4
Wren
E ntering my office, my sour mood only intensifies when Caito swaggers in barely two minutes behind me. “I gave you an order.” I growl, but I know my words fall on deaf ears. I can’t pretend I hadn’t seen the glint in his eye while he’d been watching the beta on stage.
The infuriating asshole just shrugs and then plops down into one of my guest chairs to the right of my desk, propping an ankle up on his knee and lounging back like he’s the King of the coop. I pause beside my desk on the opposite side of him and narrow my eyes. “I’m warning you, Caito-”
“Spare me the bullshit, Wren. I’m allowed to sit in on your interviews.
This is, after all, the pack’s club. Hiring employees doesn’t just fall to you.
” I grit my teeth when he waves a hand at me, but I don’t argue with him on that front.
It’s his other reasoning that’s steadily getting on my nerves.
“You’re not going to fuck her.” It isn’t a request. If he ruins this for me, I’m going to have to throttle him. That woman can sing, and the way the crowd had reacted to her was a clear indication of how well she’d do for business around here.
And I’m definitely not going to mention to him just how affected I’d been by her during the show. I won’t break my own damn rules. She’s just a beta that needs a job, and I can put distance between us as her boss. There’s nothing more to it.
Caito just smirks at me, and I thrum my fingers aggressively against the edge of the desk, still glaring at him. I open my mouth to remind him again of the rules–fuck knows why I bother–when a solid knock sounds at the doorway where it’s still slightly ajar.
I glance over and spot Gus, one of our best VIP bouncers, peering through the partially open door. “Sorry to interrupt, boss, but Miss Reighn is here as per your request.”
Out of the corner of my eye, Caito drops his foot back to the ground and leans forward, eyes already trained like a hawk on the shadows behind the bouncer.
The hand that had been slack at my side clenches into a fist, but I hold my tongue.
“Send her in.” I start to round the desk as Gus disappears, but then a slight breeze carries towards me when the door’s pushed farther inward, and I freeze.
Caito senses it right as I do, and the low rumble that emits from him has all the tiny hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. I swallow my own growl as I turn to face the small woman standing in the doorway, just as frozen as we are.
Her eyes are blown wide as she darts them between us, and I can see it in her eyes. I can see it in the way Caito takes a measured, determined step towards her. I watch her nostrils flare wide, and then she blanches, and I fucking know .
Even if I can’t scent her from here, I know why panic flits across her face.
Fuck, I know why Caito dives for her just milliseconds before she turns to bolt.
Chaos consumes the next several seconds, and I feel my heart jump up in my throat when she twists away from my pack brother, like that’ll help her escape.
All it does is expose her back to the real predator in the room.
She misjudges how quick he can move when he’s on the hunt. His arms catch her before she can take more than two staggering steps back towards the only other exit in the room. Caito may be hell bent on making sure she doesn’t escape, but she’s also just as determined not to get caught.
Faster than the strike of a cobra, her elbow slams down into the crook of his forearm before she throws her head back like a wildcat.
I wince when her skull connects with his nose, the sound of bone and cartilage cracking echoing through the room.
Caito snarls, and his arm only tightens around her further.
He’s quick to drag her back towards the desk as if she were merely just a kitten struggling to get out of its momma’s jaws.
“ Omega .” Caito rumbles when he shoves his nose against the crook of her neck, his other hand coming up to tangle in her hair to keep her from throwing her head back again. Blood’s now pouring freely out of his broken nose, but he doesn’t seem to give two fucks about that while he inhales deeply.
I round the desk, unable to stop myself, and the second I’m within touching distance of her, the rest of the barriers between the three of us fall away.
Her scent explodes outwards, breaking past the suppressant she’d obviously taken recently.
My entire body visibly shudders when I inhale smokey jasmine and tart citrus like my life fucking depends on it.
Caito groans as he does the same, and his grip on her tightens, even though she’s fallen limp temporarily in his arms. My eyes open to lock with her beautiful dark, hazel gaze, and I realize right then and there that I never even stood a chance.
“ Mine .” My pack brother snarls, and then I see the panic flare again in her eyes when his bloodied teeth scrape against the sensitive flesh just below her earlobe. Right over her pulse point, which I can see thrumming erratically beneath his vicious, manic grin.
