Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Hunter Cabin, Blue Valley Woods
Joker stares up at me defiantly, as his honey scent winds around me, as if he expects me to take advantage of his secret in the worst way.
I recoil, paling.
Wrong reaction.
But I can’t take it back now.
Joker blinks away tears.
I understand the shame that is blushing his cheeks pink because I have lived in its shadow my entire life.
I think back to how attracted I was to Joker in the hotel bar.
Was he using his Omega pheromones on me? Is that how he lures his marks by tricking people with his Beta appearance, while underneath he is a seductive Omega?
I have never used my Omega side on my missions, but it is meant to be irresistible — too tempting to resist.
I surprise Joker by swinging myself hurriedly off him, instead of pressing my advantage. “Don’t even think about using your Rogue Powers. They won’t work on me but they will piss me off.”
“Noted.” Sweat slips down Joker’s forehead. He’s avoiding my gaze. “Why don’t you take this opportunity to escape? I can’t fight you. I’ll tell you where the keys are.”
I narrow my eyes. “Why?”
He grits his teeth. “Just leave.”
Bird grabs another blanket, building the nest more firmly around Joker. “We can’t leave him by himself when he is like this, Ro.”
“I’ve suffered through heats alone all my life,” I reply.
Bird’s expression darkens. “Does that make it right? You know how agonizing and dangerous it is. Plus, he’s probably been pulled into this heat because of his closeness to you.”
I blink. “Why me?”
Bird’s expression softens. “Don’t you think his Omega could be your scent match?”
The intoxicating honey scent…
I reach over Joker to snatch Bird’s hand. “You’re my soulmate.”
“I am. But who knows if Switches are different and have multiple soulmates?”
“Hey, I’m lying right here.” Joker waves his hand. “Just grab me some water and put it on the nightstand. I’ll get through it. I’m tough.”
“I’m sure you are.” I study the way that Joker is tugging at the collar of his shirt. I bat his hands away, before unbuttoning the shirt for him. He whines with relief. “When will your Alpha be back?”
Bird helps to lift Joker up, and I manage to slip the shirt off him. Sweat drips between the defined muscles of his chest and down his abs.
His trousers are already soaked in sweet smelling slick.
I am lightheaded.
Dizzy with desire.
I can sense myself being pulled into a primal rut.
Why is Joker affecting me this much?
I need to knot him.
But he’s not mine.
Could he be my second scent match?
Does that make me the luckiest or unluckiest Alpha?
What will Phantom do when he returns and discovers that another Alpha is in his territory and claiming his Omega…and his Beta?
Because if I am honest with myself, I want both.
Joker shrugs. “Phantom would have had to travel into Washington to find someone to patch him up. It’s not like we can go into hospitals or use the usual doctors when we’re shot, you know?”
“Hmm.” I make quick calculations in my head, as I undo the other Rogue’s boots and toss them onto the floor.
Joker is already squirming on the bedding. His heat is coming on faster and harder than any of my heats.
At this rate, not only won’t his Alpha return in time but he’ll be away for the entire length of it.
Joker arches on the bed, whimpering.
“You’re okay,” Bird murmurs, stroking Joker’s hair back from his face. “If you want us, we’ve got you. We’re not going anywhere.”
“You’re crazier than I am,” Joker mutters. “This is your best chance to run. You could do anything to me. Why aren’t you?”
“Because I may be a killer but I’m not that type of Alpha,” I reply, firmly.
Joker cracks open his eye and scrutinizes me; it’s unsettling. “I’m beginning to understand that.”
I glance at Bird, who is still stroking Joker. “You do know that you’re petting a deadly Omega.”
“More deadly than Switch?” Bird asks.
I snort. “No fucking chance.”
“Then it seems danger is my kink.”
“Funny.” Joker perks up. “Mine too.”
I stare at them. “I have two unhinged Omegas in my bed.”
The two Omegas exchange a proud glance like I’ve praised them.
“Keep dirty talking,” Joker rasps. “Luckily, I also have a degradation kink.”
Bird chuckles, but I think that Joker is being serious.
“Good, because praise kink for someone like you isn’t my style,” I deadpan.
“I would never have guessed,” Joker replies.
“Hey, be nice.” Bird nuzzles against Joker, who licks up his neck.
I stare at them in surprise.
How have these two Omegas become allies?
Bird told me that he loves being with Omegas, growing up in a household with a large number and then again, in the hotel. He adored meeting me when I was Switch.
Is this what has been missing from our pack?
A third Omega?
Yet it is unusual for packs to have that many Omegas in them. Except, would it be what works for us?
My heart beats faster.
Yet this isn’t my Omega.
