The Big Tent
Tansy
The drugs pumping in my veins make everything feel distant and close all at once. My limbs hang loose, and my thoughts smear, but every time an alpha’s eyes catch mine, my nerves flare. It feels like someone struck a match under my skin, and the fire races outward before I can stop it.
I’m pulled forward, off the stiff couch and toward the long velvet rope. Two alphas stand just beyond it, watching me like they’re terrified one wrong step will make me snap in two.
The first alpha is huge. He has broad shoulders, chest making the buttons on his dark button-up strain, and his hair is a mess of dark curls. His deep eyes follow every movement I make.
The other alpha is sharper, with cleaner lines, wearing a perfectly tailored suit and a tie that feels out of place. His blond hair is combed back, and his eyes are a cutting blue.
Both men look at me with something fierce in their faces. I don’t know if it’s longing or desperation, but the moment their eyes lock on me, heat curls low in my belly, sharp and wrong and overwhelming.
My face goes hot as a thrum grows between my thighs. It’s a heavy, pulsing awareness I shouldn’t be feeling.
The suppressants are supposed to kill this. They’re supposed to make alphas feel like background noise. Mute instincts until I’m nothing but calm.
Except right now, standing inches from those two, my body doesn’t feel muted at all. It feels awake and raw, my clit thumping in time with my heart.
My knees nearly buckle as the beta drags me past them. Both alphas move like they’re going to follow, but the guard steps up to them, blocking their path.
“Payment is taken at the main counter on the other side of the stage,” he says, pointing in the opposite direction. “Once you’ve settled your bill, they’ll direct you on where you can collect her.”
Settle your bill.
The words echo weirdly in my head.
Neither alpha responds. They just keep watching me as the beta pulls me away, their eyes slipping up and down my body like invisible hands.
Do they think I’m big, too?
The cold night air slams into me, brutal and icy. It steals my breath for a second, scraping through my lungs like frost.
My eyes drift upward to the bright moon as we walk. I try like hell to ignore the slick heat already gathering between my thighs, but it’s so hard with the thick scent of that alpha still stuck in my nose.
I sniffle loudly, trying to clear my head. My bare feet catch on nothing, and the beta at my side grabs my wrist.
“Careful, sweetie,” the beta murmurs, draping my arm over her shoulder.
I snort before I can stop myself.
She’s a few inches shorter than me, small, soft, absolutely not built to support anyone. It feels like she’s simply hanging off my side while I drag both of us forward.
My head tips back again. The moon blurs as we walk. The tents blur. There are so many of them. Rows and rows, stretching into the trees.
For a dazed second, I swear the forest is made of canvas.
Are there a million tents here?
Two million?
Do they grow when I’m not looking?
The beta grunts as she hauls me toward another massive tent, her steps quick and practiced like she’s done this a hundred times.
“Almost there,” she says.
I’m not sure if she’s reassuring me…or herself.
The next tent yawns open in front of us, blindingly bright compared to the moonlit dark outside. I squint, eyes straining and watering as the beta drags me inside.
Everything is white.
White canvas.
White lights.
White tables lined with brushes and powders and bottles.
Hands immediately descend on me.
Someone touches my hair, tugging it into place. Someone else smears something slick across my lips—gloss? balm? glue? My head lolls as they turn my face side to side, murmuring to each other like I’m a mannequin they’re prepping for a display window.
The beta holding me tries to keep me steady, but she mostly just gets jostled while the others swarm.
A man steps forward, adjusting his glasses.
I recognize his voice before my vision clears enough to see him.
Dr. Plume scans the chart in his hand. His eyes flicker from the paper to my face like he’s afraid I’ll bite him.
“Let’s give her ten more cc’s of the sedative.
I want her calm tonight for her new alphas,” he says, though he doesn’t look convinced it’ll work.
“Also…” His mouth tightens as he looks at the beta tucked under my arm.
“Notify her new pack that her heat-suppressants may not last the full thirty days. They could wear off much, much faster.”
Thirty days.
The number lands in my head like a rock splashing into a lake, ripples spreading before sinking into nothing.
“Understood.”
