Cobb reached across the table and gently pulled my hand back towards him and tugged on my fingers until I dropped the puzzle piece which I’d been holding in a death grip. The mangled piece dropped to the table, leaving behind indents in my palm.
I watched silently as Cobb smoothed the indents with his thumb, my heart hammering away in my chest. I wondered what he was going to say next because the air in the room had shifted completely.
“It’s not that....” He finally began, continuing to rub small circles on the inside of my palm. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable. I was just hit with the realization that sometimes people in my line of work forget about the human component behind all of our files and facts.”
I was a little taken aback at his admission. I was sure that guys like Cobb, regimented and stern, never admitted that they were wrong about anything. This beta continually surprised me with his ability to show me new sides of himself. He had so many different layers and facets to him, that I was sure that, even if I knew him for a hundred years, I would still find something new about him if I looked hard enough.
“Do you ever see the human component like this, right in front of you?” I asked, curling my fingers around his and giving them a tentative squeeze.
Cobb shook his head, “No, I’m never usually on this side of things. Never been on witness protection detail before.”
“Oh my,” I teased. “Am I safe with you? Or should I call the FBI and request a more experienced agent?” I had no idea how to even call the FBI. I was sure their number wasn’t listed on google, but I was too busy enjoying the way his chest puffed up at even the idea of another agent stepping in.
“I can protect you.” His gaze was so intense that I forgot for a moment that he was a beta and not an alpha. I was also lucky that he didn’t have an alpha’s sense of smell or else he definitely would be able to smell my arousal in the air around us.
“Of course, I was just teasing.” I gave his hand one final squeeze before drawing my hands back into my lap, my cheeks flushing.
Cobb opened his mouth, about to say something else, when the front door beeped and opened, “Hellooo?” Aria’s voice filtered into the hallway, effectively cutting off our conversation.
We both jumped like we were about to be caught doing something we shouldn’t have been, and I stood up hastily from the table. “Hey, welcome home!”
I’d have to unpack the tingles that I was feeling all throughout my body on my own later.
––––––––
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Another day passed, and I was sure that I was about to lose my mind.
“They shouldn’t have touched me at all if they weren’t going to full-send the sexy times,” I grumbled to Eloise and Madeline over our daily facetime call. Eloise was sitting in the living room of Pack Russo’s Sausalito house, and Madeline was walking along a busy street in Los Angeles, her air pods firmly in her ears so the passing people didn’t get an earful of our definitely NSFW conversation.
“I have to agree.” Eloise frowned, looking a little bit miffed, “I don’t like the thought of these alphas toying with you, Tibby...maybe youshouldcome and stay with us after all....”
And there it was. Eloise had tried during every phone call to get me to move into Pack Russo’s house. She was constantly fretting about my safety. I was pretty sure it was because she was so far into her pregnancy, and her omega hormones were performing the cha-cha slide inside of her body, but it was starting to get on my nerves.
“No El, I can’t come to stay with you,” My voice was sharper than I intended it to be. “There is a psycho murderer burning people at the stake. There is absolutely no way that I am going to put you or the baby in danger like that.”
I watched Eloise’s chin begin to wobble, and Madeline, who’d just been listening to the conversation up to this point, finally jumped in. “Oh, Ellie please don’t cry, Tibby’s right. It’s not safe for her to be with you right now.”
“I know,” She croaked and a box of tissues appeared on the screen, probably from one of her packmates, and she took one and began to dab at her shining eyes. “I just don’t like the thought of you in danger without me there to protect you.”
I didn’t know how Eloise was planning on protecting me. She was three inches shorter and about eighty pounds lighter, but that was just who Eloise was. She was never afraid to throw down with someone twice her size if it meant protecting those she cared about.
“I know, Ellie. I know,” I sighed. The guilt I felt for snapping at her was immediate, it wasn’t her fault that I had found myself in this situation. “I love you, you know that, right?”
Eloise nodded, “Yeah, and I love you too, Tib.”
“And we love you too, Madeline, don’t think we forgot about you,” I said to the beta who looked a little forlorn as she walked through the busy city streets. Most people normally didn’t notice Madeline’s sudden drops in moods or fleeting expressions of sadness. She was usually one of the most cheerful and bubbly people in the room, but every once in a while, I’d see that persona slip. What was left behind was someone who had been through too much as a child, and it still affected them to this day. I’d seen similar expressions on my own face.
“Awww,” Bubbly Madeline was back. “I love you too Tibby and my advice to you about your wayward alphas? Jump 'em, make it to where they can’t resist your cute ass and get you that pumpkin spice latte peen.”
Eloise scrunched her nose at Madeline’s crass words but nodded, “It’s always worked for me. The guys can’t resist.” Gone were her tears, and they were replaced by the self-satisfied smirk that only an omega could make.
I heard the rumble of a man’s voice, and Eloise’s eyes moved away from her phone screen to something in front of her. Her lashes fluttered, and I could see the literal shift in her expression from smug to...well...horny.
“I gotta go.” That was all she said, and suddenly I was only looking at Madeline’s laughing face.
“I take it she’s about to climb one of her alphas like a tree?” My laughter was easy as Madeline entered a building.
