Page 22

Chapter 22

Ava

Dante takes me to the nicest, most expensive shopping area I’ve ever been to. It’s a far fancier mall than anyplace I’ve dared to shop in before, outdoors with a beautiful tree-lined cobblestone street for people to walk in, shops and restaurants on either side, and a large indoor area at the end, all glass and designer stores.

I couldn’t even afford to breathe at a place like this before, on my salary, but when we park, Dante just hands me his black American Express card.

“Dante…”

He waves it lightly through the air. “Go on, take it. You’re our Omega. What’s ours is yours.”

I take the card, still feeling a bit unsure, but he smiles warmly.

“Why do you think we’re so successful?” he asks. “Just for ourselves? We want to spend our wealth on our Omega. This is your pack now, and your money too. Spending this money on you makes me, and makes all of us, happy.”

I might burst into tears again, I’m filled with such warmth and gratefulness. I nod, and he helps me out of the car.

The shops aren’t too busy at this time of day, but as we walk, I have to admit that a few of the people we pass smell sour to me. I keep wrinkling my nose.

Dante finally chuckles. “You smell something?”

I lower my voice so nobody around us overhears and gets offended. “I don’t like how people smell.”

“What about me?”

I inhale deeply and shudder. “You smell amazing.”

Dante nods. “That’s what I thought. As you approach your heat, if you’ve started to bond with an Alpha or a pack already, other people’s scents will start to sour.”

My heart picks up, but not from anxiety. That’s a good thing. That means even if something bad happens and I’m separated from Dante when my heat hits, I won’t be as mindless as I thought. Anyone else who tries anything will smell sour to me. I won’t want them.

It’s like having back a piece of the autonomy I feared I’d lost.

Dante steers me into a shop with a hand on the small of my back, and I start searching for the perfect fabric for the curtains.

“I want something pastel,” I mutter as I search.

Dante nods along, listening attentively. He’s very patient as I shop, which is good, because I’m being wildly picky.

“Maybe you could find some other things that will also go with the curtains,” he suggests after I’ve rejected what feels like the fiftieth curtain selection. “That way you’ll start building your color scheme for the space.”

I nod. I like that idea.

Dante doesn’t stick too close by me, letting me wander. While I appreciate his presence and his scent, it’s nice that he’s not hovering. I’m not some prize he has to keep under lock and key. I’m my own person, and he’s letting me be that.

And buying things for the home is nice . It soothes that itch in my chest. I look for things that I can put around the house, not just in my room. Some little touches here and there to make the entire place feel like I live there too. Like I’m not just a guest with one little corner for myself.

I catch Marcus’s scent before I see or hear him.

The first notes that hit me are the first that always would: a spicy scent like cologne. Then after is the scent of expensive leather. But underneath both, the scent I used to dismiss, is the bitter smell of sweat.

It tastes like fear and anger on the back of my tongue.

I know that scent. I don’t know if the bitterness was always there, or if it just feels this way to me now, but I do know that this scent always confused and unsettled me. I used to tell myself it didn’t matter as much. I was a Beta, so of course maybe an Alpha smell would unsettle me.

Love, I would say to myself, is not about scents.

But now maybe I wonder if it was my Omega instincts telling me to save myself. Trying to warn me of danger in a way I didn’t yet know how to understand.

My hands shake. Even before I turn around, I’m absolutely certain that the man behind me is my ex-boyfriend.

I clench my hands into fists so he can’t tell I’m upset.

My head raises, and I lock eyes with Dante who’s across the store. He starts heading for me immediately, reading my fear in my face even if he’s too far right now to catch my scent.

“Ava?”

I turn around and take a deep breath. “Marcus.”

And there he is. In the flesh. The man who terrified and terrorized me.

Marcus is tall and imposing, with broad shoulders and a muscular build. I have a type, I guess. But where Garrett exudes solid strength and Dante incites heat, Marcus’s six feet of muscle just makes me feel fear. I hate knowing how much smaller I am than him.

His hair is a dark, ash blond, darker than Caleb’s. I once thought that his blue eyes sparkled with charm and charisma, the way Ethan’s do. But now they seem cold and threatening.

His mouth has the same hard set to it that I remember. It makes him seem unapproachable. Once upon a time, that made me feel like he was just aloof and private. It made me feel special when he approached me and wanted me.

Now I know it’s just because he’s judging everyone around him.

“So, it is you.” Marcus looks me up and down and his nostrils flare. “I thought so, but then I thought… that’s not possible. Not my Ava. My Ava is a Beta.”

Suddenly his scent is pushed out of my nose by the arrival of Dante’s warm, welcoming scent. All spice and heat and safety. I inhale it like it’s a drug.

Dante puts his arm around me and draws me close into his side. Marcus’s eyebrows fly up. “Dante?”

“Marcus.” Dante’s tone is very carefully polite. “What’s the CEO of Prodigy Crop doing here? Don’t you have lackeys who can run your errands for you?”

Marcus smiles, the dark smile that I remember so well. It used to haunt my nightmares. “Not all of us have a triplet of frat boys to follow our every command.”

I bristle. He’s referring to Ethan, Caleb, and Garrett. I know it, and I’m not about to let him talk shit about them.

Dante squeezes my shoulders comfortingly. “Well, I’m sure you’ve had a nice talk with Ava. Why don’t you head on out? We have purchases to make.”

“I’ll leave when I’m ready. I’m not done here yet.” Marcus drops his gaze to me again. “You never told me you were an Omega.”

“I…” I hate how small and shaky my voice is. “I didn’t know. Until after.”

“And you never contacted me? I should’ve been told about your presentation ceremony so I could put in my bid.”

A growl starts up in the back of Dante’s throat. “Unfortunate that she’s decided to let my pack court her instead. Which she would have decided on even if you had known about the presentation and put a bid in. The Omega gets the last word on who she wants to court her, remember?”

He draws himself up, and I hear him dipping into his Alpha voice. “Or maybe you’ve never been able to garner any Omega’s interest, so you don’t know how it works?”

Marcus’s eyes blaze and I shrink. I remember how he would get when his eyes were like that. “You…”

“I am her Alpha .” Dante’s voice is low, so that we don’t cause a scene, but the protectiveness and possessiveness could not be clearer. “You will back off from my Omega .”

He’s definitely dipping into that voice now, the voice that will give me a command and I’ll obey, that voice that means it’s time to fight.

Marcus darts his gaze back and forth between us. He doesn’t seem to know which way he wants to go.

To help him along in the decision, Dante takes a small step forward, pushing me behind him at the same time. His body is completely blocking me from Marcus now.

I cling to Dante’s shirt and press my nose to the firm muscles of his back, inhaling his scent. My hands are shaking again. If they ever stopped.

“Fine.” Marcus’s own voice is garbled, like he’s also dipping into that Alpha range and is trying to hold it back.

He takes a step away, but also to the side, so that I’m in his line of sight once more. The look he gives me is hungry and makes me want to scream. “I’ll see you later, Ava.”

He glares at Dante once more, then turns and stalks off.