Chapter 20
Valentin
“She barked that alpha into submission?” Luc repeats, sinking back on the sofa. “Wow.”
“How do you know that?” Syl asks.
“Oh, now you’re talking to me?” Kaiden leans back, arms behind his head.
Syl’s been in a mood with Kai since they got home. It’s not much different from Sylvan’s usual behaviour of hardly speaking, except for the brief glares sent Kai’s way, and now his tone is sharp.
“You barely let me explain the retina scan to Revea before you lied and said we had to leave.”
Kaiden rolls his eyes. “It wasn’t a lie, Syl.”
“Yes, it was. We didn’t have to leave. The installation team was done, the glass has been retinted so you can’t see in from the outside, there was no one else in the salon...”
“What is he on about?” my brother murmurs to me as Syl trails on.
I shrug.
Luc sighs. “Can one of you explain what you’re on about so we can decide whose team we’re on?”
Sylvan stops talking, lips in a grim line, eyes locked on our pack alpha, whose jaw is tight.
“We had to leave… because I was tipping into a rut,” Kaiden says.
“What the fuck,” Luc blurts.
“Maldita sea, estás obsesionado con ella como el resto de nosotros…” I murmur.
Both of us stare at Kaiden.
“But,” Syl starts again, completely unfazed, “you told me in the car she’d agreed to have her next heat with us, so why does that matter?”
This time, Luc and I switch languages.
“Sylvan.” Kai leans forward, elbows on his knees. “That does not mean she wanted to be rutted over her reception counter.”
Fuck, now I’m picturing it. I close my eyes until I can shake it away.
“Can we pause the rutting and go back to the part where you said she’s agreed to have her heat with us?!” Luc’s eyes dart between the two of them.
“I’d like that clarified too,” I add, voice gruff. “Explain.”
Kaiden smiles, wide and smug. Of course he is. I’d be the same if I’d gotten into a situation that ended in that spitfire of an omega almost tipping me into rut.
“She was trying to give me the five-year plan speech, so I thought tactically and took a risk. I offered our pack for her next heat,” Kai explains simply, while my heart pounds and Luc’s mouth drops open.
“The last thing I managed to do was confirm it. Told her to find out when it is and book off the week.” Then he turns to Syl. “And before that, she barked at me.”
“Joder,” Luc mutters.
“Cono,” I breathe.
Syl’s angry brows finally soften. “And it worked?”
Kaiden slowly nods. “That’s what almost began the rut.”
“Holy shit.” Luc falls backwards on the sofa, throwing an arm over his eyes. “She’s hot as fuck, owns a business, and she can bark at us?”
He groans, and knowing my brother, he’s already imagining what she could do with that bark.
And by the sudden silence… we all are.
I shift, already getting hard at the thought of her barking me onto my knees. She wouldn’t even need to. I’d drop with one look from those sharp eyes.
“But why did her bark nearly begin a rut?” Syl asks slowly.
“Because he liked it, Sylvan,” Luc mumbles from beneath his arm, pulling it away to find Syl peering down at him, brows pinched again.
Luc sighs, then sits up. “Syl, I want you to imagine Revea—”
“Done.”
We all chuckle softly.
“Okay.” Luc grins. “Now, imagine her telling you to get on your knees, but it’s a bark you have to follow.”
His blue eyes darken. “Oh.”
Luc looks between us. “I think we’ve all unlocked a kink tonight, boys.”
“But I also like the thought of barking at Revea...” Syl poses that like it’s an opening to an essay, not a discussion about sexual preferences.
“I barked back.” We all turn to Kai in sync. “And her reaction…” He runs his tongue over his canine. “She was shocked, not that I did it, but because it worked.” Then he leans in further, like he’s whispering a secret. “And because she liked it.”
Luc groans, tipping his head back. “Santo Dios…”
“Gracias a Dios,” I mutter under my breath while Kaiden grins.
“I’ll check,” Syl says, pulling out his phone.
Luc frowns. “You’ll check what?”
Syl’s fingers are already flying over his phone. “If she normally reacts to an alpha’s bark.” A final tap, then he looks up.
“Did you...” Luc swallows. “Did you just text Revea?”
