“Skye, meet Skipper,” I say, giving her a pointed look. With a smirk tugging at her now-swollen lips, she scratches between Atlas’ midnight ears, cooing at the wolf until the jealousy burns a little too much, and I shove him down. I want her to petmelike that.
“Yeah, yeah, get down, you big sap. Some of us like having our bar slobber free.” Wiping it down again, I lift the latch from my side and bring our Omega around beside us. There’s a big stool set up to sit and watch, though her eyes immediately dropto my bulging jeans, and her cheeks flare a little as I cross my arms.
“Hell of a kiss, huh?” She quips, looking out at all the patrons, checking out Deacon as he grabs a bottle from the cabinet, then she’s drawn back to me.
“Mhmm, plus I can taste how good your mornings been.” Almost immediately, her face takes on that endearing pink hue, looking down and sputtering.
“Oh goddess above, you can taste that?” She drops her face into her hands before I catch her wrists, pulling them away, “I brushed my teeth three times! I’m so sorry.”
“Baby, you don’t join a pack unless you know you’re gonna be able to deal with a bit of cum,” I snort, chucking her under the chin before going back to serving, “Ready to help out? You get to sit there and look pretty, and pull in the tips for the staff.”
The way she lights up sets my soul ablaze, though she isn’t happy to be sitting by and jumps down to stand with me.
And that's how my little Omega spends the next hour, learning how to mix drinks and pour a pint, attracting all the attention in the room as she chats brightly away, cursing with the old timers and charming the new customers. My girls a natural at this, flirting up a storm and raking in the tips from a particularly drunken Alpha. The guy has heart eyes for her, and despite my pride in her hustle, my Alpha is beating my chest until a growl finally rolls out. Deacon’s mouth ticks up at the side, smug bastard, but he keeps serving, an extra pair of eyes on Skye, making sure the guy doesn’t try anything. Atlas is still behind the counter, but I can see his hackles raised, too, his tail stiffly hitting the floor, and his eyes on the other Alpha. This guy is gonna take a hit and some teeth if he gets any more friendly with her.
Skye takes the twenty he offers her and blows him a kiss, stepping over to me and standing up on her toes. I think she’sgoing to kiss me, but she grabs me by the beard, dragging me down to her level. Her breath warms my jaw and I tip my head for her, offering my throat as my eyes lid. I might like it when she’s a little more dominant…
“As fucking hot as it is,Alpha,” She purrs in my ear, and my cock gives a jolt in my pants.Fuck,my PA piercing is stuck in the back of my zipper, I think. “That you’re being all Alpha-y and shit, you’re interrupting me working, and how else am I supposed to get all those tips to pay for nice things?”
“Clay gave you access to the pack bank account, right? Just before we went nest shopping.” I clearly remember her getting her own card, and she’s been making good on her attempts to bankrupt us, all these fancy book boxes for the library, hell, she bought herself a very nice new phone, and a PC setup so she could do online courses. She’s a clever girl, our Omega, loves to learn, and she just seems so damn happy. Good, because I don’t think we are gonna let her leave now, even if she wanted to.
“Mhmm, but if you think that’s gonna stop me on the grind though, think again.”
Laughing, I shimmy her back to the front and set her loose in my bar, letting my heart expand just a little more for her.
Skye
Turns out bartending is actually pretty fun. The air purifiers in the bar are working overtime with my scent blooming every time my gorgeous Cardinal touches me. How did I ever think that I could get away from these men, this pack, when they all look like wet dreams and have enough green flags they could wear them like a ghillie suit.
Atlas nudges my belly, furred head butting against me as I work, snuffling softly every now and then so I don’t forget he’s here. As if I could. The dark-coated wolf takes up the entire corner, switching pretty regularly between lying down in an awkward half-moon and sitting on his haunches. How nobody has realized that he’s not just a wolf, but probably the largest damned wolf they’d ever seen is ridiculous. Some of the patrons even lean over to give his ears a ruffle, the soft furry appendages swiveling like radar dishes as he keeps track of everything in the bar. Nobody seems to give a single fuck about the colossal canine.
I’ve also made a new friend. Deacon looks almost scarily similar to Fury—tall, dark, and handsome, with a thick but well-kept black beard. He’s a little more square in the face, with the same crooked nose that Atlas has in his human face, and overall not quite soprettyas my Alpha. And he smells… Hmmm, I’m not actually sure. It’s fresh, almost wintery, like that first inhale of a cold day that catches your sinuses when you breathe in.Peppermint, maybe. Either way, there’s a very lucky Omega out there for him somewhere, and I hope she can pull some sort of emotion from him. I’ve been working hard to get the Alpha to do so much as a lip twitch, but he’s shy; however, the constant jealous side-eye from Fury is well worth it. My Alphas want me, and I relish it, warmth filling my chest as it settles in, how much they really do want me here. I’m not just a band-aid over their broken patches, not just something pretty on their arms, and most importantly, it’s not just because I’m a shifter too; they want me forme.
