He waved away my comment. “I don’t know if you want to hear this, but while you were at the bar, that hot omega was watching you like you were freshly baked cookie.”
I stopped, the olive halfway to my mouth. “What hot omega?
“I think his name is Striker. He was an athlete expected to medal in the Skin to Fur events until he had some sort of accident that sidelined him. He scenes nearly every time he comes, and he likes pain.”
“Whoa. Okay. And he was looking at me?”
The server returned and set another plate on the table. Evander picked up a cookie the size of a dime and said, “Like one of these.”
“Stop waving that around. I want to taste it.”
“Exactly. That was how he watched you at the bar.”
“I wonder why?”
Evander huffed out a breath and handed me a house-made cracker topped with a cube of cured meat. “Fill your mouth with this instead of nonsense.”
Chapter Four
Striker
The truth was, I didn’t even like the flogging. The only reason I got into it was because it replaced the pain with a different kind and made my overthinking take a back burner for a few minutes. My brain thought the present sting was more of an emergency than my previous one.
I’d do anything, including letting an alpha I didn’t know whip me raw, with permission, to make those thoughts go away. An ounce of reprieve.
“Our time is in five minutes,” the alpha I’d agreed to scene with announced. As if I couldn’t see the clock mounted near the station. Since only owners were permitted to carry their personal phones, and almost nobody wore a watch for a scene, the devices were needed. My wolf disliked this one. I’d seen him with omegas before. He was never cruel but gave zero aftercare.
“I’m not in a hurry.” The lie tumbled from my mouth.
“Good. I’m not either.” The alpha waggled his eyebrows in a vaguely icky way. I wasn’t attracted to this one at all. He thought he was using me in this pairing, but really, I was using him. Most people who paired up were mutually attracted.
Not me.
I picked people I had no attraction to. They were providing a service. Nothing more. Romantic involvement, well, in my situation, I’d given up on all of that.
While we watched the couple ahead of us at the station, the hairs rose on my arms as someone sidled up next to me. I didn’t have to look in his direction to know who it was. My wolf scented the alpha from the bar. The one with the contagious laughter.
“I’m Wulf,” he said, leaning in toward me.
His voice washed over me, dulling some of my rigidity. I turned to him and nodded. “I’m Striker. It’s nice to meet you.”
Wulf nodded to the other alpha. “Are you with him?”
“Oh, I…no. We were going to…” I pointed to the station. The alpha behind me was wrong. Those two were just getting started.
“I was wondering if you’d like to get a table with me and talk.”
A laugh bubbled up. “Talk? You want to talk?”
“I do. Don’t you?”
I shook my head. “I didn’t really come here to talk.”
Wulf took a look around the room and back to me. Damn, those deep brown eyes did something to me. Nailed me in place. Demanded all my attention. “I don’t really play without talking to someone first.”
“I see.”
The other alpha parted his lips to speak, but Wulf met his gaze and shook his head. The male shrugged and walked away. Just like that. “Sure. We can go sit.”
