“Beer?” I pull open the fridge and stick my head in, hoping the blast of cool air will bring me down a notch.
“Sure.”
I hand him one and twist off the cap, knocking back a third of the bottle in one go.
“How’s your face? Anyone punch you today?” Beckett asks as I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand.
“Nope. I’ve been a good boy.”
“The day’s not over yet.”
I snort. It breaks the tension a little bit.
“So, when exactly were you going to mention the omega in our kitchen?”
“I…” He starts, stops, tries again. “It just sort of happened.”
“Whoopsie. You trip and fall and you just happen to knot an omega.” The fiery heat of a thousand suns flashes through me at just the thought of Beckett’s knot in that omega.
“I… She… Don’t be fucking rude.” His ears go even redder. Shit. Beckett is cursing. That’s not a good sign. “She… This is unexpected. Don’t freak out.”
“I’m not freaking out.”
“You’re freaking out.”
“She’s unexpected.” I throw the line back at him. “I didn’t expect to come home to an omega in my kitchen. Cooking dinner with my pack. Touching shit. Smelling like…” I sniff and curse under my breath. I still can’t smell shit.
“Are you jealous?” Beckett’s hands are jammed in his pockets again.
It’s a genuine question because he doesn’t want me to be. We’ve all dated other people over the years. We’ve occasionally dated the same person. Beckett’s the one who would ask the leading questions about expanding the pack, finding an omega, or a beta. And I have always been the one to shut that idea down.
“So, you like her?” I just want to hear him say it out loud.
Beckett chews his lip. “I don’t know yet. She’s… cute. Weird. Quiet. There’s something about her that I—I don’t know—I need more of.”
“And the part where you already fucked her?” The words leak out of my mouth as my internal chemistry goes all out of whack. Alpha territorialism brews a toxic sludge in my veins. Because I am jealous. He had her without me.
The sliding door rattles, and Liam comes back in with a platter of steaks. Ash trails behind him, hair a little windblown, cheeks flushed, arms wrapped around herself, rubbing to warm up. I clamp my jaws shut to keep in a snarl, like I need to punish the weatherman for making it too cold for her. I resist the urge to wrap her in a blanket. No. My own clothes.
She smiles up at Beckett’s greeting. She moves like she’s trying not to take up space, but her eyes go straight to mine like she can’t help it.
It’s a hit to the chest.
Liam sets the platter down. Ash moves toward the table in the breakfast nook. There are only four chairs. Natural seating geometry puts her directly across from me, almost like she wants to be protected with Liam and Beckett on each side.
She sits. I sit. Our knees almost knock under the table. Static buzzes in my ears that I only partially register as Liam and Beckett getting the rest of dinner on the table.
She glares at me. She’s fucking stunning. Her hair frames her face like she’s a movie star. Her lips and cheeks are full of color and not from makeup. Her collar bones are sharp, peeking out from her shirt. She’s thin, and not in the way some omegas starve themselves to fit some ridiculous beauty standard. Something about it doesn’t sit right. Her eyes are… like I’ve been staring into them all my life.
Liam passes me a bowl. It almost hurts to take my eyes off her for the few seconds it takes to tilt the bowl and tip an avalancheof roast potatoes onto my plate. I curse as my fingers burn when I pick up a few rogues that scattered across the table. I stab some steak and take some green beans just for color. Fuck macros, I can’t do that math in my head right now.
A little too forcefully, I hack off a corner of my steak and jab it with my fork. I finally look up while I’m chewing. “What?”
The whole table has stopped to watch. Liam snorts as he puts extra beans on the side of Ash’s plate.
“Oh good, you can use a fork. I thought you’d be all ‘me alpha, steak good,’” Ash drops her voice to caveman range.
“Don’t you worry, Sunshine. I’ve been domesticated.” To prove the point, I hold out my pinky as I take another bite of steak.
