Page 2 of Jace

“Where there’s a will, there’s a way. And lube—lots of lube. This boy I was seeing for a while had this alpha fetish, started ‘training’ me to take the knot of this freaking huge dildo.” His expression grew lazy and well satisfied. “First, I signed up because hey, you want to spend hours teasing my hole, I’m down. But then…”

His eyes roamed across what we could see of The Strip, bright lights and gaudy paint all designed to draw us here or there to drink, to spend all our hard-earned dollars, to step beyond the tight constraints of our little beta lives and walk on the wild side.

“But then it got weird and the role play was too involved and he was totally into the idea of me being an omega, which I’m not.” A little humph in his tone. “But I figured while we’re down here, I could see about broadening my horizons somewhat. Which it looks like those silly girls have a head start on.”

I stiffened, saw three massive men towering over my sister and her friend, moving slowly and surely closer, hemming them in. And Em? She was twirling her hair, giggling, reaching out to put her hand?—

“Shit!” I yelped, striding forward, finding my way to her side in a matter of seconds. “Em, I’m dying for a vodka tonic. I found Jude, so let’s go?”

She took a few heartbeats to recognise me, her focus entirely captured by the alphas standing around her, and I understood why. A quick glance up, and I felt like I’d been scalded by hot water. We might be betas, but even we were susceptible to that alpha allure. All that power, all that intensity, it radiated off them, pinning you to the spot, making you all too aware of them and their interest. It made you want more, I knew that, dragging my eyes down, even while feeling a burning need to preen, posture, try and capture their attention.

Just like Jude was doing right now.

He ambled up, placing a hand on the nearest guy, one with a ragged shock of dark blond hair.

“Well, hello there, handsome.”

The massive man’s lips twisted into a smile almost identical to the door alpha’s. He took in Jude’s trim form—“You could bounce a twenty-cent piece off this arse, love,” he’d told me—with a kind of feral hunger that grew and grew.

“And who are you, pretty?” the alpha asked in a low rumble.

“Going is what we are,” I insisted as I linked arms with Jude and Em, leaving Jewel to stumble after us, her eyes trained over her shoulder.

Jace

“Nice collection of victims—I mean, opportunities,” Ryder said as he joined me at the gate.

I cut him a glare, hardly noticing the sea of bodies rolling past, every one of them with their bug-eyes trained on Ryder and me.

Shock.

Speculation

And open lust.

Yeah, mostly the lust. They wanted to try out an alpha cock, see if it really was as big as those illegal videos they’d been watching.

It was.

Fifty percent would run screaming at the first glimpse. The other half couldn’t handle it either, but their enthusiasm to try was fun, not that I partook of the opportunities often. To me, they were wealthy patrons about to get frivolous in my club.

“Don’t talk about them like that, arsehole,” I muttered.

“Willing participants?” he asked with an overly innocent expression on his face.

“Better,” I agreed.

The dick laughed. He knew about my hang-ups.

They’re not the same as omegas, I told myself. These are betas, and they rule the fucking world.

Maybe not Desparion, but everything beyond the metal fence was the dominion of their kind. I’d lived outside once, and it wasn’t as pretty as the commercials would have you believe.

“You’re growling,” Ryder said way too casually.

“I’m good,” I said, letting the memories fade into nothing, which was where they deserved to stay.

I didn’t need to go back there, to being a small, unrevealed kid, powerless as they… When I became an alpha, I’d learnt how to fight and had dedicated myself to making a place for me and my sister. Ella was safe now, and I made sure she stayed that way. If she wanted to be with a man, beta or alpha, it was on her terms.

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