Page 10 of For What It's Worth

“You don’t know that.” I’d heard of betas in alpha packs sharing an omega. It was rare since betas and alphas usually only worked without an omega, but it was possible.

“Are you willing to stake your future on that?”

My body spun around before I’d even acknowledged how angry I’d gotten. The longer I stayed here amidst my mistake, the more frustration and guilt I felt. How could I have fallen so easily into making out with these males? Sure, they smelled good, and looked good, but I was an adult. Not a hormone angst teenager who couldn’t handle her emotions. Especially lust.

Boys used to hit on me all the time in high school and when I was sitting by myself at restaurants and apparently ‘looking like I could do with some company’. They tried to turn me on with their words, catch my attention with their scents, but it never worked. In fact, it was always a turn off when I had to swallow my food quicker in order to politely ask a stranger to leave me alone. And I’d scented alpha pheromones I’d found pleasing, but none—besides this pack apparently—had such a direct effect on my libido. I never feared I would perfume just by grazing arms with some alpha stranger. If that was the case, I wouldn’t have managed to stay hidden for so long in mixed classes.

“What do you want from me, Lorenzo? I can’t just stay here until Jenson’s next class.” I did my best to look into Lorenzo’s blue eyes, but I could barely hold his stare for long before I had to avert my gaze to his jaw.

“Call me Enzo.”

I felt the rage in my veins like it was fucking tangible. I was point two seconds away from exploding when Enzo wrapped me up in a bear hug so quickly and tightly that I had trouble breathing. I tried squirming away, but his grip didn’t loosen at all. It was like the fight just flowed out of me. For the second time in an hour, I leaned my head against a male’s chest. My ear didn’t reach Enzo’s heart, but I could hear the inner workings of his body as I breathed. Or tried to breathe.

“Jenson has a car close by. We’ll take you to our place so you can shower, and we can change without causing a frenzy.” The words come from Aidan, but I didn’t acknowledge them. That would mean coming back to reality, and I was perfectly content burrowing into Lorenzo’s chest. In fact, I was so content, I leaned all my weight on him until my own legs didn’t hold me up anymore and he was forced to grab me. His grip around my back and arms didn’t waiver, but I knew he was carrying me since my head rested in the perfect spot along his shoulder, next to his neck.

“What the hell did you do to her?” Jenson whisper shouted as he led the way to his car, his clean laundry scent tainted with worry. He constantly glanced over at Enzo carrying me, checking around us like he was worried about getting caught, but I didn’t have any worries.

Enzo’s body had a steady rhythm I was entranced by. Even considering how cold it was outside, he only wore a single t-shirt as a layer. Alphas. If I had had the energy to roll my eyes, I would have.

“Talk about it later,” Enzo said. The bastard didn’t even sound winded. In fact … if I hadn’t known better, I would have said he sounded giddy.

When that thought threatened to bring the anger back, I decided to close my eyes and concentrate solely on Enzo. His pine tree scent was everywhere, calming me with every breath, the wind wiping away any trace of arousal clinging to our clothes. I breathed deeply and tried to hold on to this fleeting moment because when I got my wits back, I needed to separate myself from this pack.

Chapter Nine

My head felt light. Not in a bad way, like I would fall down if I stood and had my eyes open. More like a lifetime worth of stress that had subconsciously weighed me down was gone. Also wet. I definitely felt wet.

The rush of panic almost made me open my eyes, but I managed to squeeze them shut before they opened on instinct. Gently, and slowly, I stretched my fingers, feeling around for any clues on where I was. They touch something smooth, and when I trailed my fingers up, they broke the surface of the water. The small movement rippled the water, making the temperature cooler than I realized. Like a tub that had been sitting for too long without refreshing the water.

Memories came back with each ripple of the water: kissing Lorenzo, yelling at him before being lulled into a calm state, and then falling asleep. I wasn’t sure how he knew how to do that, but it was a neat trick. Although their expertise in caring for me went out the window when they left me unconscious in a tub. At least, I had better be in a tub, because if they had put me in a pool, then I would have argued attempted manslaughter.

“If the number of ripples in the water is equal to the number of thoughts running through your mind, you must think faster than a male comes touching himself for the first time.”

Aidan.

I guessed if I wasn’t alone, it was time to officially wake up.

Opening my eyes was easier than I thought it would be. Instead of bright lights, the room was dark with small, unscented candles for the only illumination. Aidan was sitting next to me, on the ground, his back to the tub making it impossible for me to figure out how he knew I was awake. I might want to be annoyed Aidan was here, but unfortunately, I found it comforting. At least they hadn’t left me alone to drown.

“The water’s cold.” I sat up and leaned against the back of the tub, careful to move slowly so I didn’t push any water out. The tub was wider and longer than anything I’d ever used before. In fact, I was pretty sure I had this exact tub pinned on my phone as a future omega-nest-want. Tubs didn’t belong in the nest, but a bathroom near a nest felt important so I’d taken to imagining how I would decorate the space. The exact nest building ran completely on instinct, but the bathroom allowed for me to make decisions on what I actually liked.

“You’ve been in there a while.” Aidan turned his head to look at me. I knew he couldn’t see much in the dark, but I still felt my cheeks blush at his gaze. He could most likely see at least the tops of my breasts and my necklace holding my room key. It wasn’t more than what I would show off in a cute top, but it was blatantly obvious I was naked. Speaking of which…

“Who undressed me? Why did you undress me?” I pressed my finger to Aidan’s cheek, pretending like I hadn’t lingered, before pushing his head to look away from me.

“Enzo had the honors of undressing you. He’s very smug about it despite the fact he claims he didn’t look. Something about not wanting to be a perv. I, on the other hand, had no issue with perving.”

My cheeks were as red as they could get, but I didn’t interrupt him. Arguing naked wasn’t on my list of things to do with a basic stranger, even if he didn’t feel like one.

“And as to the question of why. We promised to get the stink off you and that meant washing your clothes as well as you.”

I was low-key grateful he called it stink, even if his voice faltered over the word.

“Where is Enzo?”

There was a bit of silence before, Aidan said, “Well, he’s already jerked off twice since you’ve been in here, but I imagine he’s doing it again.”

I couldn’t stop the gasp from escaping even though I begged my lips not to release the sound. If I could get words out, I would have begged Aidan to stop too.