Page 10 of Pack’s Prize
How could they talk about her like that?I opened my mouth to argue back but he shot me a look. I might have been bigger, but Michael was the… Well, I wasn’t sure what. He wasn’t the oldest–that was Theo–or the richest–that was Theo, too, if you counted his family money–but he was unquestionably the leader.Pack Alpha.“We don’t have time to argue about this, Elias. Theo, put on your jacket. It’s time to go.”
I unclenched my jaw, and followed Michael out the door, down to the private garage below our building, and into our black SUV.
* * *
She was waitingon the curb as we pulled up to the address she’d given us, and I carefully avoided Michael’s eyes; I knew without looking that they would be full of the joke he didn’t need to voice. I looked, instead, at her. It was a bad idea: she was even more craveable today than yesterday, her chestnut hair sleek and long and soft-looking, begging for me to wrap my fists in it and pull her against me. She was wearing another of those tight, short dresses she seemed to favor, and I wondered if she had a whole closet full of them, if they all came from the same store.
What it would be like to see it crumpled on the floor.
I tore my gaze away as Theo stepped down from the vehicle, kissing her briefly on both cheeks, then taking her hand to help her in with us.
“Hello,” she breathed, sweet and musical, and I silently cursed myself for the duration of the short ride from her apartment to the restaurant, as her orchard scent slowly permeated the vehicle and my cock grew stiff in my dress pants.
CHAPTERELEVEN
Ava
I had knownthat the alphas at Ardor had to pay a membership fee, and I’d heard it was expensive, but I hadn’t thought much of it when I’d decided to visit the club myself. It didn’t matter much to me if my hookups were rich: I wasn’t going to be getting dinner with any of the one night stands I had intended to pick up there, so the thickness of their wallets hadn’t interested me, only the thickness of their–
“We’re here,” Theo said, and smoothly exited the vehicle, coming around to let me out. Elias beat him to it, opening the door and holding out his hand. The palm was calloused as I slipped my fingers into it, and the question of what he did for a living–lumberjack? Professional Mountain Man? I doubted there were many openings for those positions in the city–flickered across my mind the moment before I felt the tingle blooming under my skin.
Roman never felt like this,I thought, feeling unaccountably guilty as the heat spread up my arm and pooled in my belly, warming me from the inside out. Theo’s cheek kisses had made me lightheaded, and then the close confines of the car–the scents of cedar and whiskey and tobacco smoke and above all,alpha–had had me taking shallow breaths and squeezing my legs together tight, and now Elias was here, looking up at me with a incongruously cute smile on his ruggedly handsome face, sending sparks ricocheting through my body and threatening to turn me into a puddle on the pavement before we even got inside the restaurant.
But therestaurant. When I finally managed to tear my focus away from Elias’s bicep, hard and bulging under the smooth fabric of his suit jacket, I looked around, and felt my breath catch in my throat. It was fancy–no,elegant–so elegant that I realized thatthesealphas? I may have barely known them, but it was already obvious: they were of a different league entirely than Roman and his crew.
“Oh my god,” I whispered, as I stared unabashedly at the dining room: it was dim, illuminated only by elaborate crystal chandeliers that glittered overhead, their light reflected back by the gleaming silver flatware and delicate wine glasses that littered every white-tableclothed table.
“I know,” Elias said, and I felt my cheeks flush as he looked down at me. The top of my head was level with the bottom of his chin, and I had to tilt my head up to meet his eyes. “Personally, it’s a little fancy for me but it’s worth it for the food.” I fought the urge to tug at my short skirt, wishing I’d worn something a little less revealing.
“And the wine,” said Theo, suddenly appearing at my other shoulder. “Good French wine.Bonjour, Henri,” he said, as a man approached our party, his serious face softening slightly as he got closer.
“Ahh, Theo, bonjour!” He nodded to Michael and Elias–and me, although I was sure his raised eyebrows signified…something–and then conversed with Theo quietly in French as he led us to a secluded table in the back of the restaurant. This was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of restaurant for me–for most mortals–and Theo, at least, was a regular.
As soon as we sat down and the host strode away, I couldn’t help myself:
“Sorry, but–who exactlyareyou?”
Theo tilted his head, brows furrowed, and Michael looked at me curiously, but Elias, seated next to me, let out a low laugh.
“I ask myself this all the time. HowdidI end up with these two? They don’t even realize that the way they live isn’t normal,” he intoned, leaning close to me. I wanted to close the distance, to bury my face in his neck and breathe in his woodsy scent. The other two nodded in acknowledgment as he rattled off introductions more complete than what I’d gotten the night previous: “Michael Stoll, owner of Stoll Galleries. Theo Martin, chief buyer of the same.” The name of the company meant nothing to me, but it must have been a big deal if he could afford a first date here.
“And Elias Nielsen, who invited himself back to our hotel room in Copenhagen,” Theo said, looking at the blond with a smirk on his full lips. “A night to remember, although unfortunately, I was a bit, ah,impaired, and I don’t remember it quite as clearly as I might want… I seem to recall of a view of Tivoli Gardens out the window, but I could be wrong, the glass was pretty steamy–”
My cheeks flushed, and I was thankful for the arrival of the waiter, who poured Theo a taste of wine. It was pale, straw colored, from a bottle with an understated label that I would have passed over at the grocery store.This isn’t grocery store wine,I thought, and the people here weren’t picking their wines based on how eye-catching the labels were, like I did. He took a sip, and nodded; the waiter poured four glasses and left the bottle on a small silver coaster at Theo’s elbow. I stared at the label, trying not to think about the omega who’d been there that night, the anonymous woman who had been there at the start of their relationship. That squirming feeling in my stomach was just nerves, not jealousy, I was sure of it. And then Theo continued:
“Idoremember quite clearly the sounds you made as Michael fucked you–”
“Theo,” Michael hissed, as Elias’s eyes widened in panic, his cheeks reddening.
And–oh.
The restaurant seemed to close in around me, the other diners falling into shadow, as my focus contracted to the four of us sharing a table. The three men–lovers, they werelovers–and… me.
“Well, if we’re going to do this, we should all know what we’re getting ourselves into, should we not?” Theo was saying, leaning back in his chair. “Right, Eli? Michael?”
The three were exchanging significant glances at each other, but I didn’t bother attempting to decipher them; my thoughts were elsewhere.That is why they didn’t need an omega, not really. That’s why they wanted me just to play pretend, to fake a courtship.
“You’retogether,” I said, stupidly.