“Gus!” Finally, I regained some control over myself again to call in for reinforcements. I need to get Caito the fuck away from her before he goes and marks her without her permission and fuck us all to hell.
My favorite bouncer rushes into the room, eyes darting around to quickly assess the situation. They quickly fall on the three of us. “Boss?”
“Separate them.” Is all I say before I dive for the little omega that’d been masquerading as a goddamn beta .
Gus, thankfully, catches my drift and dives for Caito at the same time.
I rip her out of his arms just as the bouncer collides with him, taking him to the ground in a tangle of snarling, snapping teeth and flailing fists.
Shit. I’ve never seen my pack brother like this.
As soon as she’s out of his arms, the omega flails while I drag her backwards behind my desk, making sure that there’s at least one giant obstacle between the nearly feral alpha and her.
Hopefully it’s enough to slow him the fuck down.
It takes every ounce of my will power to release her the second we’re a safe enough distance away from the pair still grappling on the ground.
She immediately retreats into a corner between my personal bar and a bookcase, just as Caito lets out a vicious, spine tingling snarl.
I’m pack lead, and even my spine snaps ramrod straight at that sound.
I can see just enough from my spot behind my desk to watch him get the upper hand on the poor bouncer, and I vaguely hear the omega suck in a sharp gasp.
I’m helpless, watching as my pack brother rears back, before slamming his fist into Gus’s face.
“Caito! That’s enough!” My alpha bark snaps through the room with enough force to make everyone stiffen up, feral alpha included.
Every wild, alpha instinct I have goes rigid when the omega at my back releases a pitifully low whine in response to my command, but I can’t take my eyes off of Caito to check on her.
The alpha in me is howling and clawing at me to go to her and comfort her, but we can’t have two alphas out of their minds in this room.
She’ll never survive it.
Caito slowly lifts himself off of Gus, but he doesn’t offer the other man a hand up.
He turns that predatory glare on me, malice glinting there.
Then his dark green eyes flash towards the cowering omega in the corner that smells like all of our dreams come true.
The sound that rumbles out of his chest is pure alpha .
He takes a slow, deliberate step forward like he’s going to go for her again. “Mine.” His chest continues that dangerous rumble, and I step to the side, effectively blocking his view for the moment to capture his attention again.
“Rein it in, brother. You’re scaring her. This isn’t the way.” I hold up both of my hands in a placating gesture, ignoring the soft sounds of panting behind me, and the overwhelming scent of distressed omega. My omega. Ours .
Caito tilts his head back, nostrils flaring, and he growls again, taking another step forward.
I glance over my shoulder at our omega, but her eyes are laser focused on Caito, not me.
He’s clearly the bigger threat to her. So many questions swirl through my mind, but there’s only one that takes precedence over the others. “Why lie about being a beta?”
She flicks her gaze to me, studying me for a moment before she lifts her chin.
Some of her terror has ebbed, but the panic is still ever present in her dark hazel eyes.
It’s heavy in the air all around us, suffocating me and making me feel extra stabby.
“Is that really the question you want the answer to?” She challenges, and fuck me , it makes my cock twitch in my pants.
This omega is already showing a back bone.
It makes me want to test all her limits just to see how far I can push her before she snaps.
Thinking about her feral with defiant rage makes it hard not to reach down and adjust myself.
“Your suppressants clearly didn’t work.” I point out, and Caito starts rumbling. It takes me a second to realize that he’s purring.
Alphas only purr for their scent matched omegas.
Fuck me .
There’s a glint in her eyes while she continues to stare at me. “They work every other time.”
I scoff. “A smart omega would know that they wouldn’t be effective when faced with a scent match.”
Those dark, beautiful eyes narrow. “Is that what you think this is?”
I can’t help myself. I smirk, and I fucking love the way it makes her lips tighten in anger. “Do yourself a favor and stop lying to yourself. Denying the truth will only make a fool of you.”
Her lips thin even further like she’s trying to stop herself from baring her teeth. I crave her fire. I want it more than anything I’ve ever wanted in my entire life.
And that’s a serious fucking problem.