Chapter Twenty-Two
Roderic
I leaned down, brushing my lips near Paige’s temple so I didn’t have to raise my voice.
“Stay here. At the bar. You’ll be safe.”
Her eyes flicked up to mine, uncertain, but she nodded. I didn’t let go of her until I’d settled her on a stool at the corner of the bar, where the tender was one of ours and the sightlines were good.
Movement at the far end of the balcony had caught my attention. Two men sat in the darkest corner, their suits a dead giveaway that they weren’t just customers.
My jaw tightened as one of them shifted, making his jacket gape, the gun holster obvious.
This floor wasn’t just for playing, it was for business, and the people who came in through the upper entrances weren’t checked the same as the patrons below, but the guys on the doors should have known better.
Business wasn’t supposed to be allowed without me, Leo, or a small handful of others present, and I knew for a fact that Leo was at home with his mate and baby.
“Don’t move,” I said, letting the command rumble through my chest.
It was instinct for an omega to obey, and I didn’t like using that against them, but there was no way I was taking her towards danger. I had no choice but to leave her behind.
She shivered, and it took everything I had not to drag her somewhere dark and bury myself inside her instead of finding out what was going on, but her safety came first, which meant handling business.
I stalked across the floor, catching one of my men with a glance and tilting my head toward the intruders. He rose from where he was to confront the men as I cut across the balcony, the noise of the club swallowing the words but not the sharp exchange of looks and postures between the three.
The two alphas lurking where they shouldn’t have been weren’t anyone important, probably lower ranking soldiers, possibly sent to test boundaries. They looked like Dimitri’s men, but I couldn’t be sure without talking to them.
Even our allies pushed the rules occasionally to see if we were slipping. Dimitri was the worst after what happened with his daughter and Leo.
Our guy had it handled before I reached them, the pair making their way to the stairs down to the floor, and I only stayed long enough to make sure he planned to follow them out.
I watched as they tried to blend into the crowd, failing when everyone else was moving to the beat while they cut across.
When I was sure my tail hadn’t lost them, I turned back to my omega.
And froze.
Paige wasn’t alone at the bar anymore. Another woman had slotted herself neatly beside her, body angled close, lips moving.
At first, I wasn’t too worried. I headed back to her at a normal pace. Omegas talked to each other sometimes. They were safe. No threat.
But then I caught Paige’s expression.
Her lips were pressed tight. Her hands twisted in her lap, fresh drink untouched. Her eyes, those bright, revealing blue windows to her thoughts, were wide and stricken, locked on the other woman like she’d just been gutted.
A bitter taste filled my mouth as recognition hit me like a fist.
Her.
A slick little thing I’d fucked once, months ago. Pretty enough, pliant enough, and I’d been bored enough.
Until she wanted more.
I’d cut her off clean, no second taste, no calls back. She hadn’t mattered.
But seeing her smile at Paige like that, leaning in with what I could only imagine was poison dripping from her lips?
My vision went red.
I was across the balcony in seconds. My hand closed on the other omega’s nape, spinning her away from Paige with a rough jerk that made her squeak as the stool she’d been sitting on fell over with a clatter.
“Out.”
The word was rough, cracked around the edges. I didn’t bother holding the growl back as she dared to look up at me.
“Roderic—” she started, lips curling into something like a pout.
I didn’t let her keep going. I cut her off with a snarl, loud enough to draw stares from the patrons at the tables.
“Don’t say my name. Don’t speak to her. Don’t even look at her. You so much as breathe in her direction again, I’ll have you blocked from this floor forever. Understand?”
She paled, mouth snapping shut. I knew what she did here, what she was looking for, and banning her from The Warehouse would mean cutting her off from the easiest avenue to landing a rich alpha.
One of our other guys moved in on my signal, clamping a hand over her shoulder. She tried a weak protest, then thought better of it as he hauled her away.
Confrontation over, attention slid off us, but my chest was still heaving. I’d seen the look on Paige’s face before I’d had to walk away. Felt the way she leaned closer, her expression finally unguarded.
And that bitch ruined it.
I turned back to Paige.
She was rigid on the stool, shoulders drawn in, eyes darting to me like she wasn’t sure if I’d scold her next. That cut deeper than any bullet I’d taken.
I forced myself to suck in a deep breath, searching for her scent beneath the blockers. It was hard to soften my voice when I reached for her hand.
“Come here, Sweetheart.”
Her fingers trembled in mine as I tugged her away from the bar, threading us through the couches until I found an empty one shielded from most eyes. I pulled her down beside me, waved away a passing server, then angled my body to block her from the rest of the club.
“Talk to me, Sweetheart.”
My voice was rougher than I’d meant it to be, but I couldn’t stand the look on her face and the way she felt closed off again.
“What did she say to you?”
She bit her lip. For a long second, I thought she wasn’t going to answer, but then it came out, soft and raw.
“She said… not to hope. That I was just this week’s hole to you. That you’d get bored, and I’m not what you would want in a mate.” Her voice cracked. “And she’s right. I’m a terrible omega. No one wants me.”
Fury burned through me, hotter than the club lights, sharper than the sting of my old wounds.
I’d get bored.
She wasn’t what I wanted.
That bitch had no idea what Paige was to me.
I cupped Paige’s jaw, tilting her face toward me. Her eyes were turning red with withheld tears, but she didn’t flinch, even when I was too rough as my thumb brushed over her cheek.
“She’s jealous. She’s just a woman I fucked once and forgot about. She’s mad I didn’t fall into her trap.”
The growl leaking from me deepened, my chest vibrating as I pulled Paige closer.
“Do you think I’d drag you here, show you a part of my world, risk every enemy I have seeing you, if you weren’t what I want?”
Her lips parted, but no words came out.
I leaned closer, nose brushing hers, her breath hot against my mouth. My confession came crashing out, a wave I couldn’t stop or even hold back.
“You’re the only thing in this room I can’t stop looking at. The only one who I want to take home, not just tonight, but forever. I’ve wanted to sink my teeth into you from the moment I caught your scent, but I’ve held back to earn your trust first.”
Her breath hitched, a tiny sound that made my cock throb and my control strain. My mouth was watering at the sight of her exposed neck, and it was tempting to bite her so I could show her how I felt instead of trying to make her believe words she had no reason to trust.
I pulled back just enough to let her breathe, my thumb stroking slowly across her jaw.
“My world is dangerous. I could be killed tomorrow, and then you’d be left alone again.
That doesn’t mean I’ll let you go if you tell me no, Sweetheart.
I’ll just keep following you around until you give in, or I’m dead.
Until you let me sink my teeth and knot into you and make you mine, permanently, or put a bullet through my heart to end my misery. ”
I didn’t miss her little whine or the scent of slick in the air. My lips ticked up, and I let my fingers trail down to that smooth skin I wanted to mark.
“I should have let her stay and watch as I give you everything she wanted but will never have.”
Paige was trembling, her lips parted as she sucked in deep breaths. I knew it was a lot to absorb, and she was probably confused by the sudden confession, but I needed to know what she was thinking behind those pretty blues.
“Sweetheart?”
I didn’t get a chance to keep going. She surged forward, her lips hitting mine with a ferocity that had a spike of possession rising to meet it.
No one else was allowed to have this.
Her lips.
Her sweet body pressed against them.
Her hands pulling them closer.
Her passion…
Her desire…
They were mine.