11. Kain
CHAPTER 11
KAIN
“How do I look?” I’d changed my outfit three times already, trying to find the perfect balance of clothing that looked well put-together without trying too hard—I wanted it to look like I hadn’t made a mini mountain of rejected clothes in a pile on my bed, even though I clearly had.
“I don’t know why you’re stressing about it. She’s our scent match. She’s going to be attracted to us.” My twin, Sabien, was sprawled lazily on top of the rejected pile of outfits, like an omega in a clothing nest.
“Yeah, but this girl isn’t like other girls.”
“Isn’t that just a thing that girls say… when they are just like other girls but want to feel special, by acting allergic to the color pink or something?” Sabien stretched out, making himself more comfortable and putting deeper wrinkles in all of my clothes.
“No, I mean that she practically rejected us off the bat,” and who the hell does that to their scent match? “She’s drowning in alpha attention because of some scheme her brother cooked up. Most omegas would be dying of happiness, and our girl is just dying inside.”
“That’s probably just because she had the misfortune of meeting you first.” Sabien said it with a completely straight face, no smirking or anything. He actually meant that I was the problem. “You should let me get the first crack at her. Hell, set her up on a date with Brutus. He’ll have her melting into a pile of happy omega goo in twenty minutes flat.”
“Absolutely not.” I love my brother, I really do, but sometimes he is the world’s biggest idiot. Between the three of us, Brutus was the most likely to have Chloe screaming for the hills. “We don’t want to overwhelm her.” She was already acting enough like a cornered animal. I would be the one to meet her, because between the three of us, I was arguably the least offensive alpha. Besides, she had already met me. I didn’t want to throw anything new at her when everything was still up in the air. We were going to treat our scent match with the utmost care.
Sabien and Brutus had basically forced me to be the pack lead. Obviously, my twin shouldn’t be in charge of anything, but when I’d asked Brutus, he’d laughed in my face and told me to deal with that paperwork shit. In his words, he only wanted to be in charge of the fucking.
Well, I had somehow ended up in charge, and I was not going to fuck this up for the rest of the pack. Besides the fact that the others would never speak to me again if I messed this up, they put me in charge for a reason.
Now all I had to do was un-fuck everything up.
“Whatever.” Sabien waved me off, not paying attention. “Just make sure to give her my number. I’ll set up a date with her and fix whatever mess you make tonight.”
I turned away so that Sabien couldn’t see me rolling my eyes at him. I was just about ready to head out for my date, when it hit me. “Wait. You said that Chloe should go out with Brutus first. Does that mean that you two have stopped—”
“Hell, no.” My twin cut me off. He burrowed deeper into my clothing nest. His voice was slightly muffled by the fabric. He looked ready to take a nap. “But just cuz I’m pissed at him, doesn’t mean I’m not ready to use him.”
Damn. I thought that the feud between the two of them would have eased up. They’d never fought about anything before. Honestly, the two of them had been so inseparable I’d almost felt a little left out in my own pack. But now, nothing. Both Sabien and Brutus had shut down the pack bond hard, so I could only get glimpses of what they were feeling.
After getting used to sensing their emotions all the time, it was getting rather lonely in my own head.
I didn’t have time to think about it, not if I wanted everything to go perfect tonight.
I stood outside of the omega dorm buildings, waiting for Chloe.
Tonight was about showing her that having three men catering to her every desire was somewhat more fun than piles of essays and a rigid academic course load.
That had to be more pleasurable than homework? Right? I mean, unless piles of paperwork and academic mastery was some kind of a kink? That wasn’t the reason why most people went to college and got their degrees, it wasn’t like a diploma could stroke egos better than a lover in bed.
Before I even saw her, the scent of vanilla swirled thick in the air, hitting me with the sweet essence of milkshakes, custards, and cakes. Smooth and luxurious, like silk on my tongue, beckoning me to come closer, and get another taste.
Her eyes locked on mine flashing with heat, as she stepped out of the dorms. I wish that the heat in her eyes was due to desire, but it seemed like she was just annoyed with me. Even pissed off, she was stunning.
Her lovely eyes, surrounded by dark lashes, flashed with piercing intelligence. Chloe was tall for an omega. Normally she wore jeans, or sweatpants with a hoodie to class, but for our date she’d changed into a knitted dress, showing off her toned calves and delicate ankles.
