13. Miles

MILES

Isaac walked in smelling like a divinely boozy peach dessert. His and Juno’s scents were so intermingled it made Miles’ head spin.

“Yeah, you can’t be near Ev and Ollie right now.” Miles halted Isaac’s progress with a hand on his chest. Unable to resist, he dipped his fingers underneath the open collar to caress the bare skin beneath. “Also, hi. Have a good night?”

He was unprepared for how fiercely Isaac pulled his body flush against his before capturing his lips with a rough desperation. Miles felt Isaac’s palm against the back of his neck and he tipped his head back, surrendering to his touch.

“So I take it the ‘we’re not drawn to each other’s scents’ ruse with Juno is over?” Miles murmured between kisses. “That didn’t take long.”

Isaac stopped abruptly, his head jerking back sharply. “What? No. Nothing happened with me and Juno. And it doesn’t need to because there’s no ruse.” He seemed offended at the thought.

“Well, I’m not telling you that you should avoid Ev and Ollie because you smell bad, Isaac.” Miles raised an eyebrow at him. “Even I’m affected by the sheer amount of omega perfume you’ve managed to bring home.”

“I scent marked her right before I left, that’s all,” Isaac explained, looking at Miles like he was the daft one. “It helps omegas during the courting process.”

“Ahh, so it was just for her.”

“Of course, who else would it be for?”

“Absolutely no one at all, love.” Miles leaned back in and kissed his oblivious bonded some more.

It was strange to think that an omega entering their lives used to be Miles’ biggest insecurity. Isaac and Miles met four years ago when Miles’ architectural practice won the account for the redesign of Isaac’s company headquarters. Isaac had still been a CFO then, but of just one business (what a schmuck) instead of an entire umbrella of them like he was now. Miles was a junior associate keen to find a way to make his mark from within a larger team.

He did not think his director would find sleeping with the man who held the purse strings of the project the right way to go about it, so they kept their late night office fucks a secret. Sleepovers started to occur as well, then clandestine dinners followed in a backward sort of progression that somehow worked. The official line was that the relationship only began once the project wrapped. But they both knew it blossomed somewhere between sharing midnight tapas on a rooftop bar and being bent over Isaac’s desk.

It was harder before the bond. Isaac was so very alpha it was hard for Miles to believe he would be enough for him. Miles knew intellectually that he challenged Isaac in a way that very few people dared to and only he could do it without consequence (except for fun ones). It wasn’t that Isaac’s dominance didn’t affect him — it 100% did — but it didn’t stop him from going right back to pushing Isaac’s buttons the way he needed once Miles had shaken it off.

Some might say he had a death wish, but Isaac apparently thought that meant ‘good boyfriend’.

But matters of the heart are never easy, and Miles couldn’t help but feel like a square peg in a round omega-shaped hole in their pack. After a deprecating comment in bed that Miles honestly could not even remember now, Isaac had taken his face in both hands, bared the slope of his neck and struck.

“Do you see now, love?” Isaac had whispered as he ran his tongue over the fresh bite. “Whether there is an omega out there for me or not, I will never stop wanting you. Needing you. Loving you.”

As a beta, the bond would slowly fade over the years — this was true whether a beta bonded an omega or an alpha. But Miles now knew for certain that Isaac would be claiming him again the moment they felt it happen.

“Date went well then?” Miles asked, trailing behind Isaac as he made his way to his room. The jacket came off, followed by his shirt and he was hopelessly distracted.

“Sorry what?”

Miles was almost certain Isaac had been talking the entire time but for the life of him could not recall a single word.

“Did you hear a word I said?” Isaac was getting annoyed but he also had no pants on. His thighs were fucking magnificent. Miles swore any part of Isaac could turn him on. His eyes drifted over to his elbow and as if to prove a point, his brain immediately decided to imagine sticking his tongue in the little dimple that formed when he straightened it.

“Miles,” Isaac warned darkly.

Ok, maybe he needed to focus.

“Hmm?”

“I was saying I never got around to having the…” Isaac’s lips pursed like he had eaten something sour. “Safe sex talk with her.”

“You mean it somehow didn’t just come up organically in between the entree and mains? I’m shocked.”

“It’s probably best that it didn’t come from me, anyway,” Isaac reasoned, more to himself than Miles. “You should do it, since your date is next. As there could actually be the possibility of sex.”

“How should I do it?” Miles asked, flopping on the bed and holding up an invisible quill. “Dearest Juno,” he began to recite grandly. “Feel free to bang any and/or all of us as we have been tested and are cleaner than a house before a mother-in-law visit. Do you require testing also? In addition, please advise if you are on or are seeking birth control, otherwise we are happy to wrap our dongs up like Christmas presents.” He dropped his ‘quill’ and propped his head up with his elbow. “Then I’ll play her that dick in a box video.”

“You will not—”

“Can if I want — it’s my safe sex talk.”

Isaac’s eyes narrowed. “You’re joking.”

“Obviously.” Only about some of it though. Miles still hadn’t decided how much to revise.

Isaac joined him, wrapping an arm around him and pulling him close. “I think you’ll be good for her, love,” he said as he pressed a sweet kiss on Miles’ hair. “I don’t think she’s had a lot of lightness in her life.”

