Chapter Twenty-One

Bronson

The club was a refuge for so many daddies and littles, people who couldn’t be their true selves in their everyday life in many cases. Some were more open about their kinks and bents, but many lived a vanilla life to all outward appearances and only let their hair down when they crossed the threshold to our club.

We provided that sanctuary with pride and compassion. And I got it. The firm I was working with might not understand my preferences, although they did know about my other business. It was something I had to reveal in order to be hired. I owned an interest in a members-only club. From some of the jokes in the office, I got the impression they thought it was one of those gentlemen’s clubs where half-naked girls and guys gave lap dances to married businessmen on their lunch breaks.

And they were fine with that. Making me think that somewhere down the line, I’d need to consider hanging my own shingle because I didn’t like that they thought it was okay to cheat on your spouse and most of them probably were. But that was for down the line, not while we were in the middle of a pregnancy where stability was critically important to both of us. My omega was a stay-at-home omega, at least for the foreseeable future, making my income all we had.

As we got dressed for the club, not our first time in the little room but our first big event, I tried to push those thoughts away. My job was just fine. It paid the bills and, along with my profits from the club, made it possible for us to do things like set up our nursery without having to worry about the price of cribs.

“Are you sure I don’t look silly in my short shorts and tight tee with this belly?” Tate asked for the hundredth time that night. “I don’t want people to laugh at me.”

“There are other littles and other members who are expecting. I doubt there will be any laughing,” I assured him. “But if we’re going to get there in time for the event, we’d better get going. Are you going to change?”

“No, I think I’ll just wear my street clothes over these. They’re so tight, they won’t even make me lumpy.” He grimaced. “Or, rather, lumpier.”

“Good point.” No reason to argue when it was true. “Then let’s get a move on, omega. The big fun awaits.”

We drove up to the club to find a line snaking down the block. Although nobody was dressed in a onesie or anything, any observant kinkster would know that they were caregivers and littles ready for the grand opening of the little room that had been technically open for months. And my omega had been involved in the planning. The whole way over, he had been texting with Mommy Selena and others who had been on the committee. It had been very hush-hush, and even I didn’t know exactly what was going on. All he would say was, “There will be glitter.”

But that was pretty much a given anyway.

We parked around back and used the employee entrance, entering without my omega even having to give up his phone. As the mate of an owner, and thanks to some paperwork I’d done, an owner himself, Tate was trusted not to take pictures inside. It was going to be a great evening. As we passed through the kitchen, I took in the cooks preparing snacks and sparkling nonalcoholic drinks for our event. Although not one of the littles attending was under twenty-one, they did not have cocktails in onesies. And if a daddy wanted something a little stronger, he’d have to head out to the bar. No booze in the little room. It was all wholesome and adorable. And tonight’s surprise celebrity was going to put it over the top.

“Hey, boss, there’s some crazy guy out in the alley.” One of the line cooks who had just come in after taking out a bunch of veggie trimmings for the composter set his empty basket down beside the trash. “Want me to call security?”

“Let me check the monitors first.” I headed over to the screen that was in each of the employee-only areas. “Maybe he’s a guest of a member and is lost.” I clicked on the device until it found the figure stumbling around outside. “If he is a guest, he has an awfully odd fashion sense. I’m going out to talk to him.”

“Alpha, Daddy, no.” My omega’s voice, hushed and urgent, came from close to my ear. “Maybe he’ll go away. Don’t make him mad.”

I turned on a heel and embraced my mate. “Don’t make who mad?”

“Ryder.”

Oh hell no. I turned back toward the screen. “That’s him?” Somehow, in my mind, his height was matched to his evilness. “I hope I make him mad. Turn off the cameras,” I told the head chef. “Everywhere.”

Tate was on my heels as I reached the rear door, but I gave him a gentle push back inside. “Wait here. You’re not in any shape to get into things with him, and if he harmed a hair on your head or, god forbid, the baby, then he’d have to pay the consequences.”

I closed the door behind me and stepped out into a pool of light. “Okay, Ryder. It’s time to come out and play now.” I had turned off the cameras for two reasons. The first, innocent enough, because I didn’t want my omega hearing anything horrible the alpha might say. The second, not innocent in the least. If he attacked, I wasn’t going to stand there and take it. Rather, I would let my wolf do as he would. At some point, an alpha had to do what he had to do.

“Ryder, if you are out here, come and speak like males. I have some things to say to you.”

“I’ll just bet you do.” The alpha I’d seen lurking in shadows stepped out into the light. “I’m here to take back my omega that you stole from me.”

“You can’t steal a person.” The very idea made me sick. As it would every dom in the club. Power exchange was just that. It was not one person submitting to another with no recourse. Every sub who entered a scene did so with a safeword and an agreement on how things would go, what was acceptable to them, and where their interests lay.

Here, dungeon monitors and other security protected their safety. But out in the world, bastards like this Ryder abused innocent little omegas and beat them up, caused them to miscarry, and then blamed them for the loss.

“Sure you can. He belongs to me, and I’m here to claim him.”

“If you care so much, why did you have him run down by a vehicle and nearly killed?”

“Oh that? Because he was too much trouble. I need him back to finish the job.”

Rage rolled over me, scalding and mind-stealing. I’d heard of alpha rage before but never experienced it. Two seconds in, my wolf did what he’d never done before and shifted without my permission. He took over our body and launched himself at the murderous alpha before he knew what was coming. He took Ryder to the asphalt and bared his fangs ready to end him.

But before he did, a half dozen other wolves were there, and they blocked me, stopped me from doing what needed to be done. My wolf snarled and snapped but could not get to him. Or the others. Two huge black wolves lay over us until a silver arrived and stepped between us and Ryder.

He was flanked by two men, tall with silver hair. “We will take it from here,” announced one. “Our alpha has declared the fate of his pack member and will see it carried out. But not here, where humans might come.” They grasped Ryder’s arms and dragged him away, out of sight, followed by the huge wolf, their alpha.

The others stood, releasing me, and I shifted and got to my feet. And I was surrounded by my friends, business partners, and management of the club.

“What do you think they will do with him?” I asked.

The scream that echoed back to us answered my question before I finished speaking it, and I turned toward the building. “I have an omega waiting to make glitter art,” I said. “I don’t want to disappoint him.”

Inside, one of dungeon monitors handed me a pair of black pants and a black silk shirt. Not exactly little-room couture, but it would do. I dressed and found Tate sitting in a chair outside the kitchen. “Come on, omega. The glitter awaits.”

“Daddy, what about…”

“He will never bother you again. His pack has him, and they will make sure of it.” I hugged Tate tight. “And we will continue with our lives as if he never was born.”

We wouldn’t speak of this again. Justice had been meted out by the wolf’s alpha, and his body would also be dealt with. Probably dropped in a deep hole somewhere. It was too good for him.