Chapter One

I HAD MOVED TO THE DC AREA A FEW WEEKS EARLIER—was going to finally live my dream. When I was younger, I had a lot of people laugh at me when I told them what I wanted to do, but I eventually got to a point where I said fuck it and took my chance. The chance paid off, and I had finished my first modeling gig that day, so I decided to head out for the evening to celebrate.

The bar was dark and packed—the air thick with hormones. I held a cold beer in my hand and watched the crowd. The tables were all full. A bunch of omegas sat at one, giggling and pointing to various alphas. At another table, a couple sat close and whispered things in each other’s ears. A few couples held each other and swayed to the music and the sounds of people shouting, trying to be heard over the music that buzzed all around.

It was a gay alpha and omega bar. If you wanted to get with a beta, you had to go elsewhere. Being with a beta wasn’t as satisfying, at least for me. You didn’t form a knot with them like you did with an omega, and that’s what I was on the prowl for—an omega in heat because I really wanted to knot someone.

Through the smell of stale beer, fried foods, and sweat, I could pick up a faint scent of something sweet. The exact scent I was looking for. Now, I just had to find the one giving off the scent because my cock swelled by simply inhaling that tasty smell.

A large blond alpha walked up next to me. “Looking to pound some omega ass?”

I nodded. Like he said, I was there to pound some omega ass, but I wasn’t one for all that alpha-posturing talk.

“Nineteen, dude,” he said.

“Yep, nineteen.” That was the age they let the omegas into the bar with. They still couldn’t drink, but a lot of omegas needed someone’s knot during their heat, so the younger ones were able to come in.

“I like them young like that. Horny little bastards.” He was right about that. Between nineteen and twenty-two were omegas’ most fertile years, so their heats came on strong.

I shrugged. I didn’t really have an age preference. I usually stuck to omegas around my age. Sometimes even ones many years older than my twenty-five years. That scent caught my attention again. I took in a deep breath of something sweet and musky.

“Later.” I raised my drink and went in search of the one whose pheromones called out to me.

Squeezing through some gyrating bodies and around a couple of tables, there was an alpha sitting at the end of the bar. I walked in close and took a sniff. The smell definitely came from where he sat. Maybe there was an omega there that had gotten up and left. The guy on the bar stool turned, staring at me with their nose scrunched up.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

I rubbed the back of my neck. “Was there an omega here very recently?”

He shook his head. “Just me, dude.”

“Okay,” I said, noticing the sharp cut of his jaw, his plump bottom lip, and his five-o-clock shadow.

He raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“Oh, sorry, nothing. Mind if I sit?” I asked, pointing to the stool next to him.

“Go ahead.”

I sat down and couldn’t help but stare. His light brown hair was trimmed short, and it was hard to tell with the lighting in the bar, but his eyes looked to be a grayish blue. He was gorgeous. The T-shirt he wore hugged him just enough for me to see how toned his body was. I wanted to reach out and touch his pecs.

“Can I buy you a drink?” I asked.

He raised his glass. He appeared to be drinking soda.

“Tell me your name then.” I didn’t know what came over me, but I wanted to know more about him.

“Max. You?” he asked, barely looking at me.

“Bauer. You live around here?”

He bit his bottom lip and nodded. “Yeah.”

“Okay, good.” I scooted my stool in a bit closer.

“Good, why? Are you trying to pick me up?” He finally looked at me dead on. His eyes met mine. They sure were blue.

“To be honest, I was drawn here by someone’s scent, and I’m beginning to think it was yours.” I drew in a deep breath—my cock swelled.

He furrowed his brow. “Like an omega?”

“Not an omega, you.”

“I don’t give off a scent.”

“There’s something about you.”

He glanced at me and bit the corner of his lip. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” I stood, and he turned toward me, and I stepped in between his legs.

He gulped.

“Are you here for a hookup or to find your mate?” I asked, leaning in. Hell, he’d work just fine in place of an omega. I wanted to knot someone, but the urge to be in him overrode that.

“I just wanted to go out for the night, but ….” He rubbed the back of his neck.

“But you’re open to hooking up?” I asked.

He gave a small nod. “We’re both alphas.”

“Makes no difference.” I put my hand on his waist.

He let out the slightest of gasps. “I think it does.”

I pulled him forward, and he slid off the stool. We stood chest to chest. He put his hands on my biceps and took a sharp inhale.

“See, you feel something.”

“I don’t know.”

I cupped his face in my palm. “You don’t?”

He swallowed, and I leaned in, my lips hovering over his. He gasped and gripped my biceps tighter.

“May I?” I whispered against his mouth.

He nodded, and I brushed my lips over his.

