Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Alvaro
We were all exhausted after having a concert and several hours of heat sextivities. I’d never slept so hard in my life until whimpers woke me sometime mid-morning for another round.
Cal and I had fallen asleep with Kara snuggled between us, and I was surprised Tate and Avery hadn’t returned. They had been mad when I suggested they go sleep in the bunks and let me take care of her for a while.
But now? Now I wished I hadn’t sent them away because I could have used a few more hours of sleep.
After taking care of our girl, she drifted off back to sleep and I got up, feeling a bit dizzy and unsteady on my feet. We all needed food and hot showers.
I peeked out of the curtains to see we were parked at a rest stop. It wasn’t ideal, but we were parked away from the trucks at least. Jonathan probably hadn’t slept at all knowing him.
Never could I have imagined this was what would happen. Kara wasn’t due to have another heat for at least a month, but just seeing us had set her off. That both boosted my already overinflated ego and worried me.
Cal yawned and sat up. “What’s wrong?” he whispered.
“Nothing. I’ll find some food and see how long it will be until we can check in at the cabin.” I walked over to a bag by the door where Anya had left us water bottles and tossed Cal one before grabbing one for myself.
This wasn’t how her first heat with us was supposed to be.
We had the perfect spot in our house, nestled away in an alcove that was supposed to be a seating area of the main bedroom.
The room had gone untouched for years, but after Kara went back to her compound, we gutted it and redid it as a surprise we’d hopefully soon be able to show her.
A nest in the back of our tour bus or in some strange cabin in the woods brought a growl to my chest and I sucked down almost the entire bottle of water to stifle it. If my mom, who was an omega, knew about this, she would have thrown a chancla right at my head.
Kara deserved better than this. Life with a band was not the life for an omega, and maybe everyone had been right in not letting us participate in the match again.
I slid the door open to the bunk area and gently shut it behind me. Avery was still sleeping, a soft snore coming from where his scent was. Tate was awake, talking softly on his phone.
The right thing to do would be to let him know of my presence, but instead, I listened, because who the fuck would he be talking to?
“I’m not just throwing it all away... no, all I said was that we might need to cancel the show tomorrow night.
.. we’re tired... the fans will just have to understand that we are human beings.
.. we have never canceled a show before.
.. that’s not fair... you’d really do that to your own son?
... Oh, so I’m only your son when it’s convenient for you.
.. I’m not being stubborn, you’re being an asshole. .. fine.”
I squeezed the bridge of my nose. Tate’s father, Marcus Carter, was vice president of ABO Entertainment... our record label. At first, it had been amazing having someone to guide us, but now that we were older and more hardened by the industry, we realized we were idiots for listening to him.
We were worth a lot of money to the record label, and they had not been happy when we’d put our foot down about shuffling our schedule so we could hopefully participate in Omega Match and have time with Kara.
“I know you’re there,” Tate muttered. “Is Kara okay?”
“She just fell back asleep.” I grabbed a pair of shorts out of a drawer and pulled them on. There was no point in putting on anything else. Odds were we’d all be naked again soon.
“My dad called because Anya canceled our two appearances for today. He wanted to know what the real reason was.” He opened his curtain and rolled out of his bunk.
I handed him a pair of shorts. “I don’t know how much more of this record label shit I can take.”
“Same. Suddenly, the money isn’t really worth it anymore, you know? But the fans...” Tate pulled on the shorts and looked over at Avery’s bunk. “He’s wanted out for a while.”
“Deep down, I think we all have.” The realization hurt my heart because I fucking loved performing, but I was tired, and my pack was too.
“What we need is a new legal team to work this out for us.” Tate slid his phone into his pocket and went to the door leading to the front of the bus.
“We can worry about that after the tour. Only a few performances left, and then we can finally breathe and come up with a better plan. Fall match is not that far.” That was if we got the go-ahead to participate.
The front of the bus was quiet besides the low hum of the generator giving it the power to run lights and the air conditioner.
I followed Tate, and we found Anya sleeping on the couch and Jonathan nowhere to be found. Since Gizmo wasn’t in his bed, my guess was he took him out to go to the bathroom.
“We need to find some food,” I whispered.
Anya made a sleepy groaning sound. “In the fridge.”
“Thank you,” I whispered. “Tate, I’m going to go talk to Jonathan. Take the food back to the nest.”
He cringed. “I wouldn’t go as far as calling it a nest.”
“Shh.” Anya rolled over and pulled the blanket over her head.
I patted her head through the blanket as I passed her, smiling to myself. She and Jonathan deserved a nice long vacation after this tour and helping take care of Kara. If we didn’t have them, we would never have kept her a secret as long as we had.
I slipped on one of the pairs of flip-flops we kept by the door for Gizmo bathroom emergencies and stepped out into the cool morning, regretting not putting on a shirt. My nipples instantly hardened, and not in the good, turned-on kind of way.
I crossed my arms over my chest and spotted Jonathan on the grass with Gizmo. Bringing a dog on tour was a lot of work, and while the guys and I did help a lot with him, our schedule was so crazy some days that we barely even saw our four-legged friend.
There weren’t very many regular vehicles at the rest stop, but I still didn’t want to be seen wandering around without my shirt, so I waited by the side of the bus.
Gizmo spotted me before Jonathan did and let out a happy yip, his butt wiggling with his little stub of a tail.
I didn’t like that he’d had his tail docked, but it was already done when we got him.
It made me feel a little better about it that it was done so someone couldn’t grab his tail while he fought them off.
I still couldn’t believe he’d gone after Kara and instead of hurting her had made her fall in the pool. The memory made me grin, and the security video footage of it would be fun to show to our kids someday.
