"I don't know," I said. "He's really upset."
"And I've known him forever. He's obsessed with you; he'll let it go."
I licked my lips. "I thought maybe I could do something to bring us together."
Marcus rubbed his chin. "That might be a good idea. You know, the theater across from me is doing an actor's cut of Screech day after tomorrow. I’ll let the staff know I need a night off—I haven’t taken one in a while. Surely they’ll be able to manage without me."
"Oh, that's a great idea."
I pulled it up on my phone. Marcus was right, but what he didn't seem to know was that one of the nights, Nora Bell was going to be there, and she was the final girl. Taking photos with her would be so fun! And the resale tickets weren't crazy expensive.
"Booked," I told him with a smile.
It felt good to have a plan. To know what my next step was.
Plus, Indigo never could resist a movie.
Despite the overallair of chaos in the house, everything was going to plan.
Well, maybe notexactly. The probability that of all of the members of our pack, Marcus would be the one to sink his teeth into our omega first was catastrophically low. But any negative feelings I had about it were easily brushed away. Jealousy was the sort of painfully nonsensical thing that I didn't have a lot of patience for. A foolish, resentment-driven emotion reserved for alphas who lacked the common sense to go after what they want regardless of the consequences.
Unfortunately, many alphas didn't see things my way. When you bonded an omega as far as the order of operations was concerned, it really didn't matter. At least not biologically. A bond was a bond, and the body didn't keep a score based on who'd marked their chosen mate first… If it did, maybe I wouldn't have been so lax about Joon's detached reluctance to join us.
Maybe I would've ensured that it was me who laid claim to our sweet little omega first.
But it didn't matter. When I claimed Joon for myself—and trust that I would, he belonged to me from the moment I'd laid eyes on him, almost as certainly as I knew Eva was the same—it would be because the omega was begging for it. There was no point in a prize that didn't want to be won.
I'd spent enough of my life chasing meaningless sex with omegas that were available for a quick heat fuck and nothing else. It was a luxury to explore more.
And there was still plenty of time before the baby came. Surely Joon would be ready before then. And, if he wasn't… Well, he'd already bitten Marcus. Surely I was high on the list of alphas that he wanted to sink his teeth into… Though I didn't need to be a mathematical genius to know that the honor of most highly anticipated surely went to Indigo.
The trouble was, my packmate didn't see things the way I did. For them, jealousy and resentment were as near and dear as a love language. I tried to understand, but in truth… It seemed pointless.
But so would yet another argument about alphaing up and biting the damned brat already.
Luckily for Indigo, I was a good friend, and I knew exactly what they needed.
The stench of burned sugar made my nose itch as I passed their room, the pound of their fingers against the keyboard making me wonder if they'd successfully pounded their switches into dust.
Their dark mood was foolish pride at best, and deeply disrespectful to the relationships of his packmates at worst. And I wouldn't stand for it. I needed to put a stop to their foul mood before it could wind Joon up anymore. Or worse, Marcus.
He already felt an astonishing amount of misplaced guilt over our last failed attempt at securing an omega for our pack. But I could hardly count the fickle emotions of an omega against Marcus, his staunch optimism subdued in the wake of the snafu Mindy had left behind.
I didn't anticipate that he'd want to explore the possibility of a bond again—and, I thought with a wry smile as I paused outside of Indigo's door, breathing through my mouth to minimize the sickly feeling festering in my gut at their scent, colored by negative emotions. I suppose Marcus hadn't; Joon made the decision for them.
Usually, I'd be furious that my careful calculations had been so off, but given the end result was directly in line with my optimal output, I'd decided that it was moot to fuss over it.
In contrast, Indigo was thinking about this entirely wrong. Too busy focusing on petty feelings of ownership to see what was really going on here—our pack had found its omega.
Permanently.
And yet, there they were sulking that it hadn't been their teeth that'd sealed the deal.
Could've been, though. If they weren't afraid to take what they wanted.
If they weren't so damn fucking careful.
That's what tonight was about, though. As much as I wanted to lift Indigo's mood and resolve some of the tension, making the house feel as inhospitable as a desert in the dry season, it was also about teaching Indi an important lesson.
