Page 68 of In the Mouth of the Wolf

He looked at me dumbfounded. “I… what…”

“Oh my god, I’m kidding! Don’t worry, I’ll pick the most expensive reds they have.” I gave him a kiss on the cheek and walked away, ignoring his continued sputtering.

Most of the wine in the attached store was from California, and I recognized one of the brands from a weekend Mike and I had spent in Napa.

Well, not picking that one, then.

I tried to push him out of my mind while I looked for a Chianti or something similar.

I chuckled to myself as I skipped over the Pinot Grigio, happy that Nolan had passed my little wine test. A sweet, white, German wine with lasagna? Inconceivable.

The bell over the door rang as it opened and I heard a couple of females enter, laughing with each other. A light, clean scent preceded them.

Betas, I surmised. Archer had helped me learn how to distinguish between different shifter designations through smell. Alphas, and omegas, apparently, had the strongest scents, while betas tended to be more subtle.

They came down the aisle I was in and their voices dropped to whispers.

“That’s her.”

My face heated, and I put the four of the closest bottles of Merlot I could find in my basket and walked past them to the register. I just wanted to leave.

“Omegawhore,” one of them spat.

I whirled around. “Excuse me, what did you say?” I might have been shy, but I could still stick up for myself. At least a little.

“You heard us. One alpha isn’t enough for you, you need a whole pack?”

My heart stuck in my chest. I’d been warned just a few hours ago that some of the females in town might be a bit jealous, but I hadn’t thought they’d be mean enough to say it to my face.

I also couldn’t help but be surprised. The guys had made it seem like one omega with a whole pack was normal. Expected, even.

“But that’s how it’s done…”

One of them stepped closer, leaning down into my face. “You know, we betas were doing just fine when omegas went extinct. Alphas stopped treating us like consolation prizes. Now your kind is back, and you’ve gone and bonded to the four hottest alphas in Maiingan Hollow? Greedy slut.”

My bottom lip trembled, and I ran to the register, willing the tears at bay.

“Omega, eh?” the cashier asked, taking a deep breath. “Damn, you smell divine.”

I couldn’t take it any longer. I left the wine on the counter and ran back to the grocery store, finding Nolan talking to some man while he was still waiting. He smiled as I approached but scrunched his eyebrows when he noticed my empty hands. “Don’t tell me there wasn’t anything decent in there…”

I shook my head and held out my palm. “Can you give me your keys? I just want to wait in the car.”

His eyes ran up and down my body and he grabbed my shoulders. “What’s wrong, did someone try to touch you?”

“No, I just… I don’t want to talk about it here.”

The growl that rumbled in Nolan’s chest was so loud, the whole butcher section cowered, backing away from us. “Marlowe, tell me.”

“Please,” I begged. “We can talk about it at home.”

His eyes were still on me, darkening by the second. “Stu, do you mind watching my cart for a minute?”

The man he’d been talking to swallowed nervously. “Yeah, no problem, bud.”

Nolan took my hand, pulling me outside forcefully and back into the liquor store. “Nolan, please, don’t…”

He scanned the aisles until he found the two betas in the back, the only other customers. He growled again, and they both stood at attention. The guilty looks on their faces when they noticed us spoke volumes. “What did you do to her?” he snarled.

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