Chapter 23
LEON
FRIDAY I’M IN LOVE - THE CURE
Igrin as I watch our little bird storm out of the club, fucking giddy as a school girl as I swagger my ass toward Dimitri.
I watched that entire thing play out, right from when Row spotted Dimitri until now, and while I don’t know why my sweet and spicy omega clocked our alpha in the face, I can’t say it didn’t give me a hard-on when she did it.
There is so much more going on in our pack than meets the eye, so many more intricacies and delicacies than this relatively ornery puzzle should have, and I think it’s time I start trying to put the pieces together so we can all put our pieces together.
“If I didn’t want to suck your dick so bad, I’d give you all the shit for letting two omegas crack you in the face in the same day,” I chuckle as I slide onto the stool next to Dimitri, reaching for a stack of napkins on the other side of the bar.
“But I do, so I won’t. I will, however, suggest you get a handle on both of them before we’re all living together. ”
He turns to me with a frown, one that morphs into a wince as I press the wad of black paper to his nose. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Most people don’t, but I know for a fact that you actually do.”
“Do you, now?”
I nod as that piercing blue eye scans my face.
“Those omegas, they’re our scent matches.
” Dimitri opens his mouth to probably argue, but I shove the bloody napkins in it to stop him.
“I matched with Row immediately, instantly, the exact fucking moment I saw her. You, my tormented soul bond, matched and mated Mikhail a long time ago, am I right?”
He nods as I pull the napkins from between his lips.
I grin and ask the bartender for a glass of ice before I continue sharing what I’ve assumed up until this point.
“You’re bonded, but you haven’t been together for some time, and today was the first time you crossed paths in what I’d wager to bet is years.
” Another nod. “But that’s not why you left the cushy confines of your Bratva and King Daddy. ”
“You’ve been following me?”
“Of course, sweetheart. You have a great ass.”
Dimitri rolls his eyes. “Why?”
“King Daddy,” I say with a shrug as I reach over the bar again and grab a rag then dump the ice in the center. “I’ve worked for Boris before and when you took off, he called me.”
Amongst several others, his own men included, but I’m sure this male knows that already.
“A bounty hunter. Cute,” he grunts as I press the makeshift ice pack to his face. “Pulled out all the stops.”
I smile. “Rightfully so. You’re a slick one, Dimitri Volkov. I had no trouble because I’m that fucking good, but I can see why no one else managed to get their hands on you.”
Not for lack of trying.
I found him first but since he’s been staying put in one place for so long, there have been a few who have gotten close. That warehouse massacre, for instance. There hasn’t been any confirmation of what really happened, but when I looked into it, I recognized a few signs I doubt anyone else did.
Like the crew that was wiped out happened to be a branch of the Italian crime family working out of Chicago. One I’ve worked for and against in the past, so I know their MO pretty well.
A couple hours away or not, Dimitri had the Moretti’s on his tail and if they hadn’t met the fate they did, I would have had to handle them the way I’ve handled everyone getting too close to us.
Not that I mind, it keeps things spicy, picking off hitmen and greedy fuckers with their sights set on my alpha.
It’s kept me entertained while Styx is working, and frankly, it’s been beneficial to the Adders and their establishment because I’ve stopped a lot of bullshit from bleeding into Knotted Obsessions. Literally and figuratively.
Which reminds me… “Do you know where I can get piano wire?”
“I can find out,” Dimitri says with an arched brow. “I take it you aren’t asking because you repair them on the side.”
I shake my head and adjust the ice. “Never got into it. Played when I was a kid, one of the foster homes I lived in had a baby grand, but I couldn’t sit still long enough to turn it into much of a hobby. Not the playing part, anyway.”
“Or the repair part?”
“I was much better at dismantling them and repurposing the pieces.”
Dimitri chuckles and I can’t help but smile. “That seems more on brand for you.”
“Does it now?” I pull the ice away from his face and get a better look at the damage. “Think you know me, alpha?”
He just shrugs, his stare locked with mine, and my stomach does that same little flip thing it did when I first saw Styx, and when I was next to Rune not long ago.
