Page 32 of Brave New Omega, Part 2
Chapter 32
LOREN
H oly Mother of Wolves . Callum is on his feet, growling. Max braces beside Katie, shifting into an attack stance. Katie looks bewildered, her eyes volleying from Callum, to Genevieve, to the murmurs around the room, to me.
“Liar? Who’s a liar? About what?”
“Did she say five Omegas in a single family?”
“Is that Callum Murphy? Did they finally find an Omega?”
“Is the Golden Giant here ?”
I move before I have time to really think. With a single fluid motion, I spring forward, vaulting over the table to land at Katie’s side. I straighten my shirtfront as several ladies and a few gentlemen gasp in delighted shock.
“Stand down, Genevieve,” I command.
“Or what? I’m not one of your simpering students, or some petty solider to order around.”
“Or you’ll look like more of a fool than you already are.”
“You’re the ones being played like fools. But, perhaps you like a little humiliation these days? That wasn’t part of our playtime, if memory serves.” She smirks wickedly, and it’s only my firm hand on Callum’s shoulder that keeps him from lunging at her. My brother looks between us, his eyes bulging like a fish out of water. Fool.
“I don’t know what you’re digging for, Beta , but it’s going to lead you nowhere.”
“Your little Omega is leading you on a merry chase, Professor. Still haven't learned your lesson, have you boys? Well, there’s no registered Omegas from families with more than three Omegas born to a single pack. So she’s a liar .”
Katie crosses her arms. “Takes one to know one.”
Genevieve’s look of triumph stutters and she narrows her gaze on Katie’s scowling face.
“Of course she’s registered. Check the Omega Conservatory registry. She’s on file – with Aurelia Conswellows as her Case Manager. Really, your need to make a scene is exhausting.” I flick my wrist as if to shoo away an unwanted smell. “Timothe, if you’re going to add a Beta to your Pack, you really need to keep her in line. This behavior is most disrespectful to Pack Bellrose, and to Pack Messina,” I drawl with as much dispassionate condescension as I can muster. I don’t like being this version of myself, the one who looks down his nose at even his own family. But my brother is fool enough to dally with Genevieve after everything my Pack went through. Let him manage her.
But if she comes close to Katie… I shake out my cuffs. There’s a wolf beneath my skin, shift or not. I have my father’s Bark, and I am not afraid to use it.
The dinner party is tittering with questions and all manner of gossip. I should never have brought Katie here, among the vultures. Celeste is talking in hushed tones with Raphael Messina, her Pack Alpha. Gods, the last thing we need is a vendetta with Pack Messina to worry about.
Ludwig, one of the more reasonable of Pack Bellrose Alphas, comes over, his handlebar mustache bristling.
What’s all this fuss? On a night for Celeste and her Pack?” He frowns at Timothe and Genevieve.
“Papa Luddy,” Timothe begins.
“We are having a disagreement about my Omega’s credentials . But I was informing my brother that she’s under Aurelia’s care at the Conservatory,” I cut in, with a practiced detached air. Ludwig looks past me to Katie, a little startled as if he hadn’t fully noticed her and was only now taking her in. He nods.
“Aurelia, you say?” Ludwig says,“Well, she’s always been on the up and up, say Timothe, I’ll give her a call. I’m sure it’s a little mix up.”
“Yes, Timothe, don’t make a scene. Not on Celeste’s big night. Run along and take your little pup with you.” I flit my wrist toward them again, like father would do. Dismissed .
Timothe opens his mouth, gaping like a fish out of water. My youngest brother rarely saw this side of me. But, if you want to act like the worst of our family, then I will play like the worst of them. If it means keeping my Omega safe.
“He said go,” Callum growls, the thinnest shade of his Alpha Bark laced through the words. Timothe and Genevieve both take a jerky step back, caught off guard by his Bark. They stop and don’t obey fully. That only makes Callum growl again.
I need to get him the fuck out of here before he takes a piece out of Timothe.
“You need to go for a walk,” I whisper to my Packmate, as I turn my back on the room. Max has pulled Katie back down to her seat, but she’s fidgeting and tense. I kneel before my Omega, scoping up her fingers and pressing kisses over her knuckles.
“You okay?”
“Yes. Are you okay?” She smooths my hair. I nuzzle into the touch. Gods I need her scent, her touch, her to surround me.
“Fine.” I answer, but her caress tells me she knows I’m lying.
“I am going to strangle Genevieve,” Callum hisses beside me.
I stand and sigh. “You need to go home.”
“I’m not leaving you here with all these vultures.”
“Fine, go take a walk. Take Katie; she needs to get out of the line of fire for a few minutes while everyone calms down. They’ll be distracted by Celeste and Pack Messina soon.”
“Loren, I can handle this. I don’t need you to protect me from some old gossips and a bitter ex.” Katie squares her shoulders and lifts her chin.
“I know you can, Love. But this isn’t just about protecting you. If Genevieve keeps harassing you, I will strangle her. And that would be unpleasant for my sister.”
I’m so calm, so matter of fact. Of course I am. I’m the Golden Giant– warrior and spy. Katie doesn't know what that means, doesn't know the stories of the war. Of the raids into the Northern territory and the people who died at my hand. Methodical, calculated, calm. Like a wind up toy that killed without compassion. One day she’ll have to know. But not tonight.
“Please,” I say, rubbing my forehead where a headache pounds. I want to fuck my Omega until I forget about this dinner, and my family, and the fact that my sister is going to be an Omega to a pack full of fucking mercenaries.
I want to lose myself in Katie’s embrace, in her tight cunt, in her scent of sweet maple and warm cinnamon.
Fuck, I want to knot her and feel her pulse around me until she is limp from pleasure. And I want to sleep with her pressed tight against me, skin to skin, until our heartbeats find a matching rhythm.
She kisses my forehead, right at the epicenter of my pain. “If it will help you,” she says gently.
I sigh. Gods why can’t I go with her? “Take Callum to get some air. There’s an ornamental garden off to the left of the house, with plenty of places where you can hide from guests. Just get him outside to let off some steam before he bites someone’s head off.”
She nods and presses a warm hand to my cheek, before taking Callum’s arm and slipping out a side door.
Max grunts beside me, sitting heavily in his seat.
“The only thing better than watching that fine woman walk away,” Max says, as his gaze tracing over Katie’s perfect curves as she walks arm in arm with Callum, “is watching her return.”
I nod absently, twin aches pulsing in my head and my heart. “The only thing better would be not ever needing to watch her walk away.”
I inhale the faint traces of her perfume that linger around me, my heart straining to chase my Omega down and pour out each feeling, each desire, each vivid dream for our future. My head reminds me with the sober logic of experience that the best way to secure that future is to smooth over the present.
I know I need to offer some explanations, and then to steer the gossip away from Katie and her sisters. I’m the diplomat; it’s what I do for our Pack.
I sigh and lock the doors to my heart.
It’s time to play the Golden Giant.