Page 56 of Pack’s Prize
And then…
“I want you, too,” she’d said.
My heart had splintered into a million glowing pieces, all along the fractures left so long ago, the fractured lines I’d thought I’d healed with Michael and Elias, and then it had come together into a new whole, a whole that could encompass Ava. Michael, Elias.
And myself.
All of me.
But still.
“I want you to be sure,” I’d said later, in the dark of night, and then again, the next morning. “I don’t want you to give up anything for us.”
“I’m not, I swear to you,” Ava had said. “This–thisis what I want. You.” She’d stared at me, as if trying to will me to believe her, but I still couldn’t quite comprehend what she was saying. After all, she wasperfect, wasn’t she? Wasn’t that the whole idea? How could she wantus?
And then again, I’d asked her, as we lay in bed that night, my brain slowly warming to the concept that my heart had already embraced.
“Jesus, Theo,” Michael groaned suddenly, “let the omega fucking sleep. What does she need to do to convince you?”
She giggled, and I watched as her eyes closed, a soft smile still lingering on her lips.
There was a rustle, and Michael sat up.
“Actually, listen, I have a great idea,” he said, excitement audible.
“Oh no,” Elias whined, and all three of us–Elias, Ava, and I–burst into laughter.
CHAPTERFIFTY-THREE
Ava
It was either incrediblybrave or incredibly foolish of my alphas to encourage me to push through the padded velvet door and into Ardor, the week after our little agreement had officially come to an end.
The paperwork had gone through, Michael had officially inherited the business. I hadn’t heard anything from Roman. He really had been the distant cousin, and although it seemed almost too coincidental, I was thankful for the coincidence that had brought us face to face one final time.
I sometimes wondered, late at night, whether I had sensed the distant family tie between Michael and Roman from the start, whether that was why I had clung so desperately to Roman those three sad years: to get me to Michael.
Maybe it was fate.
Or maybe not. The world of alphas and omegas was a small one, after all.
It seemed the whole lot of them were here, at this club, tonight: the air was thick with pheromones, the dance floor filled with moving bodies, anonymous dancers looking for someone to spend the night with, the weekend, a heat, a lifetime.
I was in the market for that last one, but I pushed my way up to the bar anyway.
I could wait for a moment: my new life was starting tonight.
“What can I get for you tonight?”
“Three alphas,” I said, smiling. “Three alphas who love me more than anything in the world. Three alphas who make me smile, and make my heart flutter, and who come up with the wildest, most unnecessary schemes on, like, a regular basis.”
“I meant to drink,” she said, laughing. She was pretty, with full lips and interesting grey eyes framed by dark hair, and a beta, like all the staff here. “But I like your style. I like a girl who knows her worth, who knows what she wants and goes out and takes it.” She made a snatching motion over the bar top.
“Yeah,” I said, my smile growing to a grin. “I like that girl, too.”
“And your drink?”
“That’ll be on me,” said a low, softly accented voice beside me at the bar. I looked up into warm brown eyes, golden flecks flickering in the lights from the dancefloor. A pouty smile, a hint of scruff on a tanned face. A shimmer of excitement rolled over my skin as my shoulder brushed against his chest as he sat down. “What do you want, darling?”