38. Troy

I"ve had a huge boner since yesterday.

Ever since Rian kicked me out of the goddamn nest.

He"d found out that I"d threatened Belle, and now he refuses to look at me.

She had snitched on me, but I have no regrets about my choice that day.

I had to do what I felt was right.

But now, he has chosen her over me, and is this what I get for trying to protect my Omega?

My whole pack?

The others want nothing to do with me anymore either.

Leo acts as if I am dead to him now, and Jeremy just has that smug look on his face, telling me that he told me so.

Rian is finishing up the last wave of his heat, and I can"t take it.

I should be there for him. This is his first heat, and I wanted it to be special.

My Alpha is roaring inside his cage, and I need to get a hold of myself.

"Fuck!"

My fist swings toward the wall, and now my knuckles leave a dent in the plaster.

I hope Jeremy won"t be pissed at me.

This was his grandparent"s house.

Her caramel scent is everywhere, and I need to get out of here.

I"m no idiot. I"ve noticed how beautiful she is, and in an ideal world, maybe the three of us could be together.

But we don"t live in an ideal world, and I stomp toward the garage, climbing into my car.

I don"t know where the hell I am going, but so long as it"s far from the house and the smell of that irresistible female Omega, then I don"t care.

I find my favorite watering hole, and once I pull up into the parking lot, I get out of the car and stumble inside.

The bar is a complete shithole, and just what I need right now.

I order my drink, and now the hours tick by as I brood in my favorite spot by the bar.

No one approaches me and good; I want to be alone.

Almost everyone is an Alpha here, but there are several Betas too.

One tipsy Alpha bumps into me, making me spill my drink, and I growl, getting to my feet. "Fucking prick…"

The Alpha looks at me all smug, but then he sees something in my eyes and backs off.

Yeah. Don"t fuck with an Alpha on the edge.

Especially one with a huge hard-on.

Grumbling, I place my ass back on my stool and return to my drink.

A laugh on my right catches my attention, and I snarl at the prick.

It"s just some weedy Beta male, and he has to be the most boring-looking motherfucker I have ever seen.

He lacks a chin and has graying, thinning hair. A real stick in the mud, so to speak, with his clean business suit.

And is that a handkerchief he is sitting on?

For Christ"s sake.

It"s like he"s scared of dirt.

Well, he"s come to the wrong place if he doesn"t like germs.

They are all over this bar…

"What are you laughing at?"

The Beta sips his martini, and I roll my eyes.

Fucking martini.

He places his glass down without looking at me, wiping his lips with another handkerchief. "Nothing. You Alphas are just always so brutish. I find it uncouth."

Uncouth? I"m not even sure if I know what that means, but I don"t like his attitude or his pinchy face.

There"s just something about him. He looks like he was the kind of kid who enjoyed burning ants under a magnifying glass, and I bet he loves to pick on those much smaller than himself.

But I don"t bother barking at him.

It"s not as if punching him will make me feel better.

All I want is Rian.

And Belle…

Even if I am too afraid to admit it.

But we are not living in a fantasy world.

"Sorry, we got off on the wrong foot. My name is Francis."

The Beta holds his hand out, and I raise my brow, meeting his pale blue eyes. "You don"t want to shake this hand. If only you knew where it had been…"

The Beta turns visibly green, and now he puts his hand away, returning to his drink.

I knew it. He"s a prude.

I hate prudes.

"Very well," he mutters.

Silence passes between us, and I regard him curiously. "You"re not from around here, are you?"

Francis, or whatever his name is again, gazes down into his glass. "And what makes you think that?"

I sniff. "You smell far too clean, which begs the question. Why would a clean, Beta prude come to this dirty bar in the heart of the Alpha city?"

His face tics at the word prude. "I have business here."

It"s only then that I notice the faint bruises on his face, and it looks like he got into a fight.

I point my chin at his face. "Get in a fight with some Alphas?"

His face darkens, and goosebumps spread across my skin at that distant light in his eyes.

"Not with a pack of Alphas. No…"

Wrinkling my nose, I finish the dregs of my beer. "Then who? Did you get in a tiff with another Beta prude?"

I slam my hand on the bar, laughing at my own shitty joke.

Francis almost crushes the glass in his hand. "No. No Beta..."

Then who then?

I"m still chuckling when I ask, "An Omega?"

Francis stills at the word, and something snaps into awareness inside me.

My Alpha growls in warning, and I keep my eyes on him.

I don"t like him one iota. There"s just something so shady about him.

Francis smirks, turning around on his bar stool as he pins me with a watery stare. "I"m sorry… I didn"t catch your name..."

I eyeball him for a few moments longer, finally deciding that he"s no threat.

What"s he gonna do?

The prick lost a fight to an Omega…

Then again, I"ve seen how Rian fights. Even Belle managed to get the best of a full-grown Alpha in rut.

Maybe Omegas aren"t as weak as we thought they were.

"Troy Snow."

Francis hums. "Snow? Do the rest of your pack have the name Snow?"

Far too many questions for my liking, and I look him in the eye.

To my irritation, he doesn"t balk at the challenge, and he has some balls of steel.

He chortles, digging his hand into his suit pocket to retrieve a bell.

Francis jingles it, trying to get the attention of the Beta behind the bar, and the guy looks at him furiously.

"What can I get for you, good sir?" the bartender asks, and there"s no missing the sarcasm in his tone.

I don"t blame him for being pissed. If that prude jingled that bell at me, then I"d have shoved it up his ass.

Then again, there probably wouldn"t be any room for the bell because he already has a stick up there.

"A martini for me and a beer for my good friend."

Francis smiles at me, but I only glare at him.

I"m not his fucking friend.

But I won"t say no to a free beer.

As the night wears on, I get to know my new friend some more.

He"s still pretty tight-lipped, but he sure as hell asks me a lot of questions.

I tell him more about my pack, but I never reveal Rian"s secret.

He keeps asking if there are other members of my pack, and that"s where I draw the line.

I may not like Belle, but I"m not prepared to throw her to this wolf.

And this one really is a wolf, and when I"ve had enough of his questions, I rise to my feet, stumbling out of the bar.

I feel his burning gaze on my back as I leave through the door, but I soon forget about him as I find my car, deciding to fall asleep in the back seat.

I"ll drive home in the morning.

Besides, the house will reek of Belle.

So it"s for the best.