Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
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EVA
This was the first political fundraiser I’d ever been to. It would be boring as hell, but I was here for Petra, not anyone else.
Sloane waved from across the room, a drink already in her hand. “Hey.”
“Hey.” She hugged me with one arm.
“Where’s Bee?”
Sloane pointed to the tangled crowd near the stage. “Got ambushed and is currently being introduced to the Gidwitz pack. Don’t worry, I already plan to tell her I’ll mock her for all eternity if she bonds with a pack named Gidwitz. Up for a rescue?”
I spotted her in the mess of people. She was wearing the green dress I’d seen her in earlier today when we ran into each other at Bergman’s. It was a fine dress, but it wasn’t that flattering. Which of course it wouldn’t be, because Petra’s stepmother was a wicked witch. With a B.
“I’ve got it. I’ll get her out.” I said.
Dylan stepped up behind me. “Need any help?”
“I think I’m okay, but if I’m gone more than five minutes? Yes. Rescue.”
He dropped a kiss on my shoulder. “I’ll be watching.”
I shivered a little. I felt his amusement, and we both paused, reminding each other that we weren’t at home.
Pushing through the crowd, I reached Petra in record time. “Bee! I told you I’d be here.”
“You did,” she said, but she didn’t sound like herself. It was probably her shutting down because she was being thrust on a pack she had no interest in.
A tinkling sound came through the room, like someone was about to make a toast. Perfect timing. “Go,” Petra whispered, desperate. “Go. It was nice to meet all of you.”
She was the one to push us back through the crowd back to where Sloane was. Petra looked at our friend, eyes wide. “Help.”
“I did help, bitch,” Sloane said, laughing. “I sent Eva in to get you.”
Now that we were out of the crowd, I realized that Petra’s sweet scent was strong. Stronger than it should be. Her eyes were blown wide, and she looked dazed. That look was familiar now.
“I don’t think she means that kind of help. Look at her eyes. And smell that?” I asked.
Sloane realized. “Oh, shit. You’re perfuming?”
“What do my eyes look like?” Petra asked.
“Dilated. You kind of look like a shark. Big dead black eyes,” Sloane said.
“Thanks.” Petra made a face. “I got hit with something. A scent.”
Fuck. Yes. I was right. “Oh, hell yes. I love it when this happens. My sister found her pack like this. R.A.S.”
“R.A.S.?” Petra blinked at me.
“Random act of scenting. What does it smell like? We’ll tell you if it’s something in the air, in case it’s someone who has a really strong scent.”
She was practically shaking. “I need a drink.”
“What do you want?” I asked. “I’ll have one of the guys grab it for you.”
“She likes the fruity shit,” Sloane said. “The stuff you can’t taste alcohol in.”
“Got it.”
I turned to my Alphas where they stood a few feet away. “We have an R.A.S. on our hands.”
“Really?”
“Petra. Someone in the crowd but we don’t know who. She wants a drink. Something fruity. Can one of you grab one?”
Tyler nodded and headed to the bar.
“I think you’re a good luck charm,” Liam murmured. “First Esme, now Petra. You should start a brand new service. Hang out with Eva May Williams and find your scent matches.”
“More like I have a knack for being in the right place at the right time.”
“Good thing too.” He grinned. “Seems like it’s your mission in life to help your friends navigate the chaos.”
I lifted my chin, and he kissed me like I wanted. “I love you.”
His hand curled around my waist. “Love you too, Omega.”
Tyler came back with a giant frozen smoothie of a drink before I could climb Liam in public. “Thank you.” I took the drink and pushed it into Petra’s hand. “Here.”
She whined when she sipped the drink. A desperate sound I knew all about. She wanted the scent she’d matched to, not the flavor of the drink.
“Shit,” Petra whispered. “I need to get out of here.”
Sloane stepped in front of our friend, blocking her from the view of the room. It wouldn’t be enough. I pulled on the bonds with my Alphas, and they converged, creating a human wall around us. I pulled Petra back into the center.
“We need to find them. If you’re reacting like this, then whoever’s scent that is? They’re fucking losing their minds.”
“Thanks, guys,” Petra said to my pack.
