir slipped offstage and into the shadows next to me. They both had widely blown pupils, their cocks rock hard.
“Miles, what do we do?” Diego hissed.
I didn’t have a single fucking answer to give him. That bite they had given each other cracked them open down to the foundations, letting the essence of the other fill up those empty spaces. She might be our mate, but Kai was first bond, and whatever traces of their rational minds they had been in possession of before were replaced with the primal nature of alpha and omega that had reigned supreme since the dawn of time.
“Just get her through the heat.” I swallowed hard. Fuck.
My cock was so hard it hurt, and my jaw ached from grinding my teeth.
The tips had already been pouring in for her. Each dollar was a reminder that all the people watching both here and on the livestream were getting to see my mate fucked every which way. Usually watching my pack fuck omegas was satisfaction enough, but not this time.
I savored each moan and groan out of her, almost able to pretend that she was making them in my ear with how loud they were over the speakers.
This was fucking torture.
The notifications on my tablet went absolutely wild, tips pouring in when they realized what had happened. Most people would never see a bond and rut unless it was their own. Callie bonding on camera and sending Kai into a rut was raking in thousands every few seconds from the livestream. The tips from the audience in person came in a bit slower, but the amounts were considerably bigger.
Holy fucking shit.
If that kept up, Callie was going to make twice her earnings just on tips.
Diego sat next to me, his eyes wide and fingers flexing like he was trying to stop himself from leaping right back in there. Ruts were too unpredictable to risk it. Once Kai got Callie on a knot, they could go back on stage. In theory…
Amir paced behind us like a caged tiger, his growl a steady hum that accompanied the soundtrack of Callie coming undone.
Diego glanced over at my tablet screen. “Are you fucking serious? We’ve never gotten tips like that.”
He grabbed it out of my hands and scrolled back, his gaze flicking between the numbers and the pair on stage.
My eyes kept being helplessly drawn to Callie and Kai. All of her nerves from earlier had long since departed, smoothed away by the heat high. As the platform slowly rotated, I got new views, her tipped-back face disappearing to show me the length of their bodies, the arch of her spine, the way her nails dug into Kai’s ass as he fucked into her. Watching the descent of his cock inside her was weirdly hypnotizing. I had seen my pack fuck many omegas, but I’d never paid such particular attention before.
Callie was different, though. Every sound she made was burned into my brain. I knew without a doubt they would live in my memory forever.
I took measured breaths. If I hadn’t been on scent blockers, I’d have absolutely voided the contract the second I smelled her. I was glad a million times over that I hadn’t gone off them, even if it did prevent my body from properly being able to acknowledge that she was a scent match. I wanted to inhale her, to let it sink into my bones and fill me with that perfect knowledge that she was mine, but I couldn’t do that until all of this was over.
How many people had walked right by their fated mate simply because they had chemically altered their scent? I hated how close I had been to never knowing. If she hadn’t changed her mind about doing the heat, I’d have let her go and been none the wiser. In all likelihood we never would have crossed paths again and my pack would have been without its omega forever. Even the concept had my hackles up.
Once we got out of this, I was going to make sure she wanted to stay, over and above the fact that she would remain because she was our mate.
“These fucking numbers,” Amir hissed. “If I were an even bigger asshole than I am, I’d consider bonding her just to see if we got the same numbers as her and Kai.”
My fingers locked around Amir’s wrist. “Don’t. It’s fucking bad enough one bonding happened. We can’t let another one happen, not until she asks for it.”
Normally it wasn’t an issue for our performers. The audience liked the risk of having no cuffs or collars to protect bonding sites, and for the most part the alphas weren’t as affected by an induced heat as they were by a natural one. They would never lose control and bond a typical omega during these shows, but Callie was a scent match, and that was a whole different ball game.
I should’ve thought of it and I didn’t. It was my fault this had happened, for not thinking far enough ahead, for not thinking how different things might be with a mate instead of any other omega.