Max

I DIDN’T KNOW WHAT I WAS DOING. This guy was an alpha, and I was letting him kiss me. Worst part being I was enjoying it. His mouth overtook mine, and he swept his tongue inside, cupping the back of my head. He held my waist, pulling me closer, his firm chest against mine. He was hard angles and muscles, his hands so large. I had never been with anyone like him before. All of the guys I had slept with, hell kissed, were omegas, and they were, for the most part, small and soft, but this guy was all thick muscles, and dear God, his chest—it was so broad, along with his shoulders.

He moaned into the kiss, and I kissed him back, wrapping my arms around him, taking in every second with him. It was nothing like I had ever experienced before, and I wanted more. He walked me backward across the bar and backed me up to the wall, pressing his hips to mine, grinding against me, his giant cock straining in his jeans. I gasped as he moved his hips, and my dick stiffened. He pressed harder, and a gasp escaped from my mouth. Then my brain kicked in.

“Wait. Wait, no, stop.”

“What’s wrong?” he whispered in my ear, his warm breath sending prickles down my arms.

“This isn’t right.” I went out that evening to relax a bit, maybe happen upon an omega in heat after I had a long day at the farm, but yet, there I was with an alpha.

“This is what everyone comes here for, isn’t it?”

“But we’re both alphas,” I said, sounding like a broken record.

He furrowed his brow. “So?”

“It’s not natural.” I shook my head and tried to will the want I had for him to go away.

“Says who?” He nipped at my neck.

I gulped. “Nature.”

“I beg to differ,” he said, grinding on me.

I let out a sharp breath.

“See. You like.” His dark eyes bore into me. I tried not to let them draw me in, and his cheekbones were like someone chiseled them from marble.

I gulped and closed my eyes as he moved on me, contemplating if I should tell him to stop or listen to my body. My thighs trembled, and my core tightened. I put my palms flat against the wall, gasping as my chest heaved.

“Damn,” he whispered in my ear, his warm breath tickling my skin. He wrapped his arm around my waist, pressing us closer together, and I cried out, my hips moving with his as if they had a mind of their own. He trailed his hand down to my ass, squeezing it and moaning, nipping little kisses under my jaw.

I grabbed his biceps, panting, trying not to come in the middle of a bar. Sure, we were in a dark corner, but we were getting off in public.

“Should we take this somewhere else?” he asked with both his hands on my ass, thrusting his hips against me.

I gulped and looked up at him. He stood a few inches taller than me. His hair was dark brown and tousled.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

He took my hand, leading me to the back door. We slipped outside, and as the door closed behind us, we were kissing once again. I couldn’t get enough of him. It was like I couldn’t control myself. Even though I was hesitant, my heart raced, and my body tingled. Standing next to the back door, near a few parked cars and a dumpster, our mouths devoured each other. He moaned, which was sexy as hell. As his tongue explored my mouth, he began unbuckling my jeans. I couldn’t even think to say no because my body said yes. I shook as he skated his hand down into my underwear and made a squeaking sound as he found what he was looking for. He grasped the back of my neck with his big hand, and I yelped when he began to palm my cock.

I pulled away from the kiss and swallowed. “This isn’t right.”

“This,” he said, clasping my length in his hand.

My mouth dropped open, and I grabbed his shoulders. His strokes were so firm, and it was incredible. He growled and wrapped his arm around my waist, picking me up off the ground and walking me over to the brick wall. He was strong as hell to lift me like that.

“Yes?” He massaged my balls and gave me a devilish grin.

I squeezed my eyes shut and nodded. Maybe it was wrong, the two of us, but it felt so right. He stroked me with a more substantial grip, and I whimpered. I fucking whimpered like some horny omega. “Wait. Oh, God, wait.”

“I want you.”

I swallowed, and as his finger found my hole, lightly brushing it, I gasped. The sounds coming out of me were ones I had never heard myself make before.

He tickled my opening, and I closed my eyes. I was trying to resist. Normally, I was all for one-night stands, but ours was moving awfully quick. There was usually some hanging out and conversation beforehand. Plus, factor in the fact that he was an alpha, but I had a sinking feeling in my gut I was going to lose the fight.

He slid the tip of his finger in, and I jumped up onto my toes.

“Say you want me.”

“I … I ….”

There was a light pressure, but then everything was all tingly. “Oh, oh.”

“Say you want me.” He pushed his finger in a bit more. I let out a deep exhale. It was an odd sensation, yet everything in me was electric. He stared into my eyes, and I gulped.

“No,” I finally said.

Slowly, he slid his finger out. “Okay.”

He pulled his hand out of my pants and lightly slapped my cheek, kissing me on the forehead. He walked away from me a few steps and stood there with his arms crossed, staring. Probably knowing somehow I’d buckle. He held his hand out. “Come with me.”

I looked at it for a moment, leaning against the wall, panting. Did I dare take it? He locked eyes with me, and I swear they sparkled under the floodlights over the back door. With his dark hair blowing around in the breeze, perfect lips, and his tanned skin like he had spent a lot of time in the sun—I couldn’t say no. I took his hand, and he led me across the parking lot.