How many offers to leave the band had I turned down? Millions on single year contracts with renewal options that included lifetime royalties. Yet, I had never regretted being loyal.
We had to survive this. Finding our perfect scent match couldn’t tear us apart after all we’d been through together. Fuck, finding our mate should be the most wonderful thing in the damn world.
Catalina cleared her throat and now I did part my lashes. She was standing a little farther away, her posture tense. She began to speak, voice taking on an almost professorial quality as if she thought an academic tone would fan the flames of sanity instead of ferality.
“The Eros client liaison warned me this might happen when we were first negotiating the contract. They said even the strongest pack dynamics can strain when an Omega is found, simply because your Alpha natures will want to claim, absolutely, the Omega for its own.” She paused, letting her words sink in. “Guys, sharing doesn't always come naturally, even when a pack wants it to be that way. But The Institute did clarify that the larger the gap in compatibility between the Alphas and the Omega, the more likely the pack is to fracture. For instance, if one Alpha is only a fifteen percent match, while another is an eighty percent match the chances of pack degradation is high.”
“Why the hell wouldn’t you tell us that?” Dixon rumbled, hooded gaze dark and dangerous. He shook his damaged hand, sending droplets of crimson flying to stain various surfaces.
“Dixon, you guys are different.” She took a deep breath, trying to smile as she made eye contact with each of us. “You guys have matched with Tessa in an incredible, unprecedented way. Remember? Provably,through science and scent, Tessa was meant to belong to Oblivion Haze.”
The last part hung in the air, heavy and terrible. I wasn’t a jealous person, yet Cat saying that Tessa was meant to belong to the band gave me a taste of what it would be like. Icouldbecome a possessive person prone to malicious love. Icouldkeep my Omega hidden from the world, tucked away for my own private pleasure.
My Alpha nature started spiraling.I didn't want Tessa to belong to the pack. I wanted her to belong to me.Screw Ryder and his long-standing obsession. Screw the entire group. Screw the idea of waiting another second. Now that I knew the scent of her, now that my inner Alpha knew it, I couldn't imagine her belonging to anyone else. Maybe I should call up the most recent label executive who’d tried to coax me away. One year, three million. A percentage of tour merchandise as a bonus. Possibility to renew at double. I’d forge a new path and take Tessa with me.
Not me.A little voice whispered, barely audible over my inner Alpha ranting.This isn’t me.
Hell, not too long ago I’d been in bed with a stranger. The honeymoon suite at The Roosevelt. A stunning Omega with a pair of green eyes that could haunt a person for life. He’d been delicious. I wasn’t the jealous type. I wasn’t the possessive type. I wasn’t going to battle my brothers.Not me. This isn’t me.I mentally repeated the words until they started to stick.
Standing up abruptly, I turned and leaped over the sofa. Striding fast, so I didn’t have time to think, I wrenched open the patio door and walked back out into the pounding rain. I let it soak me again, though I’d barely managed to dry in the chilly interior of the mansion. It had the effect I’d hoped though—by the time I strode back inside, I’d returned to my normal self.
Tessa’s scent hit me anew, but this time I didn’t want to abandon Oblivion Haze or punch my pack brothers. I did, however, still want her desperately. I wanted her in a way I’d never wanted anyone.
Something real.
Something lasting.
Something more than a hook-up app, a shit coffee date, and terrible sex with a ludicrously clingy Beta.
Our mate. Tessa was our mate. And we were a pack.
“Better?” Catalina moved towards me. She still held the plastic bag. Butterflies took flight in my stomach when she came to a stop in front of me and Tessa’s scent kissed my senses. Involuntarily, I groaned with desire. Cat’s eyes flicked down to the bag, and then back to my face. “Well, that’s better than wanting to fight,” she observed, patting my shoulder and then returning to the center of the room near the coffee table.
I was standing just inside, the patio door still open behind me. The sound of the rain outside was soothing, so I didn’t bother to slide it closed before moving back to the sectional. I didn’t sit down this time. I’d done enough damage to the upholstery.
"I don’t want to fight you guys over Tessa,” I finally breathed out, addressing the room at large.
“You could try,” Dixon suggested, obviously not yet in the mood for reconciliation.
“I’m getting déjà vu,” I laughed awkwardly. “Didn’t we try that once before? Pretty sure my ribs still ache in bad weather.” I touched my side gingerly and winced dramatically.
As if the reminder he’d once hurt me was the switch that needed to be flipped, Dixon deflated. Though we all knew it would take the tiniest inconvenience to stoke his savagery again, his posture softened, and he moved to lean against the shelving next to the fireplace with its busted mantle.
“I know I should be happy that Tessa is coming, but all I want to do is tear every one of you fuckers apart so I'm the only Alpha left.” Dixon didn’t exactly growl the words this time, but thunder still threaded beneath them.
"Fucking ditto," Ryder grumbled, though he wasn’t clawing at himself anymore. His arms were covered in cuts and drying blood.
Mac said nothing. Though he seemed to be the one who’d recovered the fastest, something just didn’t look right about him now.He opened his mouth. Closed it again. I peered at him, wondering what was going on inside his head. The quietude lengthened. Even Catalina just stood there. We all seemed to be expecting the second shoe to drop.
“You can't have her,” Mac finally spoke; his voice vibrating with emotion and need. The same need that tore through all of us, no matter how much we loved each other. “None of you can have her.”
Every head turned to look at Mac. No one knew what to say. He was always the one to yield. The designated driver. The calm in the storm. Even during this, he’d somehow pulled himself together and protected Catalina when the rest of us had intimidated her while lost in primal urgings.
“Mac, you have to get it together. You are always the one who makes the pack see reason,” Cat came to his rescue this time. “If you don’t lead the charge, I’m truly worried this won’t work. You guys need Tessa. Youdesperatelyneed her.”
“I'm so damn tired of being the one who constantly keeps the pack in check. I'm an Alpha. I'm a man. I have my own needs that no one seems to fucking care about. It’s like I’ve been the pack Omega this whole goddamn time.” Mac was nearly whispering, like if he spoke louder, he’d either fall apart or fuck up the world.
Without thinking better of it, I blurted out a response. “I mean, if we’re going to label someone a token Omega, it should probably be the pack’s bottom. Omega’s might be givers in the streets, but they’re takers in the sheets. What about it, Dix?”
