Baby + the Late Night Howlers Read online

  “I wanna be wrapped around you,” I breathed out, eyes wide. Jonah purred louder and Seth laughed, shaking some sense into me and leaving me curling up, blushing.

  “Courting first, precious,” Seth said.

  Jonah’s lips pressed together and he straightened slightly, some of the warmth sobering into stern command. “I won’t lie about who we are, though. You’ll have better offers. We won’t be richer, cleaner men once you choose us. We’re a pack and we’re a club.”

  “I can see that,” I said, wiggling off Seth's lap, the pair of men pushing to the arms of the couch to offer me my own space.

  “We can do better on the nest for sure, but this strip mall won’t magically become a mansion,” Jonah warned.

  I rolled my eyes and squared my shoulders. “Look, I get it.”

  “Just… don’t choose us if that’s what you really want,” Jonah said, our eyes locked.

  I understood then. He wasn’t warning me for my sake. If I chose this pack and my omega needs made me ask for the kind of pampering and security they couldn’t offer, I would make them miserable as they tried to turn themselves into men they weren’t just to please me.

  “I won’t choose lightly, I promise.”

  I wanted to say more, and Jonah’s eyes were flicking to my lips, his own parting as if he were about to speak when a light knock hit the door frame.

  “We’ll be late if we take much longer,” Yvonne said, words gentle.

  “Walk her out,” Jonah said to Seth.

  “Course. Come on, precious.”

  Seth pulled me up from the couch, leading me toward the door. My feet dragged on the way. I felt like I was being denied something, and I realized as I left the room what it was. My alpha hadn’t touched me. Not one of them. My skin wanted their scents dressing me, protecting me, before I moved on. And I wasn’t allowed to ask for that, not yet at least.

  “Don’t let Jonah talk you out of us okay?” Seth murmured, and I nodded, drifting along with him on some kind of wistful autopilot. “Good. I’ll see you soon, precious. One way or another.”

  I relaxed at the promise, leaned into my beta at the door before Yvonne could stop me, and caught another kiss on my cheek. “See you soon.”

  On the walk to the car, I was either floating or drowning.

  Pack Micah was like an older version of Pack Evans. A townhouse in the city across from the park. Season theater passes. A nest just on the secure side of spacious. I might’ve liked them more if I hadn’t just been trembling in my boots around Pack Howler, but after scenting Jonah and Quincy and the others, I didn’t have much taste for unbaked bread and storms and tobacco.

  One thing was clear though. There was an appeal, even if it wasn’t the alpha’s scents. I was like Elizabeth Bennet, standing outside of Pemberley, realizing what she’d given up when she’d rejected Pack Darcy. If I wasn’t already in love with the men, the life they offered me might help that happen eventually. Jonah’s warning made more sense now.

  Did I want a strip mall and a busy bar and alphas who lived to drift away on motorcycles? With my heat coming, could I risk a pack that couldn’t even offer me a nest?

  I thought of Jonah’s office. Small, with a small window lining the top of the wall, made of textured glass to obscure the light. Full of the scent of the pack, especially Jonah and Seth.

  I compared it to Pack Micah’s walk-in dreamland, complete with a jacuzzi tub.

  Either way, either choice, I would be giving up a lot.

  “Is this how it happens?” I asked Yvonne as we slid back into the back seats of the SUV.

  “The interviews?”

  I shook my head, watching out the window as we pulled away from the townhouse. “Is this why omegas always end up with rich packs in pretty houses?”

  Yvonne was quiet for a long time and when I faced her again there was a flicker of sadness on her face. “Yes. This is how it happens. You’ve made a decision, then.”

  I wondered if I was the first omega who’d walked into Howlers and felt the need to be near those alphas, to have them claim me. I wondered how many omegas had walked away from that.

  “I…I’m working on one.”

  6

  Scorch

  When Bomber slid into the office, he was freshly showered, just hints of me left on his skin. I had pale skin on the mind, and cluttered freckles and peach lips and strands of red hair I wanted to tangle my fingers in as I slid between those long legs to… I cleared my throat, but Baby was harder to shake out of my thoughts.

