REN
Ren
I stacked my chips methodically, a habit born from years of knowing exactly how much I had to lose. The Casino Night crowd pressed in close around the tables in the added space just for poker. It was all sparkly dresses and overpriced watches. The tables had been hot too, with people very excited to lose money. I had my back to a wall, so I could watch the players at my table and the dealers in the room. They were much more relaxed than the casinos in the Floating District.
My fingers paused on a chip when I caught sight of Justice. Like the center of my universe, I’d always be able to find him in a crowd. Theo was with him. I cocked my head. Something had shifted between them. I smiled. I didn’t need to read auras to know those two got lucky and then some.
I tossed a $100 chip to the dealer. “Let me color up?” In less than a minute, she cashed out my neat chip stacks for two $1000 chips and change.
I circled the floor in the opposite direction. Justice leaned into Theo to point out something on the floor. It was either gossip or poker lore. Like any nerdy kid, he had dabbled in online poker and chess, and no doubt in the circles he ran, he’d sat tables before.
He bent his head to Theo again. He caught something out of the corner of his eye that had him radiate bliss. And then he paused, straightened his head, and his entire persona changed.
Of course, it was Mackenzie. On the arm of that douche.
The little dickwad had better be thankful for the poker table between him and Justice.
Daryl pulled Mackenzie in closer and kissed her neck. His hand found the modest slit in her skirt and hiked it up so he could grab her ass. She pushed him back and shimmied her hips to put her dress back right.
Justice put his hand on Theo’s arm to keep the omega from launching across the table.
I covered the distance, leaned across the table and said, “Shall we play a game? Just?” counting on him to get the mutually assured destruction reference. He held my eyes and then put on his CEO face.
“Mackenzie, you look lovely. The flowers suit you,” he said smoothly.
“Thank you for buying them for me.”
“Theo bought them for you.”
“Theo picked them out. You paid.”
“Theo bought them for you,” he repeated.
Daryl cleared his throat and then smacked her ass. He smacked her ass like a public spanking.
“Ren.” It was Justice’s turn to hold me in check.
“Right,” her face on fire, “Daryl, Brock, this is Justice Twill, Theo Evergreen and Ren Delano,” she said with picture-perfect manners like she had gone to finishing school.
“Mr. Twill,” a beta had joined our little party. “Marshall De La Cruz. We met at the Port Haven Tech Summit last spring?”
Justice’s blank look softened into an easy smile. “Of course. How’s that expansion project coming along?”
“Genius. Your tip about Agile project management? Our scrum master has completely changed our company.”
Marshall was unperturbed by the raging alphas around the table.
“Gentlemen,” Marshall continued smoothly, “we’re here. A game?”
Mackenzie leaned forward, her eyes lighting up at the click of chips and shuffle of cards as the dealer got ready for us. That spark of wild joy I was starting to really enjoy.
“Justice Twill.” Brock’s voice carried that desperate edge of someone with something to prove. “I was just telling Daryl how Justice Twill isn’t quite the legend everyone makes him out to be.”
Daryl’s hand slid up Mackenzie’s back, making her suppress a shiver. Not the good kind. “Though maybe we should find something simpler for Kenzie. She gets confused by basic math.”
Kenzie? Ew .
The light died in her eyes. We all saw it.
“You know,” Justice said, his voice carrying that quiet danger that made him a legend in Port Haven’s tech sector, “I’ve found people who underestimate others usually end up losing everything.”
“Oh, I would love to prove you wrong,” Daryl started, but checked in with his pack lead to make sure he wasn’t overstepping bounds.
The chips rattled in my hand. Justice turned to Theo, his voice softening. “Ever played?”
“Only online,” Theo admitted. “Never in person.”
Justice pulled out the chair next to him. “I’ll stake you.” Justice pulled out a stack of $500 chips.
Without taking my eyes off Daryl, I pulled out my chair and held my hand out to Mackenzie. “I’ll be advising Ms. Perez here, if the house doesn’t object.” I tossed a hundred-dollar chip to the dealer, knowing damn well they should object. But money had a way of smoothing over rules.
The dealer palmed the chip with practiced ease. “Five-handed poker it is.”
