THEO
Theo
My hands shook as I tried to shape the perfect rice ball. Chef Tanaka made it look effortless, his fingers dancing over ingredients with practiced grace. I had tried so many times to get the rice right. It would always fall apart. It was just rice. It shouldn’t be that hard to cook. The sushi station was set up with everything labeled and organized, rice cookers humming along the back counter.
Grace and Bridget moved around each other with easy familiarity, passing ingredients with no need to speak. Their scents all blended together, so that it was hard to pick out who was who. I wondered if Mackenzie and I would be like that if we were in a pack together.
I glanced down at my attempt at rice shaping. The edges weren’t nearly as clean as Grace’s perfectly formed balls.
“Beautiful technique, Grace,” Sterling said, pride evident in his voice as he watched her work.
The door squeaked open and Chef Tanaka stopped mid-sentence. I kept my focus on the rice in my hands, willing it to cooperate. How did they make it look so easy? The silence grew long and awkward, so I picked my head up.
“Delano. A pleasure.” The chef’s voice held a note I couldn’t quite read.
Ren.
Fuck me. My heart fluttered. Actually fucking fluttered.
“Eric. You were always my favorite bus boy.” Ren claimed the empty station next to me.
Chef Tanaka’s knife tapped against the cutting board. “That was a long time ago.”
“Was it? Feels like yesterday you were dropping plates in my father’s kitchen.”
“Nobody dropped plates in your father’s kitchen.”
“Not if you wanted to keep your fingers. You survived. Still have all ten, I see.” Ren waggled his fingers in the air.
“As I was saying, maki is all about technique…”
Not everybody went back to work. Grace and Bridget shared that look. A look that said you found someone incredibly attractive, but your alpha was right there. Ren was that pretty. He was probably 6’3” or more. His skin was sun-kissed and glowing. Even though he was fully dressed with his shirt fully buttoned, you just knew he had abs for ever. His short hair and hooded eyes made him look dangerous.
A kitchen assistant rushed to set up Ren’s station.
“What are you doing here?” I said out of the corner of my mouth.
“What? I like sushi,” Ren shrugged, “and omegas with sticky fingers. And I absolutely did not just wander by and see you through the window with a space next to you that I could slip into.”
Angry flirting wasn’t the problem. All flirting with Ren was the problem. How was I expected to learn sushi with Ren standing right there?
I looked up and caught Sterling’s scowl. Great. And there goes my chance with the Kelwood pack. Sterling’s jaw tightened, his shoulders going rigid as he watched Ren settle in.
“Now,” Chef Tanaka continued, “Basic maki rolls. Remember to spread the rice evenly…”
I tried to focus on following Chef Tanaka’s instructions for our first roll. I went on tiptoes to see how he was getting the rice to stick to only the things you wanted it to stick to. He just waved his hand across the nori and there was an even layer of rice. I looked over at Grace and Bridget’s work. It was a little lumpy. Sterling’s roll looked like the example.
Then I looked at Ren. He was completely ignoring the demonstration, instead sculpting his rice into what appeared to be… a tiny snowman?
“What are you doing?” I whispered.
“Art.” He added little nori eyes and a wasabi smile to his creation. “See? He’s happy.”
“We’re supposed to be making rolls.”
“Boring.” He started on another snowman. “Ooo, what if we made rice dicks instead of balls?”
My bark of laughter turned heads.
“We’re going to get kicked out,” I muttered. Part of me was horrified. I had been really looking forward to this class. The other part? I watched Ren’s fingers. Not rock climbing fingers, but…
“Not like that, Theo.” Sterling’s voice cut through my concentration. “You’re pressing too hard.” My head snapped back to my own roll. My face burned.
“I don’t know,” Ren drawled. “I like it when my omegas press hard.”
“That is not your omega.” Sterling’s voice went cold.
“No,” Ren emphasized the word, “but he is a person. Not your thing to order around.”
“Theo.” Sterling’s voice carried that edge of alpha command. “Come stand by me. Now.”
