Chapter 20 – Arin
CHAPTER TWENTY
ARIN
Meena takes a long drink from her beer, eyeing me. “You’ve never been the stupid one in the family, but you’re really giving Mila a run for her fucking money tonight.”
I’ve been trapped by every single bloody person in this house in the span of twenty minutes. First, I’d felt like an ass when June stepped away from me — but the comment about us not having a bond slipped out. I only wanted to remind her that she didn’t have to prioritize me, or include me in the list of people that she needed.
And then she’d given me a look like I’d slapped her.
After I tracked her down, finding her with Vera on the porch — Vera’s alphas cornered me and did everything but explicitly tell me I wasn’t welcome outside my own goddamn home. June was clearly upset and I caused it.
Now I’m trapped with Meena ragging on me while June stands between Bennett and Seth, talking to the Lawrences.
“Shut up.” I grimace at the burn of the alcohol as it races down my throat.
My sister snorts. “ Okay .” Her voice drips with sarcasm as her alpha — Jakob — bends down to whisper in her ear. She barks out a laugh, glancing over at me with her eyes twinkling. “A little birdie just told me something, dear brother.”
Jakob’s lips twitch and it takes everything in me not to lay the other alpha flat on his ass. His bleached, buzzed hair shines under the light, leather jacket whispering as he wraps an arm around my sister. I’ve never had a problem with him, per se, but sometimes this many alphas in a room makes the one inside me want to come out.
It doesn’t rise often, but the power simmers under my skin. I’m stronger than anyone in this room — maybe not physically — but in designation — yes . I could bring everyone to heel, pick June up and throw her over my shoulder, commanding everyone else to stay as I carried her off.
Get a fucking grip. You’re not a fucking neanderthal .
It’s very disrespectful to do that, so I just finish my drink as Meena gives me a shit-eating grin.
“Vera’s spread it across the party that you’re not allowed to talk to your omega anymore.” She sing-songs the words, glancing back at Jakob with a cackle. “Someone’s in the doghouse .”
I give them both a disgruntled look. I’d never growl at her — but I’m considering it. My eyes flicker to June. Bennett’s hand rests on the full curve of her hip, which fills out the jeans she has on. I’ve never seen her in them before — they’re painted on her.
I allotted part of the pack finances to an account for her. Though she probably doesn’t know about it. These, however, look like something Bennett would choose. Theo likes to buy her decor — Seth is a renegade.
They perfectly cup her ass.
Clenching my fist, I blow out a breath, my nostrils flaring. Once again, I’m standing on the outside, staring at them as June leans forward, nodding enthusiastically at Kary. She has the Lawrences wrapped around her little finger, just like she does with everyone, lighting up the fucking room, making it smell like honey and tea, comforting and saccharine sweet.
Commotion from the foyer reaches Jakob and I at the same time. Every alpha in the room prickles, our hearing picking up the sounds of the argument before everyone else. Theo sounds one step away from losing it.
“ You can stay for twenty minutes. ”
Peter’s rough voice snaps back. “ We’ll stay for as long as we damn well please, until we can see this omega you’ve apparently taken in. I hope, for her sake, you’ve broken her in and finally laid claim. Maybe you’ll finally be the prime of this shamble of a pack .”
Theo snarls, but then a soft whisper calms him. “ Theodore, just introduce your fathers and I to her. ”
“ We don’t need his permission .” George speaks as I watch him stalk through the door. “Keep up, Grace.”
June’s head jerks in alarm and I jolt, taking a half-step toward her as Theo stumbles into the room behind his parents. He looks shaken and upset, and Meena makes a low noise in the back of her throat — we all know what Theo’s fathers are like — every one of us has had firsthand experience with either Peter or George pretending they’re the most powerful men in the room.
Peter’s stocky form stops, his eyes narrowing on Juniper. George straightens — bringing him a hair taller than Bennett and Yasmin. As his shoulders move back, he puffs his chest.
“This is her?” George’s voice drips with disdain, his eyes roving over my omega, catching on the neck of her sweater. It covers her entirely — including the bite from Bennett on her throat and wherever Theo bit her — I’ve not seen that yet.
“She doesn’t look like an omega.” Peter looks back at Theo. “No wonder you didn’t let us know you’d taken an omega, where did you find her? She’s old , Theodore. How do you expect to have strong alphas with someone already at the end of their birthing years?” His eyes cut back to June, a sneer on his face. “Clearly you haven’t put her on a diet, either.”
The party goes quiet.
Noise rushes in my ears, blood thrumming hot in my veins as a snarl builds in my chest.
