Page 5 of Pack’s Pledge

“Ha, you say that like I’m the only one with a big head around this pack. You’re one to talk. And–”

“You want abig head, Beau, you know where to ask,” the alpha growled.

“You want a big head, Adrian,” came a third voice, a familiar voice, a voice I heard in my deepest, most secret dreams, “you wouldn’t be trying to hook him up with a…”

I looked away from the omega’s transfixing gaze and straight into the eyes of the the one man I had spent every night here longing–and dreading–to see.

“...a beta,” he breathed.

“Conall,” I said, unable to help myself, then cursed.What if he didn’t even remember me?But–

“Britt,” he said. And then he smiled, and I felt it–the same pull I’d run from so many years ago, the same magnetic draw he’d had over me back then, the same riptide of emotions that I’d fought so hard against back then.

It was Conall alright, and nothing had changed.

Except that now…

He was standing, side by side, with an omega–Beau–like I always knew he would, eventually.

He had a lover, and someone to share him with. He had apack.

He had a membership to Ardor, this place that was forthem, for them to meet and mingle and mate andoh god, was that smudge on Beau’s neck, just under the collar, was it, could it be a mating claim?

And that wasn’t even to mention the membership to Ardor, which cost a hell of a lot more than my annual paycheck. I’d always known he was smart; what was he doing, now? Had he started that company like he’d always said he wanted to–

No, Britt,I reminded myself desperately. The man in front of me is notyourConall, your slightly nerdy best friend-slash-almost boyfriend with an interest in computers. That kid–because we had been kids, hadn’t we–he wasn’t the same person as the alpha that stood across the bar from the. The alpha who could drop five figures on a membership card toClub Heat.

So I smiled, blinking rapidly, and asked, with all the professionalism I could wring from my very bones, “Care for a drink?”

CHAPTERFOUR

Beau

Adrian had been right:the beta bartender was hot.

Her nondescript black shirt and apron obscured her chest, but highlighted her narrow waist, and I longed to see more, to slip buttons from buttonholes and replace the muddle of alpha and omega pheromones that covered her with the clear sweetness of my own scent. I would mark her up and send her back into the world smelling like me, like my alphas, like she was ours, if only for an evening, a weekend, a week, however long it took for the scent of us to fade from her skin, replaced by the simple neutrality of a beta. Soap, the faint scent of shampoo, maybe. It would be easy, I thought, to have her–despite her impressive professionalism, I could practically feel the interest radiating from her. And it would be worth it for her as well as us: she’d return to her real life after our night together well-fucked and with something to hold over the alphas who looked through her like she was part of the wallpaper.She’d had sex with a male omega.I could already imagine her thinking about it later, her body throbbing as she remembered the way I’d taken care of her… She shifted behind the bar, tugging at the waist tie of her apron again, and I smiled.

Yeah, she was interested. If she were an alpha, I’d be able to tell for certain, but it wasn’t hard to guess what she was thinking when she tucked her dark hair behind her ear, her tongue darting out to wet glossy pink lips I straightaway wanted to devour and grey eyes that sparked with curiosity…

That widened in recognition as soon she saw Conall, spoke his name.

They knew each other, and while I couldn’t read the beta’s scent, I could read Conall’s loud and clear: surprise, and interest. An immediate musk that betrayed his interest in her, and a sourness that made me flinch.

He breathed her name,Britt, and I didn’t need to rely on scent any longer: a muddy flood of dredged-up emotions came pouring over the bond we shared, stronger than I’d felt since we’d first been mated and the new, unfiltered deluge had been overwhelming.

“You two know each other,” I said, not feeling quite up to flirtatious banter.

“Yes,” Conall said, as the same time as Britt said “Sort of.”

“Wekneweach other. In high school,” she clarified with a professional smile that didn’t reach her eyes, and the torrent of Conall’s emotions washed over me and away as the alpha stiffened beside me. I looked from her to him, and was startled by his face: cold and closed in a way I hadn’t seen from him in years.

“Yes,” he said. “That’s right. We did.”

Ooookay.

“Wow,” said Adrian, leaning onto the bartop to get a look at Conall. He obviously didn’t getthatgood of a look, or he would have noticed the man’s stony expression. “I had a feeling about you,Britt. That wasn’t a coincidence, was it?” He grinned, and slapped his palms down on the bar top. “So. What do you think. You want to get out of here? Get reacquainted with an old friend?”

“I–” she started, but Conall interrupted.

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