Jesse met the look of betrayal in my eyes with a silent apology. Not only had he given important intel to the enemyteam, but I was the one who told him about that stupid fuckin’ barcade in the first place!
Where did this bastard beta get off spilling my date spots to useless, stinky alphas who wanted to horn in on my girl?
“She's busy,” I said before Eva could swallow.
She cleared her throat, probably trying to dislodge some bread or something, and I readied myself for her to agree with me, rushing to come up with alternative plans that we absolutely hadn't made before this moment but that I’d follow through with in a heartbeat.
“No, I’m not,” she said with a cocked eyebrow, leveling me with a look that screamed whatever glimmer of hope I'd had in the testing room was deeply incorrect before turning back to Jason with a smile. “Like a date?”
Fuck me, I really did botch it.
“Well, I wasthinking—” Jason started, but Jesse, my beautiful, perfect, best friend on the planet,Jesse, cut in with, “Didn't your pack just start seeing a new omega, Jason? Ivy, right?”
I could've kissed them. I wouldn't, because I was pretty sure that his omega would beat my ass, and she scared me a little, but Icould’ve.
“Oh, um, yeah—but—” Jason stammered, trying to correct course.
Gotcha, asshole.
“Well, that's perfect,” Eva said with a smirk. “If it’s not a date, then everyone can come. Right, J? Wouldn't want to keep a cool place like that all to yourself!”
“I—uh—yeah—of courseeveryone?—”
“And you'll invite Ivy?” Eva pressed, her smile only growing with his discomfort.
God, that wassomy girl. I just needed to figure out how to get over this weird block between us…
Explaining myself about what happened during her heat was a good place to start.
If I could get her alone, that was. There wasn’t a chance in hell I’d bring up something so personal with a bunch of ears listening in.
“Yeah,” Jason agreed with a sigh of defeat. “I'll invite Ivy…” His attention turned to us across the table. “You guys coming?"
“Wouldn't miss it,” Jesse said cheerfully, nudging me under the table. “I'll text Tara and Charlie.”
“I'm in,” I said, not that I’d really been invited based on the way that Jason’s eyes narrowed. But that didn’t matter, not when Eva cast a shy smile my way that had my legs feeling tingly.
Though that could’ve been from her subtly sweet scent still in my nose… spending hours shoulder to shoulder was both easier and harder than I thought it’d be.
Either way, I was going to this bar. I wasn’t going to miss my big opportunity to try to turn things around between us.
I pulled out my phone, just as Jesse's message popped up in the group chat.
CUTIE PIES
J, Indi, Eva, and me wanna to blow off some steam after the playtest.
Who's in?
Jesse
I wasn't sure why, but a little prickle of nerves at my name, along with Eva’s, being sent to the rest of my pack formed. It was silly, but definitely there anyway. Like I was breaking some unwritten rule, going to spend time with her while she iced the rest of them out. Intentionally or unintentionally, I didn't know. And Iwas pretty sure it didn’t matter, either. What mattered was that it didn’t bug Joon. Things had been good between us, and no matter what I felt for Eva, I wasn’t willing to put our relationship in jeopardy.
But… I looked across the table, Eva quickly averting her eyes, color blooming over her cheeks at being caught staring.
It was impossible to deny that there wassomethingbetween us… the power of our scent match and easy friendship translating into a desire for the omega that I thought was only meant to be between bonded mates.
Omegas were rare, only about three to five percent of the population, so there wasn't a huge sample size to study, much less for me to come into contact with. It was pretty common for an omega to have several alphas she wanted to claim as her own, but an alpha with a couple of omegas? It just wasn’t the norm.