He nods, eyes glancing between Luc and his screen.
“Sylvan, when did you get her number?” I ask, keeping my voice calm and level.
“The morning after I upset her. It was payment for the scanner.”
“What exactly did you say?” Kaiden’s tone is just like mine, calmness wrapped in a slowly building panic.
Syl frowns, gaze flicking down as he reads aloud, “Do alpha barks usually work on you?”
Kaiden scrubs a hand over his face, I close my eyes, and Luc falls back down with a pained sound.
“What?” Syl asks, picking up on our body language.
“Some questions aren’t appropriate to ask, Syl—” Kaiden starts, but then there’s a vibration.
Sylvan’s phone lights up. We all tense.
“No,” he reads aloud.
“She... she answered?” Luc snaps up, looking between us. “Just like that?”
It lights up again.
“Why? Do you think your bark will work on me, Sylvan?” He frowns. “Why is she asking that? She knows I don’t know.”
Luc stretches out, grabbing Sylvan’s phone. “Sylvan, listen to me, you lucky son of a bitch. She’s flirting with you.”
Sylvan’s brows furrow. “How is asking me that flirting?”
The muscles in Luc’s jaw twitch. “Just, tell us what you’re typing before you press send again, okay?”
I nod, so does Kaiden, but Syl stares at us like we’re the ones making strange requests.
“Okay...” He looks down, typing as he says, “I don’t know. I’d have to try.”
He casts a brief glance at each of us, checking our expressions, then taps send.
“My god, Sylvan. You’re flirting, and you don’t even realise it.” Luc pats him on the back encouragingly.
“Revea called him master of seduction yesterday,” I murmur, lips twitching.
“She did?” Syl sounds genuinely... delighted.
“And sweet today,” Kaiden adds, also hiding a smile.
“Wow, sweet, seductive Sylvan,” Luc beams, shaking his shoulder a little. “If I didn’t love you, I’d be jealous as fuck right now.”
Sylvan smiles, a real, genuine smile. I hadn’t seen him smile like that since, fuck, I can’t even remember.
But when his phone lights up again, he reads the message, and it falls.
I lean closer. “What’s wrong, Syl?”
He turns the screen to us.
Revea: Try it.
“Syl,” Luc says, voice tight, “I wanna be you so bad right now, you’ve no idea.”
Sylvan thinks for a moment, then stands with a new, determined look on his face. “I’ll go now.”
“Sylvan.” Kaiden’s voice rumbles in warning as he rises too. “It’s 10 PM at night, you’re not going now. She won’t even be at the salon—”
“I know where she lives.”
“Syl.” I slowly stand. “How do you know that?”
“All her personal data is on her PC. Including her current address.” Then he’s swiping through his phone and turning it to us. “That’s it.”
She lives there.
During the first years of our business, we didn’t exactly live in the Ritz.
Military pensions are infamously shit. We were a new business and didn’t have many clients.
We’re also four big guys who like to eat.
But, even in the shittiest times, we always had each other.
Even when our apartment had rats and mould.
I reach for my phone, look up the address, and scroll through images of the apartment complex.
“Do her brothers know she lives here?” I grumble out, showing the shitty tower block to Luc, who growls before passing it to Kaiden.
“I don’t know.” Kaiden’s grip creaks my phone case before passing it back. “But it isn’t our place to say.” His gaze sweeps over us. “She isn’t ours.”
My alpha grumbles, but I tell him to back down.
Kaiden’s right. Doesn’t mean we have to like it, though.
Kaiden scrubs a hand over his face. “We shouldn’t even know she lives there.”
“Isn’t her brother chief of fucking police?” Luc scoffs. “And Rue’s pay ain’t half bad. Why isn’t she living with him?”
I nod. “Good point. Instead, she’s in a block of run-down flats that don’t cater to omegas.”
“What?” Kaiden’s question tips into his alpha rumble.
“No nests,” I say. “I checked. No rooms have them. Most have shared bathrooms.”
“Shared? Like communal?” Luc’s voice sounds so sour that all I can manage is a nod.
There’s a silence, a rumble through the bond, then we all turn to Kaiden, our leader.
He licks his teeth, pulls a sharp expression, but says nothing.
