“Not dangerous, just...”
“It won't work. I can smell her from down the hall.”
We both startle, Wings putting a protective arm around me until Ark steps around the packing boxes near the door. At twenty-five, he’s already an alpha, and is wearing his leather cut with his road name stitched on his chest. As Booker’s only son, he’ll probably wear the President patch one day, but right now he’s just an ordinary club member, even if his dominance makes the cramped room feel even smaller.
“You know the rules,” he says quietly, his dark eyes flicking between us. “They won’t let you hide her.”
Theymeans Ark’s father and his friends who make up the club’s council. They set the charter we all have to follow, even though they’re the kind of alphas you’d cross the street to avoid.
“Fuck your rules,” Wings scowls, gripping me tighter. “We’re mates in every way that counts.”
“You say that like it makes a difference. You're seventeen, Wings. How are you gonna fight off a full-grown alpha in rut?”
Wings thrusts out his chest, a growl building in his throat. “My trigger finger works just fine.”
I’m pretty sure the only gun Wings has access to is his tattoo gun, but Ark doesn’t laugh. In fact, his scent is filling the air, a leather and dark florals swirl that makes my belly clench uncomfortably. Ark is an enigma in the club, too important to ignore, but too aloof to really know. My brother Samson is the closest thing he has to a friend, and that’s only because they’re both obsessed with Fat Boys and sniper rifles. “That’s the kind of talk that gets you both thrown out, or worse.”
“He didn’t mean it,” I say quickly, pulling out from under Wings’ arm. He looks at me worriedly, but I squeeze his hand as I rise shakily to my feet. “But maybe I could stop it. There are pills... See?” I hold the pack out to him, hating the way my hand trembles. “No one has to know, and by the time I have a real heat, Wings will have presented, too.”
Wings rises to his feet beside me, his panic making his voice strain. “Why can’t we just work around it, Ark? We’re not fucking animals. We don’t have to act like the other asshole alphas in this place.”
“No, but you can’t stick your heads in the sand, either,” he says with a sigh. “You’re joining up in six months, Wings. Who’s gonna see her through her heats, then?”
“You could,” I say quickly, because there’s always been something between us, even if we’ve never acknowledged it out loud. My dad was Booker’s Road Captain and one of the strongest alphas in the club. If he’d lived, and if Ark wasn’t such a hard person to know, maybe there’d already be an understanding between us. “You’re strong, and everyone knows you’ll be Pres one day. If you tell them to back off, they’ll listen.”
Something complicated crosses his face, and when I glance at Wings, he’s looking at Ark with pity. “Butterfly...”
I jerk my arm away from his, my face burning with more than fever. “What? You think I’m not good enough for him?”
“Jesus Christ,” Ark mutters, rubbing his face so hard I can hear his scruff scratch his palm. The fact that he’s old enough to have a beard the same dirty blond color as his hair should give me pause, but I’m desperate. Besides, Ark has always been there for me, even when I was just a wide-eyed kid begging for a ride on his dirt bike.
“Would it be so bad?” I ask them both. “You’re friends, and plenty of packs start that way.”
“Booker will never let it happen…” Wings mutters, but my gaze snaps back to Ark, who’s suddenly so close my knuckles could brush the leather of his cut. If I thought he was potent when he was across the room, he’s devastating up close, and I swallow hard as arousal wets my sleep shorts. It’s not omega slick, but it’s the next best thing, and I watch Ark’s nostrils flare as he catches the scent. “How is that gonna work, Abbie? You aren’t ready to take my knot.”
I lift my chin, annoyed at the reminder that he’s older and more experienced than me. He doesn’t flaunt his bed partners like other alphas in the club, but I hear plenty of gossip from the older girls about his skills between the sheets. “If the sweetbutts can satisfy you, I can, too. I’m built for it, right? I’m made for an alpha like you.”
He’s so close I can see his pupils dilate, the black leaking into his chocolate brown irises. “You don’t know the kind of fire you’re playing with right now.”
I can’t repress a shiver, even if my fever is coating my skin in sweat. “I’m not afraid of you, Ark. I’m only scared of being thrown out.” There’s barely an inch of space between us, but I fill it, running my clammy hands up his corded arms. They’re still folded over his chest, but they’re bare under his cut, and his skinis warm and smooth under my fingers. “Please keep me, Ark. I’ll be good for you. I’ll be your perfect omega.”
It’s something I read in a book once, when an abducted omega was trying to tempt her alpha captor, and for an awful moment I think he’s going to laugh at me. But then his hand slides over my cheek, cupping the hot skin. “Fuck me. You’re already perfect, Abbie... Which is why you have to get the hell out of here while you can.”
He turns and walks away like I’m just another girl making eyes at him in the bar, and I fling myself back at Wings. “I’m sorry,” I say miserably. “I had to try.”
“He was thinking about it,” he mutters, running a soothing hand down my back. “I could smell it.”
All I can smell is the painful stench of my own humiliation. I didn’t expect Ark to throw me on Wings’ bed and rut into me like the alpha in the book, but I thought he might offer to speak to his dad on our behalf. If he told him he was interested in me, maybe I could just go to a clinic until my fever passes, and then he could claim me until Wings presents. What were all those long looks across the quad if not the beginning of something more?
“Take the pills, just in case.”
I nod, popping two from the packet and swallowing them down dry. They taste as strange as they smell, and I wince at the unhappiness in Wings’ eyes. “I’m sorry, Wings,” I say again, resting my head on his shoulder. “I wish this never happened.”
“Never be sorry for being perfect, butterfly.” He casts a glance at the door, then pulls me into a blistering kiss. I cling to his mouth, my skin tingling at the intensity of his passion.This is all I need. Wings’ adoration makes me feel like I could fly, which is the opposite of what an alpha wants to do with his bites and knots. “We're gonna get through this,” he says when we break apart. “No matter what happens, I'll find my way back to you. You'll always be mine.”
My heart thuds at the finality of his words, or maybe it’s just reacting to the sound of two pairs of heavy boots on the attic steps. I’m guessing Ark has brought reinforcements, and I don’t want to turn around. Instead, I cling to Wings’ arms, squeezing my eyes tightly shut.Don’t look. Don’t make it real.
My nose crinkles as I register my brother’s woodsmoke scent. “Oh, hell!” Samson curses behind me. “She’s too young for this shit.”