  “Thought maybe you’d be wearing her around for a while longer,” I said. I was sitting at the couch instead of my desk just to enjoy the omega sweetness Baby had left behind a bit longer.

  “Sorry,” Bomber said, smile tilted on his face.

  Shit. “No. That’s not what I- I didn’t mean it like that.”

  He laughed and slid down to the couch at my side. “Stop, man. Look, I considered it, I really did. I felt… well, it’s a good feeling to have the both of you marking me. I just knew what would happen if we were alone and I smelled like her.”

  My eyes fell shut and I shook my head. I knew I’d fucked that up somehow. “About that night-“

  “Jesus, Scorch. Do you ever not feel like beating yourself up? I had the fucking time of my life, alright? It was great. It’s just now that she’s been here and, you know, she’s not just some random omega I’ll never see again… I dunno. Feels wrong to borrow her like that.” Bomber shrugged and then leaned in and kissed me, lips lingering over mine until I responded. “When she chooses us, I plan on seeking her permission to take full advantage of how crazy her scent makes you. I’ve thought up some really good ideas already.”

  When. Not if. Now even my beta’s heart was on the line.

  “You still think she’ll choose us?”

  Bomber sighed and threw himself backward against the far arm of the couch, his feet rising to land in my lap. “You really think she won’t?”

  “They never—“

  “Shut up. Don’t answer that.” My lips twitched, and he grinned at me. “Come on. Were you not paying attention? She was losing her shit. She made fucking interior decorating suggestions for that shit hole you offered her as a nest like she was about to let you lock her up in that rat trap.”

  “It’s not like we could’ve shown her the old place. Not with all the sweet butts hanging around.”

  “No, I get it.” Bomber grinned at me again, and then his voice turned breathy and sweet. “I wanna wrap myself around you, Scorch. My big, strong, thick, alpha.”

  “Shut the fuck up,” I growled, pretending I was more irritated than aroused.

  I’d nearly dragged Baby right off Bomber’s lap and onto my cock when she’d said the words. If I wasn’t so certain we’d be hearing the bad news from the Omega Center, I would’ve gone ahead and done it. But she’d regret a quickie with me once she made her choice for some other, more generous pack.

  “I’m not gonna say I’m certain she’ll choose us,” Bomber said. “Just because if I end up wrong you’ll never let me hear the end of it. But you’ve got to admit we stand a better chance than we ever have before.” My frown settled into place, and Bomber’s heel nudged at the inside of my thigh. “What?” he asked. “What’s wrong now?”

  Might as well tell him. He’d hear it later if- when we got the bad news and I got drunk to dull my piss mood. “I want her.”

  “Course you do.”

  “No, I mean, fuck Bomber, I want her. If she was a beta, I’d have her stretched out between us right now. The way she was lookin’ at you, hangin’ off you…” I’d wanted to lock the door to the office and bite and fuck and kiss and lick her until she couldn’t remember her own name. Except she’d be hearin’ me purrin’ it in her ear as I was knot deep in her for hours.

  “She your favorite omega you ever met?” Bomber asked, a victorious curve in his smile. I nodded, glowering. “Mine too,” he said.

  “It’s easy to want an
omega, but I’ve never felt like that before,” I said finally. And then because he was Bomber and only Bomber, “This one’s gonna hurt.”

  He sighed and sat up, and I stretched out so he could slide over my lap, our chests pressed together and his forehead rested against mine. “Maybe this one will hurt in a good way. Think about her, Jonah. She’s not some eighteen-year-old girl. She’s a woman. She’s been livin’ on her own for years. Maybe she doesn’t want an ivory tower.”

  “Bet she wants a nest with a bed in it,” I muttered.

  “You coulda put that bed together if you wanted, you shit,” he muttered back, leaning in briefly to bite at my lips. “You said you never felt like this for an omega before? Maybe she’s the right one for the pack. I sure as shit never seen one of the interviews react to Tornado that way.”