Looking over at my Alpha, I consider him for a moment whilst I pull a pint. Cerulean blue eyes meet mine, and Fury blows a kiss, flirty as ever, as I blush and giggle at him, shaking my head. My face heats the longer we stay locked in each other's gazes, his darkening, tongue darting out to wet his lower lip, and dragging my eyes with it. At least until the beer starts running down my hands. Yelping, I nearly spill it all over the counter as I rush to put it down and grab the bar cloth to wipe it clear, making sure to direct my scowl at my Alpha, who’s cackling next to his customers like the shit that he is. Checking that his hands are empty, I flick the cloth out, with its cute cartoon-printed sharks, and crack him straight in the ass cheek with a wicked snap. Watching him leap three feet in the air is well worth the growl I get, and if I’m extra lucky, he’ll put me over his knee later for it.
The pretty Beta takes her full beer from me with a laugh and a wink, and I’m just about to take her cash when a similar tall figure shadows the doorframe.
I can feel my blood freeze in my veins, icy shards shredding me up. Maybe a couple of weeks ago, I’d have jumped at the sight of Anna, taking every chance to sass and push her buttons, rib her until she barks at me like she used to. But now… Now I have something to lose, a family that we are building step by step,and now that the subject of bonding has slowly been broached, I know that I can’t lose them. Fury had paid the pack fee to be at the auctions that night, to take me home… But if she really wanted to, she could appeal to have me removed from them if she thinks there is an issue,couldn’t she?Both Fury and Atlas pick up on my tension, and a broad back shields me from the woman who, just weeks ago, was injecting me with heat boosters to force me into vulnerability.
“Something's up with the taps, you mind checking the supply, Skye?” Fury hands me a ring of keys, the jingling catching my attention as he rattles them in front of me, holding the one I’d need, “Skipper will take you back and keep an eye on you, yeah?” He’s giving me an escape, I realize as I scramble towards the door. Gasping for deep breaths in panic when it feels like the air purifier system has sucked every ounce of oxygen from the room. Looking back, I see Anna on her phone at the bar, back towards me as her voice echoes, even above the buzz of the drunken bodies. Atlas nips at me again, shoving at my backside as the lock clicks open, standing guard whilst I lock it again behind us and collapse against the wall.
There’s a pulse in the air, like an aura that radiates from the dark wolf, then there’s a sickly sound of bones popping and realigning—do I sound like that when I shift?—before Atlas is next to me. I’ve never noticed the palm-sized anchor tattooed on his chest, only the giant world map on his back as he turns and opens one of the doors in the corridor. Dragging me through, my Alpha pulls me into his arms, “I got you. I got you, baby.” His bulging arms engulf me, pressing me against his washboard stomach and burying my face in his pectorals that put even my rack to shame. Is there a single percentage of body fat on… Something twitches against my stomach, and I shiver. Atlas clears his throat, “Uhh, sorry. You perfumed when I hugged you, is all. You smell amazing.”
“Thanks, Atty, you too.” It is true, the thick scent of the woodlands after a rain just flushes my fears away. It soothes the woman and the wolf with safety and home. Heaving in another breath, I let his thick musk envelope me, melting into him as it’s followed by his diesel engine purr. My cheek slides along his chest, scent-marking us both, and part of me wishes that Fury were here to complete our little trio of boozy camping scents.Deacon can watch the bar for a minute, right?Just whilst I rub myself all over both Alphas to convince myself—Omega and wolf included—that we are safe, and my pack is here.
“She can’t have you,” Atlas murmurs into my hair, one hand stroking up and down my back. His grip is steel, binding me to him, and the strength in his body is helping me come down from the panic. I know this man could pop me like one of those viral watermelon videos, but he’s only ever used it to hold and protect me. “You’re ours, she can’t take you away. I love you.”
“Atlas…” My scent sours a little, giving away how I really feel about the words, “You’ve only known me a few weeks—“
“Doesn’t matter,” He cuts me off, his purr picking up the pace as his heart thuds beneath my cheek, “You’re ours. Our scent match. Luc’s never fit in so well before, you’ve helped carve out his little space in the pack properly, so he fits like he was always meant to.” Tears well in my eyes, and I curse. I hate crying. Slamming my eyes shut does little to stop the wet trails, but I can pretend whilst my Alpha breaks and remakes my heart, “Theo struggled so bad since his accident, and you got him back on a horse, turned his fear back into his favorite hobby, and gave the power back to him.”
“He’s always had it, I knew that,” I manage to choke around the lump in my throat, “He just needed a little push.”
“We’ve been pushing for months; you gave him back his wings.” Atlas wasn’t even close to finished, eviscerating my heart right here in the office. The first sob leaves me, the pressurerelease of crying hitting me like a storm, “Clay’s anxiety is what it is, but you’ve made him feel like it’s not a disaster when he’s overwhelmed, it’s just part of his condition that needs to be managed. Even Fury… He’s stopped second-guessing his decisions, and he’s a stronger Cardinal for it.”
“And you?”
“I’m just basking in your sunshine after spending too long howling at the moon.”