Mackenzie’s eyes darted between my offered hand and Daryl’s on her back. Something shifted in her expression. That wildness came to the surface, just for a second. Justice and I shared a look. This wasn’t about poker anymore. This was about giving her a choice.
When she slipped her hand into mine, it felt like victory. I guided her into my chair, already planning how to help her take their money and their power, one hand at a time.
I pulled up a chair close behind Mackenzie’s left side, putting myself between her and the douchy alphas, settling in so my chest almost brushed her shoulder. The dealer pretended not to notice how much I was bending the rules. Daryl’s smirk said he thought this was all going his way with his pack lead having his back. He didn’t seem to care someone had just stolen his girl from him. Justice was the prize, now.
I rested one hand on her shoulder, letting the other drop beneath the table to her knee. Her silk dress was cool under my palm, but her skin burned hot. She stiffened for just a second before relaxing into my touch.
“Poker isn’t about the math, baby girl,” I murmured against her ear, pitching my voice low enough that only she could hear. “It’s about people. And those two? They think they’ve got you all figured out.”
Her pulse jumped under my fingers.
“So here’s what we’re going to do. When I tap your shoulder?” I demonstrated with the lightest brush of fingers. “You light up like you’ve got the best hand anyone’s ever seen. When I tap your knee?” Another gentle touch that made her shiver. “You look disappointed. Like you’re trying to hide it, but can’t quite manage.”
“But the cards…” she whispered.
“Don’t matter half as much as they think. We’re not going to beat them with math.” I let my lips brush her ear. “We’re going to play them into the ground.”
She flashed a quick look at Daryl. When she came back to me, her smile was full of new possibilities.
The dealer’s hands moved with practiced grace, floating cards across green felt. When Mackenzie’s cards slid toward her, I tapped her shoulder before she could even peek at them.
Her eyes caught the light as she lifted the corners, her smile blooming exactly like I’d hoped. Justice watched us from across the table, that CEO brain of his clicking all the pieces into place. Our eyes met, and I saw the same dangerous amusement there. Hell yeah, we were going to teach these assholes a lesson.
“Oh Kenzie.” Daryl’s condescending laugh set my teeth on edge. “Watch out. I can always tell what she’s thinking. You might want to play it a little closer to the vest, Boo Bear.”
Boo Bear? Fuck no.
The flop came down garbage—seven of clubs, three of hearts, jack of diamonds. Mackenzie’s pair of fours would not get us there, but she played her part perfectly, practically bouncing in her seat as she called Daryl’s bet.
By the river, Daryl had his straight. He raked in the pot with an insufferable grin while Brock nodded like a proud parent whose kid just learned to walk.
“See?” Daryl said to no one in particular. “Some things never change.”
The fucking audacity to insult your omega in front of other alphas. The worse fucking part? Mackenzie wasn’t outraged. That told me all I needed to know.
Daryl and Brock were still riding high on their win, tossing knowing looks at each other across their stacks of chips. They barely glanced at Theo when he called Daryl’s opening bet.
Big mistake.
The flop came queen high, all hearts. Daryl bet. Theo called without hesitation, his face giving away nothing. Not bad for someone who probably learned poker from watching YouTube tutorials.
Turn brought the king of hearts. Daryl’s bet got bigger. Theo matched it.
By the river, Daryl was sweating. The pot had grown fat. He pushed in a stack of chips with confidence we all knew was fake.
Theo didn’t even blink. “I call.” He flipped over the ace and jack of hearts. The nut flush.
“Son of a bitch,” Daryl muttered, throwing down his cards.
“Oh, my god!” Mackenzie leaned across the table with her stage whisper. “Theo, that’s so much money.”
“I know, I can do that clickety clack thing with my chips.” He picked up a little stack and rhythmically dropped them. He had practiced.
“You’re buying dinner.” The Mackenzie who sat back in her chair, was our Mackenzie.
“I’m buying dinner.” Justice tossed the dealer a chip.
“Dinner. Panties. Whatever.” She said with jazz hands.
She glanced at me, then Daryl, then Justice.
C’mon baby girl, do the math.