“She can’t stay there, Kai,” Luc presses.
“She’s leaving after tomorrow. For a week, she won’t be there.” He runs a hand through his hair. “I don’t have any sway here, guys. We shouldn’t even know she lives there. We’ve got no relationship except a possible heat—that she could back out of at any minute—and I’ve met her once—”
“And that’s all it took for you to want her,” Luc interrupts, eyes set in hard slits, voice vibrating. “It’s been over a week for me, almost the same for Val. Can you imagine how we’re feeling? Imagining her there? She could be sharing a bathroom with ten fucking alphas for all we know—”
“Stop,” Kaiden’s command cuts through Luc’s words.
It isn’t a bark, but it’s enough. Then his voice softens.
“If you go to her tomorrow like this, you’ll push her away, and you know it.
She’s a smart woman, she knows what she’s doing, and she’ll have her reasons.
” He looks between us all. “I suggest we all stop underestimating her.”
He’s right. This isn’t some vulnerable omega who can’t provide for herself. I’d made the mistake of suggesting that yesterday.
“Tomorrow, I want you two—” His gaze lands on me and Luc. “—to introduce Revea to the Mercers. Just make sure she’s happy before she leaves.”
I nod, but my mind is still fixed on that shitty block of flats. Is that where she is right now? In a cold, damp room with no nest? I remember her curled up on the sofa, surrounded by cushions and throws. Does she not have that at home?
I’m suddenly thinking about the nest in our house. The one that sits abandoned, even though it connects to all our rooms. The cleaners go in there every so often, but otherwise, it’s dormant. We said we’d use it as a common room, but we always use the living room.
But Revea could have it.
“Syl, where’s your mind going?” My thoughts tumble away at Kaiden’s question.
Sylvan finally sits back down. “I won’t get to see her before she leaves?” His hand rises to his chest.
“Sylvan, I’m going to be honest with you the way you always are with us, okay?” He nods, and Kaiden continues, “I’m concerned you would tell Revea what we’ve found out tonight, about where she’s living, and I don’t think that would play out well.”
Syl nods again, but his gaze is distant.
“Sylvan,” Kaiden snaps a little, and his eyes lock on our pack alpha. “She isn’t ours.”
He doesn’t say it to be cruel; he’s being firm, but kind. He knows, we all do, even Sylvan deep down, that she’s technically nothing to us.
Our employee’s sister.
A possible heat partner.
That’s it.
“But I…” Syl tries. He rarely hesitates over his words, and it’s painful to watch him this uncertain. “I want to see her.” He holds up his phone. “She’s asked me to bark at her.”
Poor fucking man.
“Syl.” Luc smiles at him sadly. “That doesn’t mean right now or tomorrow. Just… keep it in mind for the future, okay?”
“For her heat,” he says quietly.
“Exactly!” Luc beams, trying to shake him out of his slump.
But we all fall into one.
We finish watching some shitty film together while keeping an eye on Syl. Who knows if he’ll decide to text her back? We can’t exactly stop it.
Just like I can’t stop picturing her inside one of those shitty flats.
When the film ends, we head to bed, then we’re up again at 5 AM, following our normal routine.
We head to the gym, do our regular workout, chat about the day. Syl and Kai are heading into Nexus, and Luc and I get to spend one last day with Revea before she leaves for a week.
After that, we head to the kitchen for a protein shake. Syl doesn’t speak, but that’s not unusual, especially in the mornings. Then we head back upstairs to get ready for the day.
All the while, I’m thinking about Revea. Imagining her getting ready in that cramped apartment, after sleeping in a bed, not a nest. But at least the hotel she’s staying in is decent.
I looked it up after she gave me the name. Four stars, good reviews, three floors dedicated to female betas and omegas. Not a shared bathroom in sight. She’ll have a week there.
A week.
Seven days.
And I… hate it.
No wonder Sylvan is struggling. He hardly ever likes anyone. And now the only omega he wants is leaving before he even gets the chance to see her again.
But it’s for the best. I know it, we all do, and I think, deep down, Sylvan does—
“His car’s gone.” Luc turns to Kai and me with wide eyes.
The motherfucker.