Joker belongs to Phantom. He bears his bond bite on his neck. I must remember that no matter how deliciously Bird’s vanilla scent mingles with Joker’s honey one in this bed.
“Do you have any heat toys or other things to help you through this?” I ask.
“They are in my bedroom, which is two doors down on the right from this one,” Joker replies.
“They’re in an oak box in the nightstand.
Also…” He becomes suddenly shy, which isn’t a look I expected to see on him.
“Could you bring me the bed’s pillows? They’ll smell of Phantom.
I need his scent. I’ve never been without him during my heat. ”
Bird sits up. “Hey, you said that you’d been alone before.”
Joker doesn’t appear chastened. “I lie.”
“I’m getting that.” Bird bops the other Omega on the nose like he isn’t a man who can take me in hand-to-hand combat and shoot a gun better than anyone in the Adonis pack.
But then, Bird was unconscious at the hotel.
He hasn’t witnessed Joker’s darker side.
“Stay here. I’ll fetch your things, Honey. ”
“Thanks, Cookie.”
To my shock, Bird leans down and kisses Joker like it’s the simplest thing in the world.
Joker appears as stunned as I am.
Then Bird bounces off the bed and runs out of the room.
Joker stretches, smugly.
He licks over his lips. “Your Omega is a good kisser. I knew that he couldn’t resist my charms.”
I growl, throwing myself to lie over Joker again and press him onto the bed.
“Woah, eager.” Joker bares his neck, allowing his delicious scent to flood over me. My gaze lazers onto his bond bite. I crave to sink my teeth into it and carve my own mark into his skin. “There’s always enough Jokes to go around.”
He turns back, stretching up like he expects me to kiss him as well.
His eyes light up, when I lean down like I mean to meet his lips.
Instead, I whisper, “You better not try anything during your heat.”
“I won’t. You have experienced a heat, right? I hate it. I won’t have control.”
“You hate it…?” I scrunch up my nose. “Bird loved his.”
Our gazes are intently locked.
I have never been able to talk to another Rogue about this. It sends a shiver through me to finally have another Rogue who may have experienced the same problems and feelings that I have.
I always thought that I was the lone freak, until I discovered so many other Rogues trapped in the facility. Yet I was separated from them too, until Joker.
“With me, I feel wrong. As a Beta, I am in charge of what happens to my body. But suddenly, here I am. An Omega losing myself to heat.” Joker shivers with fever. “In our line of work, we put ourselves and our team in danger because of biology.”
“So do Alphas by going into rut.”
“Betas don’t. We’re not driven by the same instincts. But when I became a Switch…you don’t know what I lost.”
He’s not acting.
I find myself petting Joker like Bird did, and he relaxes.
“I’m not good at talking. I have lived an isolated, rigidly scheduled existence.
I imagine not that far removed from your own.
I can’t say pretty lies to make this easier.
It’s only when I saw how much others hated me that I learned to love myself because I will exist. I will accept myself because they can’t.
So, they disrespect me? I’ll respect myself.
And I will fight to stop others killing my people just for being born.
For you, that means accepting your Omega side. ”
Joker’s brow furrows. “How?”
“By accepting that it’s a part of you, and it doesn’t make you weaker.”
Joker’s eyelashes tremble with tears, and the sight pulls at something deep inside me. “I’m not scared of anything. But I’m scared of this.”
I reward Joker by kissing him because I know how hard saying that was.
His lips are plush and hot. He moans, pushing up into the kiss.
I suck on Joker’s lower lip, and he hurriedly opens to my questing tongue. For a moment, he doesn’t submit, but then he allows me to dominate the kiss.
I pull back, biting Joker’s lower lip to enjoy his startled yip.
I lick over the bite, loving the way that I have finally marked him.
“This isn’t a trick, is it?” I lick over the bite again.
“I deserve that.” Joker raises his hands to rest them on my shoulders. “Why should you trust me?”
“How about trusting me? While your Alpha isn’t here, let me be your Alpha.”
Please…
He hesitates.
Why is he hesitating?
I try to draw back, but Joker holds me in place with a surprisingly strong grip.
“My Alpha.”
My stomach leaps at his use of my Alpha.
“Temporary,” I force myself to correct.
Joker pouts, tapping his fingers on my back. “Just two hot enemies having hate sex.”
“I don’t hate you. A hot Alpha seeing her brat enemy Omega through his heat. But how will your Alpha react when he returns and smells another Alpha all over you?”
“He’ll be happy that my needs were met. He only wants what’s best for me. And this won’t come as a surprise, but we’ve been watching you for weeks.”
I knew it.
“Weeks, huh?”
Joker lets go of my shoulders and squirms underneath me. “In his own way, Phantom is as obsessed with you as I am.”
I startle.
Obsessed with us?