Soul bonds are interesting things.
Very different from a scent match, which is more primal, more instinctual.
I could have easily and happily knotted Row, bitten the shit out of her, and mated her in the stock room without batting an eye.
While I’m ridiculously attracted to and generally aroused when my sweet beta, good boy omega, or alphas are within range, it’s a different kind of pull.
Still strong, still certain, but different.
The fact that there’s a focal point, for one.
Sparrow is our connection, the one pulling us all together.
Matched with me and the big guy, soul bonded with Red, Mikhail, and this idiot.
It all revolves around her and it’s kind of a miracle that we aren’t ready to tear each other apart in order to mark our territory.
No, instead, I think us gentlemen will happily mark each other right along with Row, and I find it rather fascinating.
Sparrow.
I roll my eyes and reapply the ice as I blurt, “What do you think her real name is?”
“Who?”
“Sparrow.”
Dimitri frowns.
“Mike Tyson with the mask and tits. That can’t be her real name.” Even if it did come up connected to a fuckton of legal paperwork, like a birth certificate and social security card.
He shakes his head and covers my hand, pulling the ice pack away from his face. “Mikhail isn’t his name, so I’m sure hers is phony, too.”
Aha, the plot thickens.
I wonder if Styx knows?
Which is stupid, he’d tell me if he did and since he hasn’t said anything, he’s probably unaware of the aliases. I bet he’s skeptical, though. He’s too perceptive, too in tune with the people he gives a fuck about not to be.
“You aren’t going to tell me his real name right now, though, are you?
” I grin as Dimitri just stares at me. “That’s fine, I’ll figure it out eventually.
Preferably before I hear it screamed in the throes of passion.
If we’re all banging shit out and I hear some random name yelled while someone is mid-orgasm, I’ll stop and have to figure out where the extra person came from.
I’m an exceptional multitasker but the hyperfixation can be a game changer. ”
“You are kind of an odd one, no?”
I wince internally but don’t let on.
I became a bounty hunter for two reasons; I was extremely good at killing people without getting caught, and the life of solitude worked for me.
I lost my parents before I could form memories of them, I didn’t have any other family from what I was told. The home for orphans I started out in was only willing to hang onto me until I was about five, then I got dumped into the system.
None of the foster homes I was in wanted to keep me for very long.
I changed schools like dirty underwear, and both of those things meant I didn’t really have any friends.
If I was lucky enough to find another outcast somewhere along the way, that generally didn’t last long, either, because of my winning personality.
It’s better now, I’ve grown out of a lot of my bullshit, but ADHD doesn’t go away.
It’s not something that can be cured, and sometimes I fall back into old habits, or my brain moves so fast my mouth can’t catch up then I say strange or incoherent, off the wall shit.
Shit that catches everyone off guard, and has a tendency to weird people the fuck out.
Calling me a strange one isn’t nearly as bad as some of the shit people have called me, or had the audacity to say to my face, but hearing it from someone I clearly have a connection to definitely stings a little.
“I like it.”
I blink a few times, refocusing my eyes on Dimitri’s smiling face. “You like what?”
He chuckles and shakes his head. “That you’re odd. I like you, even if you haven’t introduced yourself yet despite all of the sexual references.”
A smile touches my lips as I turn away, shoving the used napkins into the cup before I ask for a glass of water.
This is odd.
I don’t get embarrassed, I don’t think I’ve ever felt shy, but I might be experiencing a touch of both right now. I doubt Dimitri usually feels those things, either, but the stupid smile on his face says he might be, too.
“Two alphas walk into a bar…”
My smile grows as I turn on my stool, facing Styx as Dimitri does the same.
“I saw the footage,” he says, looking at our alpha with a smirk as I lean back against the wood and pull him between my knees. “Row cleaned your fucking clock.”
“That’s my girl, Red.” I pucker and he gives me a quick kiss before reaching for the water and a few napkins. “If she didn’t have giant lady balls, could she really be my scent match?”
“No,” he says with a snort as he starts cleaning the dried blood on Dimitri’s face. “And judging by the way she hit you then clearly threatened you, I’d say it has something to do with her omega.”
