Skye
Turns out bartending is actually pretty fun.
The air purifiers in the bar are working overtime with my scent blooming every time my gorgeous Cardinal touches me.
How did I ever think that I could get away from these men, this pack, when they all look like wet dreams and have enough green flags they could wear them like a ghillie suit.
Atlas nudges my belly, furred head butting against me as I work, snuffling softly every now and then so I don’t forget he’s here.
As if I could. The dark-coated wolf takes up the entire corner, switching pretty regularly between lying down in an awkward half-moon and sitting on his haunches.
How nobody has realized that he’s not just a wolf, but probably the largest damned wolf they’d ever seen is ridiculous.
Some of the patrons even lean over to give his ears a ruffle, the soft furry appendages swiveling like radar dishes as he keeps track of everything in the bar.
Nobody seems to give a single fuck about the colossal canine.
I’ve also made a new friend. Deacon looks almost scarily similar to Fury—tall, dark, and handsome, with a thick but well-kept black beard.
He’s a little more square in the face, with the same crooked nose that Atlas has in his human face, and overall not quite so pretty as my Alpha.
And he smells… Hmmm, I’m not actually sure.
It’s fresh, almost wintery, like that first inhale of a cold day that catches your sinuses when you breathe in.
Peppermint, maybe. Either way, there’s a very lucky Omega out there for him somewhere, and I hope she can pull some sort of emotion from him.
I’ve been working hard to get the Alpha to do so much as a lip twitch, but he’s shy; however, the constant jealous side-eye from Fury is well worth it.
My Alphas want me, and I relish it, warmth filling my chest as it settles in, how much they really do want me here.
I’m not just a band-aid over their broken patches, not just something pretty on their arms, and most importantly, it’s not just because I’m a shifter too; they want me for me.
Looking over at my Alpha, I consider him for a moment whilst I pull a pint.
Cerulean blue eyes meet mine, and Fury blows a kiss, flirty as ever, as I blush and giggle at him, shaking my head.
My face heats the longer we stay locked in each other's gazes, his darkening, tongue darting out to wet his lower lip, and dragging my eyes with it. At least until the beer starts running down my hands. Yelping, I nearly spill it all over the counter as I rush to put it down and grab the bar cloth to wipe it clear, making sure to direct my scowl at my Alpha, who’s cackling next to his customers like the shit that he is.
Checking that his hands are empty, I flick the cloth out, with its cute cartoon-printed sharks, and crack him straight in the ass cheek with a wicked snap.
Watching him leap three feet in the air is well worth the growl I get, and if I’m extra lucky, he’ll put me over his knee later for it.
The pretty Beta takes her full beer from me with a laugh and a wink, and I’m just about to take her cash when a similar tall figure shadows the doorframe.
I can feel my blood freeze in my veins, icy shards shredding me up.
Maybe a couple of weeks ago, I’d have jumped at the sight of Anna, taking every chance to sass and push her buttons, rib her until she barks at me like she used to.
But now… Now I have something to lose, a family that we are building step by step, and now that the subject of bonding has slowly been broached, I know that I can’t lose them.
Fury had paid the pack fee to be at the auctions that night, to take me home…
But if she really wanted to, she could appeal to have me removed from them if she thinks there is an issue, couldn’t she?
Both Fury and Atlas pick up on my tension, and a broad back shields me from the woman who, just weeks ago, was injecting me with heat boosters to force me into vulnerability.
“Something's up with the taps, you mind checking the supply, Skye?” Fury hands me a ring of keys, the jingling catching my attention as he rattles them in front of me, holding the one I’d need, “Skipper will take you back and keep an eye on you, yeah?” He’s giving me an escape, I realize as I scramble towards the door.
Gasping for deep breaths in panic when it feels like the air purifier system has sucked every ounce of oxygen from the room.
Looking back, I see Anna on her phone at the bar, back towards me as her voice echoes, even above the buzz of the drunken bodies.
Atlas nips at me again, shoving at my backside as the lock clicks open, standing guard whilst I lock it again behind us and collapse against the wall.
