Page 7 of Claiming the Pack’s Omega (Riverwell Omegaverse #2)

Reyna

T he man in front of me has surprised me in so many ways in the couple minutes he’s been here. But he surprises me again when he settles on the bed beside me, on his back, without even making an attempt to touch me.

That sort of restraint baffles me. Especially when I know he’s attracted to me. With the way his smoked cardamom scent swirls around us whenever he looks at me, he’s very attracted to me.

He paid for a whole night of my time. I can’t wrap my head around why he wouldn’t want to take advantage of that.

His restraint also makes me want to do more for him than I’ve ever really wanted to do for a client. I haven’t not wanted to service the clients I get, not unless they’re cruel or especially degrading, but I also haven’t wanted to be with them either. It’s always felt like a job.

For some strange reason, there’s a silly part of my brain that doesn’t think it would feel like a job with the man in front of me.

I call that part of my brain silly because there’s no way a Northside alpha would want to be with an omega like me unless there was money involved. So, it would always be a job.

“What’s your name?” I ask, making a show of sliding off my see-through robe, leaving me in nothing but a black lace thong and matching balconette bra that make the girls sit perfectly.

His eyes go wide and jerk down as he finally looks at my body for the first time since he woke me up. The guy’s restraint is crazy, because I don’t think his eyes have dropped lower than my mouth our entire conversation.

When his eyes finally jerk back up to mine, there’s a fire there, but he still doesn’t move. Not even when I can see the outline of his cock hardening in his dress slacks.

“Sorry,” he clears his throat. “My name is Theo. What about you?”

“You can call me Raine.”

“Like your scent,” he hums, his gaze turning back to the ceiling.

“Yeah, something like that,” I shrug. “You can look, you know.”

He clenches his jaw, running his hands through his close-cropped dark brown hair. “I think I’ll stay looking at the ceiling, thank you very much.”

“Alright,” I say, leaning down so I’m on my hands and knees before I start crawling over to him. “Well, the offer still stands.”

I curl up against his side, resting my hand over his heart and hiking up my leg to rest on his. All the muscles in his body tense up. And he has plenty of them. His heart races under my palm.

He forcefully takes a deep breath.

“You can touch me, too,” I murmur, my eyes fluttering shut at the feel of his warmth.

“Give me a second,” he grits out.

“Hm?” I blink up at him, my eyes drawing down in concern when I see his expression. He almost looks pissed. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Fine. Just trying to remind myself that we’re only cuddling tonight. You stripping off that robe and pressing yourself up against me while saying I can touch you is sending signals to the stupid alpha side of my brain that I don’t want to follow through on.”

I push myself up, strangely feeling a sense of hurt at hearing he doesn’t want to follow through on something he obviously wants.

“Is there something wrong with me? If… if you’re not satisfied with me, I can find another girl? Maybe I can get you a discount so you’re not paying my rates for another?—”

“No.” His growl is fierce as his amber eyes narrow on me. His dominance practically explodes out from his body, making the air around us so thick it’s hard for me to breathe.

I’ve been around a lot of alphas. A lot of dominant alphas who throw around their dominance with no concern for how it can affect omegas like me. So I’d say I’m used to it, to a certain degree.

His dominance still has me stopping in my tracks.

He takes a deep breath, trying to collect himself and find that careful control he’s had this entire time.

“Sorry,” he sighs. “There is nothing wrong with you, Raine. Nothing at all and I don’t care for the insinuation there is. I know the circumstances of us meeting here probably taint your impression of me, but I don’t want you thinking I’m the kind of alpha who would take advantage of a sick omega.”

“Not even a sick omega you paid twenty-five hundred dollars for?”

“I paid three thousand for the night, but that’s not the point.”

Of course, Dom was lying about my percentage cut. If he’s charging three thousand for eight hours, that means I’m getting closer to 25% of the money he’s getting, not 30%. I’ll get mad at him later, though.

“My point is I can enjoy your time without you having to use your body.” His expression softens to something I can’t mistake for anything but kindness.

It’s jarring. That’s not the sort of expression I expect to see on an alpha that’s coming to a place like this.

“I want to take care of you, at least the best I can in a place like this.”

Pretty words. Coming from a pretty person. But that’s all they are.

Words.

Not real.

Or at least, that’s what I tell myself, as I lay my head back down on his chest. I can’t let myself believe bullshit like that.

This isn’t the first time I’ve had an alpha say pretty things, tell me about the lives I could have with them as their pretty, young, little omega plaything.

But this is the first time it’s come from someone I can remotely believe.

I must be off my game. First Obsidian and now Theo. Two alphas who’ve popped into my life just to shake up the careful balance I have.