I had to dig through several boxes backstage before I finally found what I was looking for. I put the cuffs and collars on Amir and Diego myself just for the assurance that it was done correctly and I wasn’t risking Callie further.
Amir pawed at his. “I hate these fucking things.”
“We don’t have a choice.”
“I don’t know.” Amir shrugged. “She’s definitely stuck with us now. What difference would a couple more bonds make if we could all quadruple our income?”
Diego whacked him in the shoulder. “Don’t be a dick. She might be stuck with us, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have to court her into wanting our bonds too. Kai lost that entire opportunity with her and we both know it’s not going to sit well with him that he bonded her during this.”
“Kai and I have different sensibilities,” Amir countered.
“You don’t even want a mate,” said Diego.
“I don’t,” Amir snapped, “but I fucking have one anyway, don’t I?”
“Both of you, shut up. We’re not making a single decision on further bonding until Callie is out of the haze and we can have an actual discussion. At least let her say what she wants.”
“She won’t know ,” replied Amir. “That omega is high as a kite right now and she can only get so lucid in an induced heat.”
“ That omega is our mate,” I growled. “She has a name.”
Amir rolled his eyes. “My point still stands. Whenever she’s out of the haze, she’ll be asleep. We can’t ask her until this is over and then our opportunity is gone.”
I checked another growl. He wasn’t wrong, but he could definitely do with speaking a little nicer about it. The money was a fantastic opportunity, and if Callie decided she didn’t want to stay with us, it would more than set her up for a comfortable life, but there was no fucking way I could let it happen without at least asking her.
“What if she still wants to leave?” Diego asked quietly. “What if she takes Kai with her?”
That thought hadn’t even entered my head, but Diego’s words sent panic spiraling to choke me. Kai would have to go with her if she chose not to stay. This whole thing was a fucking mess. His entire career was compromised. We had so much we needed to talk about and it was genuinely impossible right now. I had never regretted my career choice more than at this moment.
Callie’s shriek of pleasure had all of my little hairs standing up, my cock aching. Kai’s answering groan was a pretty good indication that he was knot-deep in her. More tips poured in. The audience loved knotting.
As the platform finished a full rotation, more dollars trickled in. No one had as good of a view as they normally would with Kai completely draped over her, but he wasn’t thinking about any of them. Putting Callie on display was the least of his concerns. Usually they would knot the omega with their back to the alpha’s chest, thighs spread to give everyone the best view, but not today. Kai wanted to keep Callie all to himself, or at least as much as he could while being onstage. I didn’t blame him one bit for that.
Her soft whimpers and the way she clung to him had pleasure lancing through me. My hands itched to touch her.
Tips continued to trickle in. Every subtle shift of Kai’s hips prompted the most delectable tiny sounds out of Callie. Knots meant minimal movement, but it was always a treat for audiences when the omegas were unraveled with nowhere to go.
I shouldn’t be down here anymore. I had made sure precautions were in place, made sure Callie wasn’t going to get any more surprise bonds, and I needed to get back to the control room. Moving from this spot was akin to climbing Everest. I didn’t want to move one inch further away from Callie.
A message popped up on the tablet from management.
Kyle - Manager:
What the fuck happened out there, Miles?
Jeff - Owner:
That omega could sue us to hell and back
Miles:
It’ll be fine
She’s Kai’s mate
We didn’t find out until the serum was already administered
Kyle - Manager:
Fix this fuckup
Miles:
I will
I wasn’t actually sure Callie wouldn’t end up suing, but that made it even more important we showed her life with us could be what she wanted. I, at least, would take care of her even if she sued the company into the ground. I could find another job. Maybe… I wasn’t entirely certain how well I would be able to find new employment after inadvertently recruiting the mate of a performing pack, but at least now I knew to always get the scent blockers neutralized before anyone signed a contract. It was good, in a way, even if Callie was the sacrificial lamb for us to figure it out.
Sweet bliss covered her features, looking as beatific as a saint blessed with the light of the heavens. I wanted her to look like that for me . And damn if I wasn’t going to do every single thing I could to make that happen.