Chapter 3

Three

CANE

The scent suppressants on my suit made everything around me utterly blank to my heightened scenes. It was both comforting and unnerving to smell nothing, not even myself and the two next to me that I’d grown used to tracking effortlessly by just scent alone. It’s just for today , I reminded myself, hoping that the little mantra would keep me from crawling out of my skin in an effort to get the fuck out of there.

“Would you quit it?” Reed growled. “We need to get out there.”

I turned away from checking my appearance in the full-length mirror the betas had brought it. The suit looked fine. I knew it did, but it was impossible for me to leave without eyeing the damn thing. Suits served a purpose, and I understood that well. I wore them for nearly every occasion, but this one…something about the weight of the day made the smooth black fabric feel unbearably itchy.

“And how exactly do you know what I’m thinking about? Are the suppressants faulty?”

Rolling his eyes, Reed stalked over toward me, reaching out and adjusting my tie and clip so that they both sat perfectly center behind my double-breasted vest.

“No, I just know you, Cane. And right about now, staring at your suit and nitpicking everything about it to stall sounds right up your fucking alley.”

My beta–the head of my security and longest friend–had a point. I hated that.

“I am not stalling. And remember who you’re speaking to, Reed.”

The thread of a growl rippled through my words, and Reed released a heavy sigh, bowing his head slightly.

“I rest my case.” He turned around, walking over to Kai who was perched on the edge of the large chaise lounger. “Where’s his jacket?”

Kai stood up with an effortless smirk, his sandy blonde locks styled back off his forehead today. As he reached the small chair in front of the vanity I had in the master suite for some fucking reason, he retrieved my suit jacket from the back of the chair.

“Here. And if I may say, Alpha,” Grinning, Kai held up the jacket for me to slip it on, “you look damn good. And you’re both stalling.”

When I glared at him over my shoulder, Kai just winked at me, patting my ass as he went back over to the chaise and retrieved his own suit coat. I met Reed’s eyes behind Kai’s back, and my beta just shrugged, rolling his eyes in his quintessential way.

“Don’t fucking look at me. He’s your pet.”

I leveled him with a harsh stare, but Kai was quick to turn around with a flourish and kiss Reed right on the cheek, which he knew the guy hated.

“I’m both of your pet, and you love me. So take the stick out of your ass, and let’s go.”

Kai sauntered past me to the door, pulling the thing open like he was Vanna fucking White or something, and I couldn’t stop the short chuckle that escaped. With Reed following behind me and slipping on that final piece to our matching all-black suits, I took one last look in the mirror.

The gleaming silver chain at my collar was centered, the pocket chain stretching from my lapel to the far side of my jacket’s left pocket was pristine, and each layer of silk fabric looked impeccable. Kai and Reed looked just as good, and as much as I hated to admit it, there was nothing left to “stall” about.

So, I followed Kai down the hall to the large ballroom where we would be having the ceremony. As Reed pulled up the rear, the three of us took purposeful strides down the aisle to the top to await the presentation of my new Mea Luna Queen.

My heartbeat quickened, and the faint smell of something sweet and floral tried to cut through the suppressants. I did my best to ignore it, but that quiet voice I remembered from the last time I’d seen the sole heir of the Bruchelli family wormed its way up from the depths of my mind.

Mine .

I shook myself. There was absolutely no time for that. I was doing this to secure a breeding omega for my family because we still lacked an heir and I was forty-two now. An omega of thirty was still a very viable breeder, and one who was desperate was easier to control. That’s all this was.

Still, as I stood there with my existing mates flanking me, I couldn’t help but remember the last time I’d seen Jean and the way my body had reacted.

Please let the damn suppressants work. I don’t have time for a fucking heat right now. Later.

And then the doors at the far end of the room were pulled open. It was time.

“Any last words, Alpha?” Reed whispered into my ear from behind, and if we weren’t in such a public place–with the entire Cartalga family present no less–I would have turned and grabbed his throat.

“Fuck off, Reaper.” I glanced at Reed over my shoulder, knowing he hated it when I used his unwillingly acquired nickname. “You get the joy of babysitting our new Queen. Maybe it’s you that should be concerned with last words.”

