Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Alexandros

My gaze lingered on the omega as she slipped away, her curvy hips swaying. I appreciated that the guys had wanted to welcome me back, but I'd honestly have rather sat in a dark corner of the club below where I could blend in and drink in peace. I had already been trying to think of a valid excuse to leave when she'd shown up and commanded my attention.

"Do you regret leaving the homeland?"

My head swung to face Roderic. We'd grown up together, but he'd started working for the family while I'd focused on my craft. He hadn't understood when I made the decision to go to Greece to learn traditional carpentry from the family we still had there, but while he'd always idolized Mateo, the xyloérgoi had been my heroes.

"No. I learned what I wanted. It was time to come home and try my hand at it on my own."

Roderic huffed and shook his head. He'd given me shit for starting my own furniture business instead of working for the family, but I enjoyed making things with my hands, and while I wasn't above breaking faces when necessary, I didn't want it to be a regular part of my life. Of course, Uncle Mateo still had his finger in things, and my company would be used to help legitimize the less legal things the family was into.

"Well, I'm glad you're back. The ladies won't stand a chance with both of us here."

"You mean you won't stand a chance, with Alex back. The women always preferred him," Marco said before dodging Roderic's swing. We all pretended we didn't notice the way he winced and subtly held his arm closer to his side. He'd apparently been shot a few months ago and was still healing from the damage.

"Well then, you'll never feel another pussy, because I get way more than you," Roderic fired back, but I missed what was said next as our sexy omega appeared through a break in the crowd.

My cock twitched at the sight of her, the confident set of her shoulders and tilt of her chin stirring the alpha in me. Wilting wallflowers had never appealed to me, which was why I usually avoided omegas, but this one seemed to have some fire in her.

The smile she shot one of the alphas she passed had my fingers digging into the wood of the armrest, a growl building in my chest until I forced it down as she kept walking. I wasn't the only one watching her as she climbed the steps to the stage, and part of me wanted to grab her and drag her behind the curtains surrounding it so I could have her all to myself, while a darker part wanted to rip off her clothes and mount her on the table in front of me, to show these other alphas that she was mine.

I shook those thoughts away as she approached and set the ice bucket next to the bottle of whiskey she'd brought earlier. It was my favorite, a smokey scotch imported direct from Scotland, but my mouth watered more at her delicate magnolia and peach scent.

"I've got the ice, would anyone like me to pour?"

We were all perfectly capable of doing it ourselves, but no alpha was going to pass on a chance to have an omega serve them. It was ingrained in our DNA, just like it was coded in hers to bow to us.

"Marco's the only one who wants to defile it with ice, the rest of us will take it neat," Roderic told her.

Georgios had moved to sit on the other couch, so she remained on the opposite side of the table from me. She was wearing a short black skirt beneath the apron all the waitresses wore, and I was jealous of the view she gave the entire room as she leaned forward to line up four glasses. My shaft thickened as I imagined being on the floor in front of the stage and being able to see beneath the dark fabric.

Is she wearing a thong, or something more practical?

I studied her as she put ice in one of the glasses before pouring the amber liquid into all four. She clearly had no experience serving drinks since she filled each of the lowballs almost to the rim, but it wasn't as if we were going to correct her. We'd be drinking more than a single glass anyway.

Definitely a thong. Lacey. I wonder what color it is.

I didn't miss the way she darted glances at me as she poured and then passed out the glasses. The alpha part of me was mollified that she didn't do the same to the others, and I let my fingers brush hers when I accepted my glass, my lips ticking up when I saw her shiver at the touch.

I doubt she owns something as simple as black. And she's not innocent enough for white.

The way she moved and was at ease despite the number of alphas in the room led me to believe this was an omega who was comfortable in her own skin and familiar with the touch of men. There were those who believed an omega should be pure until her alpha claimed her, but that was a stupid belief that should have died ages ago. I'd always been more intrigued by women with enough experience to know what they liked.

"If that's all you need, I'm going to help the girls on the floor, but I'll check back in in a few."

I wondered if she realized the way she bared her neck for me, the smooth column assuring me the omega wasn't claimed, even though I'd already determined that by her scent. Bonded omegas wouldn't smell as alluring as she did, although it was a surprise that she was unclaimed at her age. Many omegas ended up marked during their first or second heat because they fooled around with younger alphas who had a harder time controlling themselves, and sometimes the older ones liked to use that excuse as well on a naive female. There were laws that were supposed to prevent unwilling bondings, but everyone knew they were bullshit there to fool the more vulnerable dynamic into thinking they were safe.

As if prey could ever be safe amidst predators.

Squashing the urge to make her stay on the stage, I nodded to her then watched as she walked away. I only gave the conversation going on around me half my attention as I kept track of where she was and who she interacted with. I knew what happened at these parties, and I was curious to see if she was aware as well.

She came by to check on us a few times but avoided making eye contact with me. Roderic and Marco both flirted with her, and it was fun to watch her give as good as she got, although it was easy to tell she wasn't really into it. The alpha part of me was happy that she seemed to be avoiding getting too close to any of the others while steadily coming nearer to me each time she arrived to fill our glasses or see if we needed anything.

Eventually Marco and Georgios left the stage to try to snag a willing partner amidst the churning mass in front of me, but I remained in my seat, content to watch and wait. I spotted one of the other waitresses lip locked with Ilias before he sent her on her way with a smack to the ass and strode up the steps to take a seat on the couch opposite Roderic.

"You seem to like the waitress I hired."

I cocked a brow at the other alpha but didn't deny my interest. It wasn't as if I'd been hiding it.

"I found her in a grubby diner over on the north side of the city when I stopped to eat after working on a house over there for Leo. Sexy little thing. Wish she hadn't turned me down."

My lips lifted as Roderic let out a laugh.

"Yeah, we all seem to be striking out with her. Did you explain what the waitresses usually serve here?"

Ilias shook his head at Roderic's question. It was obvious she hadn't been aware, and I understood his reasoning for not telling her before he even opened his mouth to explain.

"Not really. I assured her nothing she didn't agree to would happen because she seemed a little skittish, but she was too fun not to offer her the job. Flirty but competent, and not likely to bail when the fun really starts."

After a couple hours of free liquor, things were already heating up in the theater. There was just as much groping as dancing going on in the center of the room, and a couple of the couches lining the walls had pairs going further than simple groping.

"She'll come around, but she's mine."

Roderic scoffed but Ilias only grinned as he snagged the glass Georgios had left behind to polish off the last of the Scotch.

"I can't wait to see it. That might even be better than having had her myself."

A low growl rumbled in my chest before I strangled it, luckily not loud enough to be heard over the music. The omega was just a passing fancy, nothing to be growling over. I didn't even remember her name, and it didn't matter. I always lost interest once I'd slaked my lust, and I planned to do that before the night was over.

Ilias lingered a little longer before darting back onto the main floor, chasing the shorter waitress he'd been kissing before. She was a regular employee of The Warehouse and had served enough parties that I wouldn't be surprised to spot them on one of the couches shortly.

Fog started drifting down from the ceiling, further darkening the already dim room. It would be heavily laced with scent dampeners to help keep the party under control, but nothing could stop the direction it was heading.

Spotting my little waitress making her way back to the stage, I settled deeper into my seat, a grin spreading across my face. There had certainly been some things I'd missed while studying in Greece, and I thought I might end up enjoying my welcome home party after all.