Jack smiled over his shoulder. “We know what it’s like to be blindsided by a scent you can’t get enough of.
” He looked at me, and the air between us went electric because we were both remembering that night and everything that came after.
I really wished we weren’t in public right now.
Who knew what the hell had gotten into all of us today, but our clothes would be coming off before we even made it fully through the door.
My Alpha winked before he turned around, sending tingling heat straight through me all the way to my toes.
“Fuck, Eva,” Petra said under her breath.
I choked on a laugh. “I know. Just make it through the speech, all right? We’ll find him. Or her.”
“It’s a him.”
“We’ll find him,” I promised.
“Maybe it’s better if we don’t.” She wilted beside me. “Anyone who’s here probably isn’t someone I want to be with.”
I understood why she said it, but it could be anyone. Not everyone here was in politics. I wasn’t going to let her pass on this until we actually knew who it was.
Petra’s father—the senator who was gearing up to run for chancellor—gave a toast and began to dance with his wife.
“Maybe it was a fluke,” Petra said. “Some weird combination of scents that hit me just right.”
“No fucking way,” Sloane joined us in the center of my Alphas.
Liam suddenly turned, gaze taking me in from head to toe. “Dance with me?”
My face went hot. They could still make me blush, and I hoped we never lost that.
Taking his outstretched hand, he led me to the dance floor and swept me into his embrace. “You know this is a terrible idea,” I said.
Liam smirked. “And why is that?”
“Because we’re all on edge, and dancing with you is only going to make me want to leave.”
Pretending he knew nothing, he spun us around the floor. “And what would happen?”
“I don’t know. But I can’t imagine I’ll make it through the living room with clothes on. And maybe the four of you will take me into the nest and have your way with me.”
I’d been on location for a while, and we weren’t quite through the frenzy of being back together. After our first night back in the nest, they’d each stolen me away for themselves. But we all thought our instincts had eased enough for us to come tonight.
Clearly we still needed some time at home. Naked.
We danced near the edge of the floor, and a flurry of whispers drew my attention.
“I’m not interested,” Petra said.
“I don’t care if you’re not interested,” Carmen snapped back. “The Gidwitz pack and their families are some of the biggest donors we have. One of their Betas is a media genius, and they need an Omega. I don’t care. This is going to happen, Petra.”
Petra tried to pull away. “I need to go.”
“You do need to go. Right here. George, I found who we were looking for.” Carmen grabbed Petra and practically shoved her toward the waiting Alpha.
The poison in her tone made anger drop through me.
“You’re not leaving this party until you’ve come to some kind of agreement.
And don’t even think about complaining to your father. He knows, and he agrees.”
Carmen pushed her again, and Petra reluctantly began to dance with the Alpha. You’d have to be the least observant person in the world to not see that she was miserable.
Sloane appeared at our side. “May day. May day.”
“We saw.”
“We found the Alpha, or rather Tyler did. Right before they could meet, Ezra took her for photos, and now that.”
We glanced back to where my other Alphas were speaking to Petra’s scent match.
The look on his face made it easy to tell.
I nodded. “Carmen is still pushing this pack on her, and if we don’t get her out of here, I think she’s going to have Petra engaged before the night is over. Do you have a plan?”
“The beginnings of one. How do you feel about being a distraction?”
I flipped my hair. “You know it’s what I do best.”
“Perfect.”
Liam wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me close enough to brush his lips over my ear. “Once you help your friend and she leaves, do you have any reason to stay? Because I think of a whole hell of a lot of reasons to go home.”
Arousal warmed under my skin. Yes. Please. I didn’t care that the frenzy should have worn off by now. I wanted my Alphas. “Tell Neil to get the car ready,” I said. “As soon as she’s gone, we’re gone.”
He growled softly. “Good. Because I haven’t had any coffee today, and I need some.”
I swallowed and straightened my shoulders in order to push down the desire starting to override my senses. “Yeah.” My voice was rough.
Kissing my temple, Liam went to do as I asked, and I headed straight for Petra. Time for a rescue, and after, I was giving myself to my Alphas to see what they did with me.
I couldn’t wait.