Theo’s arm comes down and rests against my back. He starts drawing little shapes on the curve of my waist. It makes a shiver run down my spine.

My eyes start to drift closed again. The adrenaline I first felt when he came into the room is starting to fade and my fever and headache makes my head feel fuzzy.

Goosebumps start to rise along my skin as I start to feel the chill of no longer having my robe.

Even though my robe was thin, it was better than nothing.

“This is nice,” I breathe out.

“It is,” he murmurs.

“I’ve never done this before, you know.”

“Really? Well, I guess I’m glad to be your first,” he chuckles. “I want to get to know you. Can I ask you some questions?”

“Hm? Sure.” I shift my body so I’m pressed closer to him, my body craving the warmth of his skin.

He leans over, tugging up the corner of the flat silk sheet, and tugs it up and over my body. It’s a sweet gesture. The omega inside of me almost wants to start purring.

“What are your normal shifts here like?”

I peek up at him, gauging whether he actually wants to hear the answer. Some alphas who’ve come to see me in the past get territorial about the fact that I see other clients.

His expression is open and curious, not judgmental, so I decide I’m safe enough to answer.

“Well, most alphas don’t come in here wanting to cuddle, that’s for sure.”

“Is it mostly alphas that come and see you?”

“Most of the time, yeah, though I’ll have the occasional beta here and there. But it is mainly alphas.”

Which makes sense, considering betas don’t have that same biological urge to seek out omega partners. Most of the betas I see are here because they want the status symbol of having fucked an omega and this is the easiest way to get that.

Theo continues to draw shapes into the skin on my back. All it does is make me aware of his touch. Of him. Of where our bodies meet.

“Why do you do this? Work at a place that’ll make you work when you’re sick?”

“Why does anyone work a job? Money mostly. Plus, it has good hours, most of the time. I only work Saturday nights here.” I pause, debating how much to tell him.

I never do nearly this much talking with my other clients, but Theo is different than all my other clients on nearly every metric. There’s a part of my brain that tells me he’s different. That I can trust him. At least, as much as an omega whore can trust her John.

“I’ve—I’ve got younger siblings to take care of. So it helps that I can work nights here and at The Warehouse, the other place I work at during the week. I can take care of them while my parents work during the day.”

Theo nods understandingly. “I have a brother. It’s…admirable you’re doing this for your family.”

“I’ve never had someone say doing this is admirable,” I say, letting out a bitter laugh. “It puts food on the table and that’s what’s important.”

“Your sacrifice is what’s admirable,” He murmurs, looking down at me and brushing a lock of my raven black hair out of my face and tucking it behind my ear. “It shows how selfless you are. How much you care about them.”

I jerk my gaze away from his piercing amber eyes. Eyes that can see far too much.

“Tell me about you,” I say, trying to change the subject away from me.

“What do you want to know?”

“I assume you’re from the Northside…”

“You’d be right.”

“What do you do up there? Something fancy, I assume, to afford that suit and the rates you’re being charged for my time.”

His eyes narrow. “The way you phrased that… do you not get the entire fee?”

I shake my head, another laugh leaving my throat before I can stop it.

“No. I get about a hundred dollars an hour. Plus tip, if I’m lucky, but most guys are stingy. My boss here takes the rest of it.”

“Only a hundred an hour?” Theo growls. “That’s practically highway robbery compared to what I’m paying.”

“It is what it is,” I shrug. “I’d want more, of course, but working here means most of the guys at my other job leave me alone. My boss doesn’t like it when other people touch his girls when they haven’t paid for it.”

I lift my gaze back up to meet his. Crazy how this guy can get me to talk about myself so easily. Even when I want to get the attention off of me.

“So, what do you do to be able to afford this sorta thing?” I ask him.

“Well, I’m a lawyer.”

“A lawyer, huh? That makes sense, I can see it. You look like a lawyer.”

“I look like a lawyer?” He chuckles. “I’d hope not. A lot of the guys I work with are old geezers.”

“Well then, you look like a hot lawyer. The kind of lawyer you’d see on an advertisement or something.”

He lets out a soft hum that makes my eyes flutter shut again. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“You should,” I yawn.

“You’re tired,” Theo says, stroking my hair. “You should get some rest.”

“Are you sure? You bought?—”

“I’d love to spend the rest of the night with you in my arms. Now rest, Raine. Your body needs it.”

“Okay, goodnight, Theo.”

“Goodnight.”

It doesn’t take me long to fall asleep and have the best rest I’ve had in a very, very long time.

It ends far too soon, because before I know it, I feel Theo’s warmth pulling away from me.

“Hey Raine, it’s time to wake up.”