There’s a pulse in the air, like an aura that radiates from the dark wolf, then there’s a sickly sound of bones popping and realigning—do I sound like that when I shift?
—before Atlas is next to me. I’ve never noticed the palm-sized anchor tattooed on his chest, only the giant world map on his back as he turns and opens one of the doors in the corridor.
Dragging me through, my Alpha pulls me into his arms, “I got you. I got you, baby.” His bulging arms engulf me, pressing me against his washboard stomach and burying my face in his pectorals that put even my rack to shame.
Is there a single percentage of body fat on…
Something twitches against my stomach, and I shiver.
Atlas clears his throat, “Uhh, sorry. You perfumed when I hugged you, is all. You smell amazing.”
“Thanks, Atty, you too.” It is true, the thick scent of the woodlands after a rain just flushes my fears away.
It soothes the woman and the wolf with safety and home.
Heaving in another breath, I let his thick musk envelope me, melting into him as it’s followed by his diesel engine purr.
My cheek slides along his chest, scent-marking us both, and part of me wishes that Fury were here to complete our little trio of boozy camping scents.
Deacon can watch the bar for a minute, right?
Just whilst I rub myself all over both Alphas to convince myself—Omega and wolf included—that we are safe, and my pack is here.
“She can’t have you,” Atlas murmurs into my hair, one hand stroking up and down my back.
His grip is steel, binding me to him, and the strength in his body is helping me come down from the panic.
I know this man could pop me like one of those viral watermelon videos, but he’s only ever used it to hold and protect me.
“You’re ours, she can’t take you away. I love you. ”
“Atlas…” My scent sours a little, giving away how I really feel about the words, “You’ve only known me a few weeks—“
“Doesn’t matter,” He cuts me off, his purr picking up the pace as his heart thuds beneath my cheek, “You’re ours.
Our scent match. Luc’s never fit in so well before, you’ve helped carve out his little space in the pack properly, so he fits like he was always meant to.
” Tears well in my eyes, and I curse. I hate crying.
Slamming my eyes shut does little to stop the wet trails, but I can pretend whilst my Alpha breaks and remakes my heart, “Theo struggled so bad since his accident, and you got him back on a horse, turned his fear back into his favorite hobby, and gave the power back to him.”
“He’s always had it, I knew that,” I manage to choke around the lump in my throat, “He just needed a little push.”
“We’ve been pushing for months; you gave him back his wings.
” Atlas wasn’t even close to finished, eviscerating my heart right here in the office.
The first sob leaves me, the pressure release of crying hitting me like a storm, “Clay’s anxiety is what it is, but you’ve made him feel like it’s not a disaster when he’s overwhelmed, it’s just part of his condition that needs to be managed.
Even Fury… He’s stopped second-guessing his decisions, and he’s a stronger Cardinal for it. ”
“And you?”
“I’m just basking in your sunshine after spending too long howling at the moon.”
That does me in, crying loudly into his chest, letting myself just feel as I cling to him, my fingers pulling at his skin, “I-- But I am a bit of a bitch -- Why do you?”
“Baby, you’re a wolf shifter, you’re all bitch,” We both laugh at that, though mine is watery, and we hold each other like it’s our last moments together, “We wouldn’t have you any other way than sassing us and biting our damn tails every chance you get.”
We stand in silence, my nose pressed against his chest, burrowing into the warmth and just letting myself feel for the first time in a long time.
Atlas doesn’t say anything either, just keeps rumbling that purr with me and letting the sounds of the bar fall away from us, swaying ever so slightly.
Though now that I’ve let a little of the upset flow away with pheromones and purring, my body is starting to take notice of the rather large cock still semi-erect against my belly, and the perfuming starts up again.
Shivering with delight as he twitches with renewed interest, Atlas clears his throat and tries to angle his hips away, opening his mouth to apologize again when I trace a finger up the thick vein on the underside.
“Atty, I think you need to lock the door… and knot me in here.”