  I frowned. Yeah. I was a little worried about that if I was honest. Tornado was a good man, but he was a danger to himself at times, and he’d looked fucking terrified of the way Baby had perfumed for him.

  “You could tell,” Bomber continued. “She wanted at least half of you dickheads. Bad. She liked the rest too.”

  “Maybe she just smiles at men,” I said, and he snorted.

  “No one smiles at Flea aside from dogs. She was sweet to him. She was dripping for Green, that was new too.”

  Bomber’s magical optimism was working, hope bubbling up in my chest. I needed to stomp it out before I got carried away. If and only if we got chosen, I would let myself feel excited. There was one thing I needed to say to him though.

  “If she chooses us, it’ll be because of you. You know that?” I said, head tilting back to catch his eye. “Because you didn’t leave her to get snatched and force bonded at Devil’s Noose. Because you’re good and you’re safe for her to be around while she’s still getting used to this. And because that little omega wants to fuck my beta.”

  Bomber laughed and the sound was throaty and made my cock stir. Not that thinking about Bomber fucking Baby did much to dissuade all the blood rushing south through my veins to my dick.

  “Do you mind?” he asked, grinning and already knowing the answer.

  “Anything you want, anything she wants, you have my absolute encouragement to share with each other,” I said.

  I reached up, dragging Bomber’s mouth to mine, drawing on it hungrily with teeth and tongue. He pushed me back, body rolling over mine and grinding us together through our jeans.

  “You just wanna suck her taste off my cock,” Bomber said.

  “I wanna suck you off in general,” I said. I twisted, one hand cupping the back of his neck and the other splayed on his spine, and then tipped him to the side, pinning him to the couch. “Like right now.”

  But hell yeah. I’d do it after he fucked her too, as long as neither of them minded. Bomber was right about one thing though, I didn’t want her as a toy between us. Which meant we’d be having a lot of awkward conversations to cover consent.

  If she chooses the pack, I reminded myself.

  “Stop worrying,” Bomber said, reaching between us to unbuckle my belt and open my jeans.

  “I hate the wait.”

  “Won’t be long.” We kissed in the pause between words and I sucked his tongue into my mouth until he was squirming, impatient with me and handling his own pants, pushing them down for me. I pulled away, biting and licking at his throat as he caught his breath. “She needs a pack soon. We’ll hear back.”

  But what would we hear back?

  “You gonna suck my cock or not, Prez?” he challenged.

  My growl broke out before I could catch it, and Bomber arched beneath me. He knew what that kind of posturing would get from his alpha, me out of my damn head for once. I dug my teeth into the muscles of his throat, threatening my bite, and Bomber groaned and shuddered.

  “She’d let you. She’d let you bond me,” he whispered.

  That was the biggest temptation of all when it came to Baby. An omega that would take me as alpha and let my connection with my beta be what we wanted. A pack, a complete pack, in every way I wanted. I kissed the mark I left on Bomber’s throat and pushed him up the couch, settling down over the open fly of his jeans, shimmied just far enough down to release his quickly stiffening cock. It bobbed in front of my face and Bomber shivered as I breathed over the tip.

  What if she wants us?

  I wrapped my lips around the tip of my beta before I could get carried away with the idea. Sweet and sharp on my tongue, we both groaned as I sucked at Bomber’s cock, drew him deeper, my tongue pressing to the ridge on the underside. His hands covered the back of my neck, not guiding but wanting that cuddly beta touch he craved so much. I didn’t mind it. I more than didn’t mind it.

  My own hands pulled his jeans farther down, giving me muscled thighs to grip as I took Bomber deep, to the back of my throat and then out again, kissing around the base of him, tracing lines up his length.

  “Fuck. Fuck, Scorch, don’t tease.”

  I was absolutely going to tease. If he wanted a vacuum cleaner for his dick, he could find a different alpha. I reached up beneath him, tickling his sac until he was squirming beneath me, legs trapped by his pants around his knees. When he was thoroughly wet with my saliva I drew him back to my mouth, fingers massaging his balls, head bobbing. His grip tightened on my neck, still only following my motions. I knew what I could bring him to—tease him long enough and he’d be using my mouth like an alpha. My beta VP was just shy of the dominance an alpha was born with, and he could even match it when I encouraged him.

