35. Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter Thirty-Five

Enzo

A rrow slips out of my grasp, and I let my leg fall back down to the ground. We always get more than comfortable in our favorite booth, because it's dark and secluded and watching Jack play gets Arrow hotter than almost anything else. I need him where I can touch him, his back wedged against my front where he can feel me getting hard and needy for his tight entrance while I stroke him until he comes all over my hands.

He always dares me to go a step further, but the most I've done is touch him and lick the evidence off my skin after. Gio has been slightly more daring, but I doubt anything sexual is going to happen in this booth tonight.

Despite finding Gio and coming here with him, she seems reluctant to stay when she sees us.

As aroused as she was when she walked in on us earlier tonight, something is stopping her from wanting to be at our sides and that's unfortunate.

Desire alone doesn't create fated mates.

Deeper connections need to be made.

That can't happen if we don't get the chance to spend time with her.

Arrow, as always, is the one to save the day.

He moves over there, beside Gio, and a few minutes later he's back by my side, while Gio ushers Beth into the booth and closes her in on that side. There's space between us, but she's opposite me and I could easily slide around to be right beside her if I really wanted to.

Her face reddens under my stare.

I can imagine it's how her skin looks when she's being fucked, and my already half-mast cock does some straining against the front of my jeans.

Arrow's perfume deepens beside me.

Beth's eyes widen when she takes in a breath.

Now, this is what she'll look like when she's coming on my knot.

Her chest quivers when she exhales, and suddenly all I can think about is how much I'd like to run my tongue over her breasts while I find all the places that make her gasp and moan.

"So," Arrow starts. "You've been out of the loop."

He's talking to Gio, because of course he is.

"And whose fault would that be?" Gio asks, shooting me an expectant glower.

I lean forward, putting more pressure on my hardening cock.

Taking Gio's phone out of my back pocket, I slap it down on the table and push it across to him.

"Yours," I tell him, giving him a pointed, challenging stare. "Because you're the one who broke the rules."

"Rules?" Beth asks, while Gio ignores my attempt to shame him.

"It's nothing," he murmurs as his gaze moves to her.

"It's not nothing," I argue. "But we'll talk about it later."

Beth doesn't need to hear it. Not right now, at least.

She's not invested yet. She was about to make excuses to leave before Arrow convinced her to stay. Even now, she looks ready to bolt at a moment's notice, like a gazelle who senses she's in the presence of lions.

She doesn't know us, and she has the expected cautious nature of a Beta around Alphas.

It's likely she's experienced Alphas before she met us, but I doubt she has any idea how quickly we become attached to fated mates. I already feel the connection between us, simmering with possibilities, while she sits opposite me, entranced by Arrow's sweet scent.

"So, what did I miss?" Gio asks, as he slips the phone into the hidden inner pocket of his suit.

"Jack got in a fight," Arrow blurts, which makes Beth's expression drop.

"Oh my God," she murmurs.

"A fight?" Gio frowns at me. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, he punched someone who hit him," Arrow says, glancing at Beth with sympathy in his stare. "We were worried about you. Then, Jack told us he gave you a ticket to this place. We were hoping you would show up here."

"Wait!" Gio exclaims, his gaze moving to Beth. "Hold up. I'm missing something. You already met my pack?"

Her cheeks burn brighter at those last two words.

My pack.

"Uh, yeah," she admits. "Sort of."

Arrow laughs. "Right. You met Jack while Enzo and I were kind of … busy."

"Well, that's one way to put it, for sure," she says, smiling at Arrow.

Gio lets out a burst of laughter. "Don't tell me you two were fucking?"

"Okay, we won't tell you," Arrow jokes, taking most of the tension out of the booth with his playful attitude.

What's left is sexual with a hint of awkward energy on top.

Beth is clearly attracted to us, but she doesn't want to be, or at least, she doesn't think she should be.

Most Betas are awkward around us.