He scoffed at me, rolling his eyes and stepping back a bit. Anyone else would have gotten their ass handed to them for snarking me so much, but not Reed. He was the deadliest person in this house, even surpassing me by a bit, and I was always glad to have him on my side.

The guy had been my friend since we were children and my playmate since we had discovered that was an option, which just solidified when we’d both perfumed and realized we were scent mates. He was commanding and brash for a beta, clearly destined to be one of the guards protecting the Alpha, and even compared to me, he was a scary motherfucker. He was nearly as tall as I was, with black eyes and long dark brown hair that he kept messy and hanging down to the top of his shoulders.

“Maybe you two can braid each other’s hair. I think you would look fab–”

“Holy shit.”

Reed’s low voice cut through, and I realized that he wasn’t looking at me. When I briefly flicked my attention to Kai, it was the same. The guy was staring down the aisle, his mouth hanging open. I turned around, guessing they had to be distracted by the incoming omega. Horny assholes .

I rolled my eyes at how stunned they both looked, but when I finally focused on what was walking toward me, I was just as struck by the sight as they were.

“Jean.”

The word came out in a hushed whisper, and my entire body thrummed with electricity, a power to it that I’d never felt before. For half a second, I wondered why it would be different from the last time I’d seen her, but then I remembered her age then. She hadn’t perfumed yet when I’d seen her those years ago. Hell, she was like sixteen.

Fucking hell.

Nothing in my vocabulary could describe how incredibly stunning she was. I hadn’t paid any attention to what the staff had chosen for her dress, only insisting that it be something remarkable, expensive, and bound to leave an impression.

That it fucking did.

Jean was draped in white lace that stretched from where it framed her shoulders all the way down to the floor, running behind her in a long train. The lacey fabric was constructed strategically and had no backing fabric to keep her hidden. The warm golden tan peeked through the sheer sections of the gown, and all that delectable skin had my cock swelling behind my zipper.

Her long, deep brown hair had been piled up on top of her head, and Jean’s makeup was simple but alluring, particularly those gleaming teal eyes and her full, pouty lips. Her family had been a mix of Mediterranean and European ancestries, and they had come together to create the most spectacular specimen on the planet.

“Did you pick that fucking dress?” Reed growled, and I shook my head.

“No. You can blame the betas for delivering our Queen so on display.”

I wasn’t sure if I minded or not. Obviously, it was the sexiest fucking thing I’d seen–especially the mesh-like lace over Jean’s full breasts and the open panels along the side of them– but the idea that my entire family could see her like this made possessiveness boil through my blood.

Still, I couldn’t look away, and when she turned to bow gently toward the attendant who’d taken care of her train, the back of her dress was as sinful as the front. Silhouetted against the glowing light from the back of the room, I could see her lithe form through the lace, more sheer sections placed tantalizingly across the curves of her ass.

And the entire back was open, with only a thin row of pearl buttons running down her spine.

“I love it,” said Kai. “She looks good enough to eat.”

A flare of his syrupy omega scent rippled through the air, and it struck me like a damn Mac truck. Shit, the suppressants are supposed to be stopping that .

This was a problem. If I were already this desperate to claim Jean, it would be so much worse if her scent hit me. She was an omega, after all, and even if they weren’t a scent match, all omegas were designed to make an Alpha want to enter a rut.

Oh, and add in a male omega who can drive a female into heat? Ugh, I’m fucked.

“Keep yourself in check, Kai.” The command was subtle but still very present. “I’m not dealing with a heat until I say it’s time.”

“Of course, Alpha.” I watched him lower his head out of the corner of my eye. “But I don’t think it’s me that you need to be worried about.”

Just as he finished speaking, Jean reached me at the end of the aisle. I refocused, meeting her hazel gaze, and lowered my head toward her. She bowed in return, giving me the proper greeting as Alpha. As she sunk down, nearly touching her knee to the floor, my mouth watered. I could imagine her kneeling at my feet for so many reasons.

Goddamn, Cane. Come on. Pull it to–

But when she straightened, Jean closed the few feet of distance between us, taking her place to stand right at my side. Heat bloomed from her skin, and it hit me–saffron and incense, roses and sweet blackcurrants. It was perfection, and as one, we snapped our attention away from the officiant and toward each other. The suppressants were not, in fact, working well enough to stop what came next.

Mine. All fucking mine.