I felt Mackenzie’s confidence building with each pot she dragged in. Theo was actually playing to win and holding his own. Poor Marshall, caught up in our drama, kept folding. Justice was very calculated about his losses. Folding on pots he thought Daryl would take, upping bets when he thought Daryl would lose.
When the next hand was dealt, I kept my touch light on her shoulder. She’d learned to check her cards without giving anything away. Seven and eight of spades. Workable.
The flop came down: nine of spades, five of spades, deuce of clubs.
Daryl’s bet was aggressive. “Two hundred.”
My fingers pressed gently into her shoulder. She matched his bet without hesitation.
The turn brought the six of spades. My heart kicked against my ribs. She had her flush. Brock couldn’t see it—he was too focused on his cards, too sure of himself.
“Three hundred,” Brock said, shoving chips forward with that desperation I’d been waiting for.
“Call,” I whispered into her ear. She only hesitated for a second. This was the biggest bet she had made yet.
“You won. He doesn’t know it yet. Take all his money.”
She squirmed in her seat and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. It was her first tell all night.
Daryl practically kicked his feet and screamed as he debated his bet.
“All in.”
The words hung in the air. Justice sat back, expression carefully neutral.
“Kenzie doesn’t have the balls,” Daryl sneered.
I squeezed Mackenzie’s shoulder, but she was already reaching for her chips.
“I call.”
Daryl flipped his kings with a triumphant grin. “We should have been playing strip poker. You’d be naked and on my knot right about now, Boo Bear.”
“What the fuck did you say?” And that came from Marshall. Daryl was too busy reaching for the pot to notice.
Mackenzie’s hands didn’t shake at all as she turned over her cards.
“I don’t know. I’m just a silly little omega, but I think that means I win.”
The silence was delicious. Daryl’s face went from red to white to purple.
Justice cackled, his smile so wide it must hurt.
Mackenzie’s laugh was pure joy as she pulled in Daryl’s chips. My fingers traced patterns on her knee under the table, and she leaned back against me just slightly.
“You’re buying dinner now.” Theo beamed.
“I’m still buying dinner.” Justice said.
“Kenzie, let’s go,” Daryl said, getting up from the table.
“Maybe we should buy him thank you panties,” she replied to Theo, ignoring Daryl.
“Kenzie, c’mon.” Daryl took a step away from the table.
“I bet all alphas go commando.” Theo said, raising a quick eyebrow at me.
“Mackenzie, I said let’s go.” His aura flared. Justice and I both stood. I kept my back to him, but I knew Justice would have it.
Mackenzie started trying to pick up all her chips. I tossed one to the dealer and motioned to her pot. “Color up.”
Mackenzie stood and waited for her chips. She turned to Daryl and squared her shoulders. “The auction’s not for another hour. Theo and I are going to go play the slots.”
“Now, Mackenzie.”
Her hands were shaking as she collected her $500 chips. She spoke without looking at Daryl. “I promised your pack we’d go to the auction. That’s in an hour.” She held her hand out for Theo. He joined her on this side of the table. Her head was down as she walked into the main part of the casino with him.
Daryl stomped his feet like a toddler and took off in the opposite direction. His pack lead had to jog to catch up.
“Well,” Justice said quietly as we watched them go, “that was fun.”
“Just…”
He cut me off. “No. I still hate you.” We both knew that was a lie, he just didn’t want to feel his feelings. He picked up his chips, traded a word with the Marshall and headed into the casino.
“You shouldn’t be playing games with other people’s omegas,” Catherine said in my ear.
Fuck .
I’d gotten too comfortable, too familiar. If she thought Justice was valuable to me…
I put on a bored face and turned to her. She was in a red cocktail dress. The neckline plunged to her navel, and that thumb drive sat dead center on her chest.
I pulled out my stack of $1000 chips. She tried to pluck them with two fingers. I snapped them out of her reach.
“I don’t trust you to give them to Gaston.” I said.
“Mmm, just wait for those yummy pack bonds and you’ll know exactly how much you can trust me.” She ran a finger down my cheek. I batted her hand away.
“Catherine, you can literally bite my ass.” I pushed her hip and made her stagger several feet back.
I did a long circuit around the poker tables, looking for my next mark.