Page 57 of Pack’s Prize
“You,” I said, and Theo smiled.
“That’s not what we agreed on, omega,” he whispered, leaning close so his lips touched my ear and I could smell his delicious, singular scent.
“I know,” I agreed, “but I still don’t know why we had to do it this way to begin with.”
He raised his brows, smirking, and I said it with him: “Michael.”
“Don’t tell him I saw you over here, by the way,” he said casually, then turned to the bartender, who smiled back with a studiously disinterested look on her pretty face. “Three beers, please.”
“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you drink a beer, Theo,” I mused, and he grimaced.
“Youcertainlywon’t see me drink this one.” The bartender made a sound that was suspiciously close to a laugh, and recovered by covering her mouth with one elbow and coughing into it gently. “We’re sitting in the front corner, near the door. Don’t make Elias wait too long,” he said with a soft smile, as the bartender placed three beers on the smooth bartop, and then he was gone, carrying three drinks back to the three men I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. Starting in… about 10 minutes. Less if I had anything to do with it. Or if Theo got his way, apparently.
“I see a lot of alphas over this bar, you know,” the bartender said, carefully placing an elaborately crafted layered drink in a high martini-type glass on a napkin in front of me. “I don’t know what you have going on with that one, and listen, I don’t want to know,” she said, shaking her head and smiling. “But… in my professional opinion, if you don’t mind me sharing, he’s a keeper.”
“I think so, too,” I smiled back.
“So… why are you making him wait?”
I rolled my eyes. “There’s this whole thing with a fake relationship and asking them to have no-strings-attached sex with me,” her eyes widened, “and then there were feelings, and now they’re worried I didn’t get a real opportunity to explore, and they’re trying to give me a chance to choose–”
“And they’re still waiting…” she said, and glanced over my shoulder. I turned to look in the direction of her eyes. Three tense alphas sat at a table, three untouched beers in front of them.
“You know what?” I said, smiling. “You’re right.”
“Good talk,” she said, nodding. “Go get ‘em, girl.” She repeated the snatch motion, and winked, then shooed me away.
I hopped down from my stool.
“Wait, your drink!” she said, holding it out. I turned back for a second.
“Thanks, but… on second thought, I don’t think I’ll be here long enough to drink it. I’m taking them home with me, and I’d hate to make them wait.”
Her laughter rang in my ears as I made my way over to the table.
Michael looked up at me, then Elias, and finally Theo. I didn’t wait for them to speak.
“I want you,” I said, as the side of Theo’s mouth tilted in a smile, “to court me.”
Epilogue
Ava
“If you’re nervous, darling,”Theo said, smoothing a strand of hair back from my face to tuck it behind my ear, “we don’t have to do this quite yet. I can wait for you as long as you want, you know that, right?”
I nodded. I did know. That didn’t stop the fluttery feeling in my stomach, the way I couldn’t help but fidget.
“I’m ready, I promise. I’ve been waiting for so long.” The soft sheets felt stiff under my bare skin as he hovered over me.
“You have, haven’t you,” he said. “But you’re ready, hmm?” He adjusted my hair again. “There you are.Perfection.”
He stepped back and took his place across the room.
I was half-way reclining on a sheet on the floor of Elias’s room–for the best light–in a position that felt comfortable now, but I was sure would be stiff in the hour or so Theo had told me this would take.
My first sitting.
Today, he was just underpainting: sketching out the lines, bold brushstrokes of light and dark and color as he began to capture me, to transfer something of my essence onto his canvas. Our home was filled with his sketchbooks and pencil drawings and watercolors, and after months of preparation and nerves, he was finally ready.Wewere finally ready.