June’s jaw clicks, her eyes narrowing as she twists. “The appropriate greeting is, ‘Hello, June, we’re Theo’s fathers. It’s nice to meet you.’” Her lip curls, her eyes darting between the two older alphas. “Being fat and old is better than overcompensating for your tiny alpha energy by immediately jumping to petty pot-shot insults.”
Peter’s lips purse. “A lot of bite for such a little bitch.”
June sucks in a breath, and then she smiles .
My blood runs cold. I’ve only seen that look once — before her heat — when Theo was goading her into fighting. Now, framed in this context, panic lances through me that she’ll say something that will make Peter and George lash out at her physically. I’ve seen it with Grace — the other omega is dressed demurely in a button up shirt, not a hair out of place, covered entirely save for the green bruising along her neck, just under her collar.
Theo snarls from behind his fathers. “Don’t you dare —”
“It’s okay.” June steps away from Bennett, moving closer to Peter and George. “What is it that you want to see from me? Would you like to see the proof that your son could overpower me if he wanted to? Is that what gets you off? You really believe you’re better than anyone else in every room you enter? Does it make you feel better about yourselves when you make everyone else feel inferior?”
George looks down his nose at her. “Theo, control this omega, or I will.”
June laughs . “I’d love to see you try. I have a name , by the way. It’s June, and I’m not just an omega, I’m the bitch your son bit and bonded . Want me to talk about his knot, too?”
Peter recoils at her words. “You should be heeled and collared by now. Our son’s bite clearly didn’t take, because you’re running your nasty mouth —”
“Oh it took.” She spits the words out and then tugs the hem up on her turtleneck, flashing her pale stomach, covered in love bites. The shine of the scar on her neck catches the light — silver, undeniable — and the one on the side of her breast draws my eye, half-hidden by the red lace of her bralette, matching the swollen, angry, freshly bitten skin.
My head spins. My omega is topless —
“Believe me now?” She smiles innocently, fluttering her eyelashes. “Or do I need to take more clothes off?”
“Cover yourself up, you’re an embarrassment to our son —” George reaches out.
I see red .
“ Don’t touch her .” My bark echoes across the living room, making everyone flinch. George’s hand stops mid-air, and he looks at it in shock as I stride forward, snarling so loud that Peter rocks back on his heels.
June shifts, tugging her top back on, a flush across the tops of her cheeks. “Arin —”
My alpha is secretly pleased she’s clothed again, only so its entire focus can pivot to the scum in front of me. Peter and George stand side by side, shorter than me — pathetic . Grace’s blue eyes are round behind them, the spitting image of her son. Theo’s hand rests on his mother’s arm, holding her.
It’s been years of this — no one standing up so the careful balance was never upset and Grace never caught the aftermath. That’s over .
“This is done .” I bark the words. “You both are no longer welcome in this house, in the same space as my omega and my pack.”
George scoffs, but it’s wobbly. “You can’t bark at us, we’re alphas too — it won’t —”
“ Shut the fuck up .”
His lips clam shut, mid-sentence.
Power — heady, thick — races through me. I’m the alpha, not just June’s, but Theo’s, Bennett’s, Seth’s — they’re all mine to protect, and that extends to Theo’s mother, to Bennett’s family.
Peter has the audacity to laugh. “Maybe you’re not as powerful as you thought, George.” The cheap shot makes him smirk, an air around him, like he thinks he’s impervious to my ire.
Before I can open my mouth, June jerks forward.
“Neither of you are.” She glares from beside me. “You’re nothing , just two pathetic men who think your designation means you can get away with every shitty thing you’ve ever done. I love your son, despite your attempts to turn him into a monster. He cares about me, about our pack. He loves us — a feeling I’m not sure either of you have experienced.” Her voice breaks. “Love isn’t fear, love is safe and kind .”
“How charming,” Peter sneers. “Grace, it’s time to go. Your son has embarrassed us enough tonight. He’s a mockery of how we raised him. He was a mistake from the moment I forgot to use a condom. We should have let you both die on the operating table.”
June snarls, and it’s so jarring it makes me flinch.
Peter’s head turns as she steps forward, pointing her finger at him, stabbing him right in the center of his chest.
“Let me be very clear .” Her eyes flash, pure, murderous fury in them. “ You are leaving right now, and that’s a fucking order .”
The bark hits me, shocking me to the core, my own alpha reacting to it. I’ve never heard an omega bark — only rumors of it, when they’re ‘feral’ or without bonds, meaning their biology finds its own protection. This is different than my own, it’s like shackles falling from the air, unbreakable.
George’s eyebrows raise, while Peter takes a step back from her, paling.
Pride rushes through me at this omega — mine — barking to stand up for us all.