Before I can ask what any of that means—or why the hell I suddenly feel warm all over again—a needle is shoved in my arm, then I’m yanked forward. The tent spins behind me in blurred streaks of white and gold as the beta pushes me toward a flap at the back.
The canvas parts.
Cold air hits my legs.
And standing there, waiting, are the two alphas from the display room.
The huge one with the dark curls.
The sharp, blond one in the suit.
They look like they’re one breath from losing control, eyes too bright, too focused, like they’re barely holding themselves together. It should scare the hell out of me. After all, I know these men will tear my body apart the second we’re alone, but I don't really care.
The drugs have blurred my fear into something else. Something hot and reckless and stupidly eager that coils low in my belly.
The beta at my side clears her throat, her voice snapping the moment into something official.
“Gentlemen,” the beta says, her voice slipping back into that practiced, professional cadence. She doesn’t hand me over yet. Instead, she lifts her chin toward the blond alpha. “May I see your sales receipt before the transfer?”
He reaches into his pressed suit jacket without hesitation, pulling out a folded sheet of paper stamped with something dark and official-looking. He hands it to her. She scans it quickly, nods once. Efficient and unimpressed, like she’s done this a hundred times tonight.
“Very well,” she says. “Please keep your omega close until you reach your transport. She’s still under the effects of the medication.”
Only then does she nudge me, but my feet aren’t ready. I pitch forward, bracing for the ground. But I never hit it.
The blond alpha moves faster than I can track, arms sweeping around me in a smooth, controlled catch. His grip is firm and warm, careful in a way that knocks something loose in my chest.
My fingertips land against the front of his suit jacket.
His chest is broad, with solid muscle beneath the fabric.
Heat radiates through the layers, steady and overwhelming.
I breathe in without meaning to, and his scent that hits me is warm and deep.
Sandalwood, oakmoss, and fresh wool, clean and comforting in a way that makes my knees feel useless.
“You smell good.” My words are slurred as I lift my gaze to his.
The alpha slowly smiles. It’s small, almost shy, and I can’t help but gasp at how handsome he is. Cut jaw, angular nose, and a faint dimple in his left cheek.
“Thank you,” he says softly. His blue eyes aren’t wild now. They’re weirdly kind. Too gentle for a man in a razor-sharp suit. “You smell good, too. Like honey and chamomile tea.”
A laugh bubbles out of me. High, breathy, and uncontrollable. My knees dip again, useless as wet paper.
“Easy,” he murmurs, catching me before I sway. He steadies me on my feet but doesn’t let go until he’s certain I won’t fold again. “You’re safe now,” he whispers.
My heart lurches so hard it hurts.
Safe.
What a lovely word. It means nothing to me because I’ve never actually been safe. At this point, I’m convinced that safety is just an illusion or a fairytale, but I like the idea. It sounds nice.
“I’m Warren,” the blond alpha says, then he angles his head toward the giant looming just behind him. “And this is Grason.”
Grason nods once, eyes locked on me in a way that pins me in place. His presence is so heavy and grounding.
Warren keeps his focus on me.
“What’s your name, beautiful?” he asks softly.
My lips part. The answer slips out without hesitation. “Tansy,” I breathe.
“Tansy?” he repeats, making sure he heard me right.
I nod, just barely, and the alpha’s smile grows. Small, sweet, achingly gentle.
“It’s really nice to meet you, Tansy.” His blue eyes seem to shimmer as they look deep into mine. “How about we take you home?”
Before I can say a word, the alpha bends down and slides an arm behind my knees, the other wrapping securely around my back. I’m suddenly lifted off the ground in a clean, effortless sweep.
I blink, slow and heavy, as my head tips naturally against his chest. His suit is warm where it presses against my cheek, his scent curling around me like a blanket pulled straight from a dryer.
Grason steps in close, a massive shadow at Warren’s side, but I barely register him. Everything is heat. Weightlessness. The steady rise and fall of Warren’s breathing beneath my cheek and his heart thumping softly in my ear.
I try to open my eyes again.
I really do.
But they won’t obey. The world keeps slipping sideways as my body sinks into Warren like he’s the only solid thing left in existence.
“Tansy?” Warren murmurs, voice somewhere above me, warm and careful.
But I’m already gone.
The darkness folds around me, soft and inevitable, and I fall asleep in his arms.