“A grin when it’s this cold?” Jonathan smiled as he let Gizmo go a few feet away.
I squatted down and let Gizmo attack me with kisses. “I was just thinking about how we met Kara.”
“Ah, how is she?” He shoved his hands in his pockets and leaned against the side of the bus. “It sounds like things are going well. I did come out here a few times to make sure people who walked by couldn’t hear.”
Instead of feeling embarrassed, I felt damn smug about how well we were taking care of Kara sexually. I just wished we could take care of her need to nest better.
“She’s doing okay. She hasn’t said it, but I can tell being on the bus is putting her on edge. She’s been covering herself with way too many blankets.” I grabbed Gizmo’s leash and stood. “What time is it?”
“Half past ten. I was just bringing Gizzy out before I head to the cabin. Once we get you guys set up there, we’ll go get the SUV we rented and pick up the stuff Cal ordered, plus anything else you guys need.”
My stomach growled. “Food. Anya has been keeping a list of all the things we find out Kara loves.”
“She already put in a grocery order for pickup.” He put his hand on my shoulder. “You’re doing everything right, Alpha, and soon she’ll be with our pack permanently.”
I knew he was right, but that didn’t stop the small sliver of doubt from slipping through.
Thirty minutes later, we arrived at the cabin, which was nestled in the trees away from the road and any other houses.
It was small, only two bedrooms and two baths, but it was cozy and enough space for the five of us short-term.
Anya and Jonathan would be staying with Gizmo on the bus to give us privacy.
After moving everything we needed from the bus to the house, I wrapped Kara in a blanket and carried her to the main bedroom. We’d pushed the furniture to one side of the room and brought all the bunk mattresses in until the ones Cal ordered specially for nesting arrived.
“Al...” Kara muttered, holding onto my shirt as I lowered her onto the makeshift bed. “Don’t go.”
I didn’t care for the name Al, but I would let her call me Alvie if she wanted. I had to have something that belonged to me, and my family’s nickname for me was one of those things. But I guess she was family now.
“You can call me Alvie.” I lay down on my back and wrapped my arm around her as she situated herself by laying her head on my shoulder and throwing a leg over mine.
“But you said in an interview that you don’t like that.” She yawned and started petting my shirt. “So soft.”
“I only let special people call me Alvie, not people I don’t know.” I kissed the top of her head. “Are you hungry? We saved you a sandwich, but if you don’t want that, Jon and Anya will be back soon with more food.”
“I’m hot... and horny.” She moved against my leg and her scent blossomed to life. “But I feel really gross.”
“There’s a really nice clawfoot tub looking out over the trees. I can run you a bath and bring you your sandwich.” I sat up, bringing her with me.
“Where is everyone else?” She finally seemed to be waking up and looked around the bedroom with a cringe. “It’s too bright in here and...” She sucked in a breath.
I purred, pulling her into my lap and against my chest. “I’m sorry this isn’t what you expected for your first heat with us.”
She looked at me and took my face between her hands. “It’s been perfect considering the situation. You’re four amazing alphas, and don’t let anyone else make you think otherwise.”
Shit. Why was I feeling emotional all of a sudden?
“Life on a tour bus is not for an omega. We should cancel the rest of the tour and-”
She kissed me, and I swallowed my words. I should have been comforting my omega, not letting her comfort me and reassure me I was good enough. It was hard not doubting myself and the pack after everything.
I pulled away. “I’m sorry. You don’t deserve to have us keep bringing up the past.”
She brushed her thumb across my bottom lip, her bright blue eyes drowning me in their depths. “The past shapes who we are. We experienced disappointment and sadness when we had prepared for happiness with a match.”
“We never touched her.” I felt the need to reassure her because we never talked in great detail about anything other than being separated from her the first night.
“Even if you had... it doesn’t matter now. If she showed up here today and told your pack she now wanted you as hers, would you kick me to the curb and let her into your hearts instead?”
I reeled back, shocked she’d even ask me that. “No fucking way. We had no attachment to her other than the idea of her as an omega.”
“And if Omega Match told me today that not matching was a mistake and there was still a pack from my list that wanted me...”
I growled at the thought of her leaving us for another pack. “I’ll kill them with my bare hands before I let them take you from us.”
She put her hand on my chest, over my heart. “I’m glad we’re both on the same page. Nothing will keep us apart. Not Omega Match, OPS, the Pack Health agents. No one.”
Her expression was fierce, and my cock instantly sprang to life because, fuck, that was sexy. She gave me a knowing smirk and then wiggled out of my lap.
“You are asking for it.” I adjusted myself in my shorts as I got up.
“I’m always asking for it, Alvie.” She dropped her blanket. “I’m ready for lunch in the tub.”
I rubbed the corners of my mouth. On one hand, she needed food and a relaxing bath, on the other, she was practically begging to choke on my cock.
“That ass is mine as soon as you’re done.” I couldn’t help but give her a love tap as she turned to head to the bathroom.
“Hey!” She shielded herself with her hands. “What if I did that to your dick?”
“He’d probably enjoy it.” I hooked my arm around her neck and pulled her to me, kissing her forehead, her cheeks, and the tip of her nose. “Thank you.”
She scrunched her nose. “For what?”
“For trespassing, not running away, being patient.” I brushed my lips over hers with each reason.
“Did you ever think when you found me dripping wet in your pool that we’d be here?” She sighed as I kissed down her neck to where I planned on marking her.
“I knew as soon as I scented you.” I pulled back. “If I don’t start the bath, I’m going to end up bending you over the counter and taking you again.”
She made a humming noise like she would be okay with that, but I needed to keep my sights set on making sure her basic needs were met.
We had a lifetime of me bending her over things ahead of us.