Our alpha fights a snarl, one that turns into a hiss as Styx pushes hard on the bridge of his nose. “That fucking hurts.”
“It fucking should,” Styx fires back. “Obviously you fucked something up somewhere and since it involves our omegas, I’ll keep your nose busted just so I can use the pain to break you of that possessive streak you keep trying to paint down the middle of our pack.
You know, the one that isn’t exclusive to Mikhail anymore. Sharing is caring, you big ape.”
Dimitri looks between us, his blue eye bouncing back and forth before he blows out a breath. “This is all new for me.”
“Us too, sugar tits,” I say as I reach over and pat his knee.
“New, exciting, terrifying to the point of shitting your pants.” Then I slide my hand up his thigh and flick his dick through his jeans.
“Maybe if you explain the way you royally fucked up whatever you had with Mikhail, and how it’s connected to the reason why you’re running from your own family, we could sort through your bullshit.
I think that’s a good starting point, anyway.
As much as I liked watching it, I don’t think it’s healthy for our omegas to harbor enough hostility to want to rough up anyone in our pack outside of the bedroom.
Behind closed doors? Totally different. So, let’s get to the bottom of your shit so we can—”
“Don’t,” Styx snorts as he keeps working on Dimitri’s face. “Don’t even think it.”
“Too late.” I slide my fingers up his thighs and grab a healthy handful of his ass in each of my hands.
“Thought it. Visualized it. Now I need it.” I wink at Dimitri as I squeeze my beta’s cheeks hard.
“You can come, too. I know you’re not ready to join in and frankly, until you start talking, I don’t think you should, but you like to watch and we like it when you do.
The front seat reclines so we can kill two birds with one stone. ”
“Sex and therapy?” Dimitri moves our beta’s hands away from his face with a smirk then turns to get off his stool. “I don’t think I’m ready for either but maybe we can talk after I have a smoke.”
A smile of victory splits my face as we watch our alpha weave through the tables and head out the back door.
“I’d be fine with Pack Volkov.”
Styx looks at me with a frown. “Really?”
I nod and start massaging his ass. “Pack Glass sounds fucking stupid. I don’t think Rune has a last name, so that’s out, even though he’s clearly the most alpha, alpha that ever lived.
Adder is fabulous but big brother has dibs there, and I think it’s a little unorthodox for a pack to be named after an omega, whether they go by an alias, or not. ”
It has happened, though. Probably more than I’m familiar with but I know for a fact there’s a big ass omega-run crime family out of New York who all go by the two founding omega’s last names. They have a pretty big beef with King Daddy as a matter of fact.
“Are pack names even a thing anymore?”
“Why wouldn’t they be a thing?” I ask with a frown.
I’ve always hoped—secretly, of course—that I’d get to be a part of a pack and take on the same name as the rest of it to show the bonds we shared.
Not having a family made me want it more than most people probably do.
Judging by Styx’s question, I might have romanticized the fuck out of it and will need to hide the way this will crush my fucking soul.
“You are extremely dramatic,” my beta says as he cups my cheeks and gives me a sweet kiss. “Romantic, but dramatic as fuck, and whether it’s a thing or not, if being Pack Volkov makes you happy, I’ll make it happen.”
I love how well he knows me after such a short period of time. I love the way Dimitri seems to get me already, too. I can only hope things are as easy with the other three members of our pack because I know I’m not easy to be with, and I really want to be with them.
I want to be in love with them, and I don’t want it to be a one-sided thing.
I spent a lot of time on the wrong side of that, and I don’t want it to happen with my pack.
I know in my gut that the five of them are my pack, and I want them more than I realized.
It’s unflattering and unsettling how desperately I want us to be Pack Volkov.
I also want to see all of them naked and full of my cum, but I need them to tolerate me first, the same way Styx and Dimitri do.
Tolerating me is a good starting point.
Tolerance leads to acceptance, and acceptance must inevitably lead to love. Since I’ve never gotten past tolerance with anyone—present company excluded—that makes the most sense.
That’s what I’m telling myself, and I can be pretty fucking convincing.