The room went deadly quiet as every head turned toward us. The air crackled with alpha tension, but Ren just casually popped one of his rice balls into his mouth.
“You know what I love about Theo?” Ren said between bites. “He’s a complete person. If he’s offended by my vulgarity, he’s completely capable of telling me so.” His dark eyes met mine. “Aren’t you, baby?”
Sterling’s jaw clenched. “You have no respect.”
“For what? Your superiority complex?” Ren’s fingers brushed my hip. “Or do you think those little bite marks your pack is sporting entitle you to what is not yours?”
“The respect…” Sterling started.
“As a matter of fact, where’s your respect for Theo?”
“Excuse me.”
The tension spiked in the room. Some people were backing away. I stepped closer to Ren.
“You shit on what he was working on in front of your pack and then with the audacity you conjure out of thin air, thinking he needs protection from my potty mouth and that you can command what he does with his body like he’s a child.”
“I did no such…”
“Is this a pack or Stockholm Syndrome?” Ren leaned in toward Grace. “Sweetie, blink twice if you need help.”
Sterling lunged across the table. Ren put a hand on my stomach and pushed me back a step. But other than that, he didn’t change his posture. Sterling barely made it halfway across the table.
“Okay, my kitchen, my rules. You have two choices.” Chef Tanaka was between them now, calm, like alpha duels broke out every day. Maybe they did.
Sterling’s lips curved into a smug smile. I stepped into Ren. He turned his head slightly, but didn’t take his eyes off Sterling.
“You can keep your mouth shut and make some sushi,” the chef pointed his knife at Sterling, “or you can leave. Your pack is welcome to stay.”
The smile dropped from Sterling’s face. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me.” The chef’s voice was ice.
“You’re giving that preferential treatment over me?”
“Absolutely.”
Ren growled. An actual growl. It made the hairs on my neck stand up. Everyone but the chef took a step back. Grace’s eyes went wide. I caught the way her gaze darted between Sterling and Ren. She knew her alpha was beat.
“So what’s it going to be?” Tanaka asked.
Sterling’s jaw worked. For a moment, I thought he might actually challenge the chef. But then he stepped back, inclining his head in a sharp nod. He stormed toward the door, snapping his fingers for his pack to follow. Which they did. Without question.
“Ew.” Ren pulled back in disgust, watching them file out.
When the door closed behind them, he turned to me, his expression surprisingly serious. He cupped my face with his hand and swiped his thumb across my cheek. “I’m sorry.” He dropped his hand, like he knew his touch was an unfair advantage. “I know you were looking forward to this. Maybe even looking forward to that pack. But I just can’t stand bullies.”
I thought about it for a moment, then smiled. “Except when you’re the bully, you mean?”
“Oh!” Ren clutched his chest dramatically. “That hurts. But very true.” His voice softened. “I won’t stand to see you disrespected. Will you forgive me?”
We stood there in our own little bubble as the class got back to their maki rolls. There was chatter and whispering and the clatter of utensils. My cheeks flushed, and I darted my eyes to see who was watching. Ren caught my chin with a finger and turned my back to him. He seemed content to wait on whatever I did next. All his attention on me.
“Shut up and make some sushi.”
“I love me a feisty omega.”
He put his hand on my back as we both stepped up to our stations. He slid a fresh sheet of nori onto our bamboo rolling mats.
“Eric is a terrible teacher. Great cook, terrible teacher.” His voice low, just for me. “He taught me how to make maki when I was 15 by hitting me with a wooden spoon when I tore the nori. No spankings today unless you ask really nice.”
“Fuck, Ren.” I choked on air.
“What, you can’t handle it when your partner in crime isn’t here?” He chewed on a piece of pickled ginger. “Try more water on your fingertips and a dabbing motion, rather than a smearing motion.”
With Ren standing next to me, I could actually see what I was supposed to be doing. Rolling it up was easier than I thought so long as I didn’t press too hard.
My stomach hurt, trying to contain all the emotions bouncing in me. I took a shaky breath and said “thank you,” in a small voice.
“It’s my honor,” Ren said softly.
Shit.