  I didn’t need a simpering, obedient partner like some alphas. And those moments when Baby had snapped and taken the attention from the room, taken command of the situation, those made me even more certain she was the omega for us. If she would have us.

  I pulled back, using my free hand to pump Bomber’s length, keep him rising up without satisfying him. “If she chooses us—”

  “She will,” he rasped.

  “If she does, it’s gonna be because of you.” I smiled as he blushed, green eyes meeting mine, and for once he was speechless. “I want you to be the first to fuck her. Up to her of course, and you. But that’s what I’m hoping for.”

  Bomber released a rare whimper and his hips jutted up into my hands, eyes falling shut. “I didn’t know betas could crave omegas. Not like this.”

  Good. That was good, I wanted him to want her every bit as much as the rest of us fucks did. She deserved someone like Bomber loving on her. He would be the best of us, the sweetest. And he’d keep his fucking head on straight when she was in a real bad way and puttin’ out perfume like a damn department store.

  “I wanna be next, of course,” I admitted, before diving back down, impatient for the taste of him again. How would it change his flavor with her on his cock? I hoped I could get it while still wet, fresh out of her pussy and drenched in her satisfaction. I had yet to smell the proof, but there was supposed to be nothing like a satisfied omega. Not that an alpha would ever let anyone else get close enough to find out.

  “We’re gonna have to shift business around at this rate,” Bomber breathed, and then groaned loudly as I took him deep. “Can’t- fuck- can’t leave her waiting a minute when she’s wanting.”

  Amen, I thought, and then I focused on my beta, pulling and slightly choking on his length, wanting to grin as he started to buck, unable to stop himself. If she ever did this for him I would make sure he behaved but for myself, I didn’t mind a decent face fucking. Not from Bomber.

  “Of fuck, Scorch. Jonah. Fuck, I can’t wait,” he gasped, and I decided to take mercy on him. “I can’t wait. I can’t wait for her to be part of us.”

  My eyes widened as the words landed, and then Bomber was arching up, hot release coating my mouth and throat, spilling out between my lips. My purr started up and I closed my eyes as I swallowed him down, pumping him dry onto my tongue. I’d give myself a few hours. Just a few. Let myself believe we stood a chance, just for the night.

&nbs
p; 7

  Baby

  I was back in my apartment for the first time in a week, and I was packing. I’d been looking forward to getting back to my own place, my own things, since I’d stepped into the Omega Center. I expected to feel more like I was coming home. Instead, I could smell an acidic alpha down the hall, and another sort of mildewy one from upstairs. My apartment itself smelled like too many things at once, mostly betas I’d invited over, some only for the night. It wasn’t unpleasant, but I was finding myself narrowing down my belongings based on what felt right and what seemed…kind of soiled.

  I frowned at a blanket laying over my couch that I’d once had sex on with a semi-regular partner that apparently had whiffs of tacky aftershave, and decided to pass on it.

  “Knock, knock.”

  I spun, expecting the Omega Center appointed beta security, and squealed at the sight of Lola. “Omigod. Omigod Lo!” I ran for her, the familiar bright purple hair a sudden and welcoming sight. I’d met other omegas at the Center, but they were all so young and they didn’t want the friendly cuddle piles I’d grown to crave while living as a beta. With their alphas? Sure. With other omegas? Nose wrinkling commence.

  Lola wrapped her arms tight around me. “Guy outside let me in.”

  “Good,” I grunted, body relaxing in the squeeze of the hug.

  “I was so worried about you! You’ve been holdin’ out on me, babe,” she said, and I wasn’t sure if that was laughter or tears breaking up in her voice.

  “Lo,” I pushed back, searching her face. Smiling but also teary-eyed. Shit. “Lo, I swear. It just hit. I had no idea.”