The thought cracked a tiny fissure in Miles’ heart. He breathed in that intoxicating blend of rum-soaked peaches and prayed he wouldn’t let either of them down.

* * *

Miles was giddy at the thought of what was coming next. A strange emotion, considering he was pulling up outside an old crumbling jail.

He and Juno had just come from demolishing a wholly unsexy amount of hot wings. Isaac had mentioned that Juno did seem a bit intimidated by how high-end Babylon was. But Miles was pretty sure taking her to a bar with all-you-can-eat wings wasn’t what Isaac had in mind when he suggested ‘something a little more casual’. Luckily for him, Juno’s eyes had rolled to the back of her head when she found out, declaring in reverent tones “I love wings with blue cheese dip.”

This girl was made for him.

They had both agreed during dinner that the only bad part of eating so many wings was that you could clearly see the evidence of your own gluttony piling up in the form of picked clean bones. This ended up resulting in a game where they each spent the rest of the meal trying to sneakily move wing carcasses from their own pile onto the other persons. Miles finally called a truce, and dumped all of them onto a ‘communal plate’. Juno’s sad assessment that “it looks so much worse now” and forlorn expression just made him laugh.

“Miles…where are we?”

He turned to her with barely contained glee. “Ever done a ghost tour?”

Juno’s eyes were wide as they stepped out of the car, taking in the historical building that loomed before them. Night had well and truly fallen by now, the facade only partially visible from low spotlights. “This is amazing,” she whispered in awe. Juno looked up at him, eyes shining with excitement and her bottom lip caught between her teeth.

“Organised a private tour. It’s just you, me—” Miles gestured over at the entrance where a grizzled old man now stood, his face shrouded in shadow. “And that guy.” Juno made a strangled noise and clutched her chest at their guide’s sudden appearance.

“Oh my god, and he’s actually alive,” she muttered to herself. “I’m going to shit myself.”

Miles flung his arm around her shoulders. “No, we’re going to shit ourselves,” he corrected her, cheerily.

The tour guide, whose name was Clarence, intoned about the rich history of the jail as he led them inside, his deep voice as rough as sandpaper. Housing some of the most dangerous criminals the state had to offer since it opened in the 1850s, at least 40 of its inmates remained interred on its grounds. He led them to the main cellblock and stopped outside the rusted gate.

“Some receive a welcome from the inmates as they enter,” he stated ominously.

Despite the mild evening, they both clearly felt an icy cold blast of air hit the back of their necks as they crossed the threshold. Juno emitted a small squeak as she leapt closer and wrapped both her arms around his elbow, pressing her cheek against his shoulder.

Best date idea ever.

Clarence continued the tour; pointing out guard quarters, describing a regular day in the life of an inmate and listing the crimes committed by its occupants. Juno spent the entirety of it clinging to Miles, though as the tour went on, Miles wondered if he should be the one clinging to her. A door slamming in the distance made both of them jump again. Clarence checked his watch and mused that it could be the changing of the guard, which would occur right around this time.

“Or just the wind,” he added offhandedly, before moving on.

As they neared the end of the tour, Clarence guided them to the cell of inmate Harry Snell. Already thoroughly spooked by the eeriness of the entire place, stepping into a small enclosed space did not appeal to Miles. Juno stepped through and waved an urgent hand at him.

In it was, then.

“Harry was only eighteen when he began his sentence. Records show he gave the guards a lot of trouble — insolent, combative, un-cooperative. Harry Snell met his end in this very cell. Written records indicate heart failure but his body…”

Miles swore he could hear the sound of footsteps. A quick glance at Juno confirmed he wasn’t alone. Multiple footfalls, made by several men, with government-issued boots pounding on the concrete. Coming closer, closer, closer until—

“No, I can’t!” Miles wailed, leaping behind Juno and burying his head into her back. Juno laughed and patted his arm, breaking the spell Clarence had so skilfully weaved. “There there, Miles,” she reassured him.

Clarence wrapped up the tour and guided them back outside. “Leave us a review on Google,” he said monotonously, before lurching away. Miles was torn between wanting to tell everyone to stay away and saying he did an excellent job.

“Thanks for taking me here even though it creeped you out,” Juno said, grinning profusely. That made it worth it, seeing that mischievous twinkle in her eye. He didn’t want the night to end yet.

“Come back to the house,” Miles blurted. “For ice cream,” he added hurriedly.

The corner of her lips lifted. “Is ice-cream a euphemism for something?”

“What? No! I really have ice-cream.” His traitorous brain added an enthusiastic in my pants, which he had to mentally swat away.

“Yeah…ok,” Juno agreed, sounding bashful. “I’d like that.”

As Juno got in the passenger side, he quickly pulled out his phone and messaged the rest of his pack.

Miles changed the group chat name to Juno’s Fan Club.

I’m bringing Juno back to the house for ice cream.

Ollie

WHAT

WHAT

WHAT

Isaac

I hope you remembered to clean the shambles you call a bedroom like I told you to.

Ollie

When did we get ice cream?

Everett

Is ice cream code for sex?

Amused, he pocketed his phone without replying and turned back to the beautiful omega waiting for him.