This was the first time I’d seen my girl without her stack of textbooks—before Chloe, I hadn’t even been aware of the fact that omegas even had textbooks for their classes. At least none of the other girls around campus carried them around with them. Without the books, Chloe was like a completely different person.
“Alright, the food at this place better be good,” Chloe muttered. “I barely got to enjoy lunch with that psychopath breathing down my throat.”
“Yeah, they have food there.”
My vague answer piqued Chloe’s attention. She looked at me more closely, a smile tugging up the corners of her lips. “Wait, you aren’t taking me to a restaurant? Where are we going?”
“No, where’s the fun in that?” I twirled my car keys around my pointer finger.
I wasn’t going to waste my one chance to impress Chloe by doing something as basic as taking her out on a date to some restaurant. Besides, from what I’d seen, Chloe had been hard at work everyday, completely focused. All work and no play.
I was so looking forward to playing with her.
Chloe did not look impressed when I pulled into the parking lot of the New Oxford aquarium. She crossed her arms across her chest, leaning back into her seat. “The sign says they close in five minutes.”
“Which’ll be perfect for us.” I hurried out of the car, hustling over to her side to open the door for her. “No lines. No screaming kids. The whole place will be just for us.”
“You want us to break into the aquarium? When I’m wearing a dress?” Chloe leaned further into the car as if she was afraid that I was going to drag her out and force her to commit to a life of depravity and crime.
“Nah, I know the owners.” I opened the door wider and smiled in what I hoped was a confident way.
Chloe raised an eyebrow, as she exited the car.
Alright. That was a start. At least I had her curious. I’d been half afraid that she was going to scoff at the whole idea and demand that I take her back to the Institute.
Frank was working at the reception desk, frowning down at a computer screen. “Sorry, we close in four—oh, it’s you,” he dropped the professional voice as soon as he looked up and saw me. Frank waved me in. “If you see Slippy, can you email Tom? He got out of his tank again. Haven’t seen him since noon.”
“Yeah, will do.” I agreed, making a mental note to check the area for any wandering octopus.
As I led Chloe through the exhibits, she slowed down, staring wide-eyed as we neared the jellyfish exhibit. So far so good. She didn’t even seem to notice the screaming toddlers that weren’t ready to go and their exhausted parents who looked just about ready to pull out their own hair. One mother turned bright red as her kid started screeching like a pterodactyl as he refused to leave. I mentally patted myself on the back for thinking of bringing Chloe after hours.
I led Chloe straight to Undersea Eats, the restaurant that had seating in the open ocean tunnel, with panoramic views of the sharks and sea-turtles. It also had some of the best food in the area. I wasn’t just talking about the aquarium, but also better food than half the restaurants in town. My scent match did treat her meal times like they were sacred. To treat her like the goddess she was, I’d have to give her the best meal offerings.
“Do you see anything you like? The salmon’s really good, as are the burgers.” I pointed each item out on the menu.
“Uhh, salmon?” Chloe said it like it was a question, but I’d seen her eating salmon loads of times.
“Be right back with your order, darling.” I stepped into the back.
It only took a few minutes of sweet talking to the head Chef and listening to him grumbling about having to clean the counters again to get him to make two of the best plates that Underwater Eats had to offer.
I was rewarded when Chloe’s eyes brightened as she got a glimpse of the dinner. Chef Thompson plated everything extra fancy when I told him the food was for my date, not my brother. The salmon was perfectly seared and looked buttery soft and perfect. I’d gotten the usual for myself: surf and turf, steak medium rare with the loaded mashed potatoes on the side. I’d never found another restaurant with mashed potatoes as fluffy. I didn’t even know that potatoes could become this cloud-like and creamy.
Chloe dug into her salmon with gusto, as if it was going to get up and swim away if she ignored it for too long, joining the rest of the schools in the tank surrounding us. She watched the sea life swimming above us with wide eyes, and yelped when one of the sharks swam right over our table.
“What kind of shark is that?” Chloe pointed, leaning away as if she was worried that the little guy would be able to swim through the glass and come after her. It was a Sphyrna tiburo , commonly known as the bonnethead shark, but I wasn’t about to out myself as a nerd.
“Yeah, that’s a gray one with a weird head.” I winked at her, and Chloe rolled her eyes at me, though she didn’t seem like she was pissed. “Sharks with dinner aren’t what you expected?”
Chloe raised an eyebrow at me. “Well, I’m staring at fish as I eat a fish.”
“Is that putting you off your salmon?”
“Hell, no.” Chloe took another large bite to emphasize her point. “This is really good.”
“What about the company?” I leaned back in the chair, giving Chloe a good view. Might as well, after trying on seven different shirts, to find one that showed off the muscles in my chest while not appearing like I was trying to flaunt them.
“Not bad.” Chloe smirked, making a show of looking me up and down. She totally picked up on how I was flexing as I tried to work out whether she was attracted to me. “I mean, if you want to know my sexual preferences… I like men. I’m a little attracted to women… but to be a hundred percent accurate, I’m mostly attracted to fictional characters in books more than real people of any gender.”
“Ah. So my competition is a shirtless Fabio.” I smirked at her, enjoying her flirty teasing.
“More like a millionaire werewolf, who is also in the mafia.”
“Who could forget those very sexy… werewolf mafia men? Right.”
“What about you? Did you want a larger pack?”
I heard what Chloe wasn’t saying. Were we disappointed that we ended up with her as a scent match instead of in a pack with her brother? Did she think that my pack somehow still wanted Titus? That we weren’t attracted to her?
Damn Titus Styker and his stupidly beautiful body. He was totally cock-blocking my whole pack right now.
“Are you asking if my pack needs a mafia man who turns into a rich wolf?”
Chloe smiled, caught off guard. “Be serious.”
“I just want you.” Under the table, I clenched my hands together briefly, before releasing them. My fingers were aching with the need to touch her.
She shook her head. “You wanted my brother. Meeting me was just an afterthought.”
“Titus has elite connections. It was too good of an opportunity to pass up. I would hate it if my pack never even applied. That was our chance to push our limits. See what the three of us are capable of. But besides that, I thought that my pack had everything I needed. Until I met you.”
Chloe ducked her head. Was that red creeping up along her cheeks? Did I make my scent match blush? “ Jesus. I didn’t even ask the other alphas what their intentions were with my brother. I just assumed that they all just wanted to get in his pants.”
“To be fair, that is a fair assumption.” I had to steer the conversation away from her obnoxiously good-looking brother and back where it belonged. On her. “Are you happy with your classes at the Institute?”
If I was a different kind of alpha, more of a smooth talker, maybe I could have maneuvered this conversation with my charisma and sex appeal. But alas, I was just me. Besides, I wanted to get to know Chloe a little better.
I had to believe that being authentically myself wasn’t going to fuck everything up. Chloe was our scent match, that meant that there was something inside of us that made us compatible. If I couldn’t be myself around her, what even was the point of having a scent match?
“I think at some level it’s important. If omegas knew nothing about their own biology, it could be rather hard to navigate their impulses. Can you imagine the kind of chaos that would unfold if an omega just tried scenting random household appliances? Her instincts could make her scent mark her microwave or the blender, and then her alphas would start hoarding those appliances. How would anyone be able to even eat a decent meal?”
I nodded. That made perfect sense. If you looked at it that way it wasn’t entirely bad for omegas to learn a little about the biology that drove them instead of getting sucked in by all of it.
“So, you enjoy the basic curriculum? Would you ever want to join one of the academies? ”
“Absolutely not. I’m not in love with studying, it’s all just a means to the end.”
“What would that end be? What do you dream about?”
“Honestly?” Chloe drew herself up and stared at me with a challenge in her eye. Mentally I drew myself up too. This was it. She was revealing to me her deepest, darkest desires. All I had to do was be supportive and let her know that it was all going to work out. “I want to get my degree so that I can get a quiet desk job.”
I nodded slowly. It sounded like a good first step to a solid career. A position in an office was a realistic entry job for someone as motivated as Chloe.
“What would you want to do next? Move up the corporate ladder? Do you eventually want to be a manager?”
“No, that’s basically it. I want to be like a secretary.”
I held myself back from asking why. I wasn’t stupid enough to shit all over her dreams, even if her dreams weren’t what I expected. Though I had honestly never heard of anyone who wanted to be a secretary before as their dream job. That didn’t mean that there was anything necessarily wrong with wanting that.
A powerful and sexy queen bee like Chloe was the kind of person that could have anything that her heart desired. That little heart of hers desired a desk job.
Okay. That was fine. We could work with that.