Our Omega's magnetism tends to attract them but seeing us as a group tends to turn them off again, which in general is a good thing.

It's easier to protect our Omega and our pack when we're not fending off the advances of random strangers.

We don't want awkward energy with Beth.

She's meant for us, and we're meant for her.

It should be crystal clear, easy to recognize.

For us, it is.

Whatever's muddying her vision needs to be uncovered and dealt with before we can go any farther. Our mate won't be ours to mark and claim until she's free of this awkward energy.

"So, you were at the restaurant, then?" Gio asks Beth.

"I was," she admits. "My sister brought home pizza last night and I had a craving for more."

She came to the restaurant to eat.

Of course she did.

Why else would someone walk through our door?

The thought that she came looking for food and didn't get any disturbs me more than it probably should. I don't know why I didn't connect that it was why she was there.

"Well, if you think Enzo's pizza is addictive, you should try some of his bolognese," Arrow says, naming one of his favorite dishes. "I don't know what he puts in the sauce but …"

He trails off with a soft moan.

It makes my pants tighten.

I ignore the urge to touch my Omega.

Tonight, we have a guest, and I don't want to scare her away.

She steals a glance at me. "I have no doubt that anything Enzo makes is delicious."

"Are you still hungry?" I ask, ready to rush home and bring her back whatever she wants.

"I made do with the mall's food court," she says.

"You'd better actually tell him you're not hungry." Gio sounds amused. "Otherwise, he'll go back to the restaurant and fire up the ovens."

She laughs, and then looks at me.

"What kind of pizza would you like the most?" I ask, ready to lift Arrow to let him sit closer to her while I leave to get her something good to eat.

Her mouth drops open. "Oh, uh … I like all kinds, but, um … The food court might be awful, but I definitely ate more than enough for dinner."

"You're sure?" I ask, not entirely convinced.

She nods quickly. "Honestly, I'm all good. Not hungry."

I don't believe her, not completely, but Gio shakes his head and something about his expression makes me realize leaving would be unwise.

Beth almost decided to leave already.

If she made that decision while Gio was alone with Arrow, he would be stuck here protecting his existing mates while our new mate went out into the city at night alone.

That would be far worse than having a mate who is a little hungry.

I stay where I am.

And Arrow sits up straighter in his seat next to mine.

"They're almost set up," my Omega says, reminding me that we're here for a reason.

Jack has been backstage for a while. He promised he would call me if he started to feel unwell while he's out of our sight. I check my phone and put it back in my pocket.

He still feels good enough to perform.

The stage is far enough away that we'll still be able to talk while the band play without disturbing anyone else who's here to watch the gig. I can see Jack's bandmates checking equipment on the stage now.

"What were you saying about Jack getting in a fight?" Gio asks, making me turn back to him.

I can feel Arrow's gaze on me as he waits for me to break the news.

"After Beth … left the restaurant earlier, Jack got in a fist fight outside."

Beth's eyes are wide with horror when I look at her.

I don't have to tell her who he fought with.

She can put two and two together on her own.

"Oh God," she murmurs, sinking back in her seat.

The only one who's going to be surprised about the rest of the story is Gio.

"What am I missing?" he asks, frowning at me.

"The man he fought is someone Beth used to know. We suspect he might have followed her to the restaurant."

Gio blinks slowly before he slips out of the booth and stands up, his gaze clearly fixed on the stage, where Jack is setting up his microphone stand.

Beth closes her eyes and shakes her head slowly, cursing under her breath.

Arrow reaches across the table, catching her attention with the movement. "Jack's okay."

She looks at him, and we can both see she's still upset. "Thank God."

Arrow nods and slips out of his seat, moving over to where Gio's standing, and wrapping an arm around him. While he's comforting G, I'm left at the table with our future fated mate.

I clear my throat. "We're taking him to the hospital after the gig. Just to be checked out since he was unconscious for a few minutes."

"I'm so sorry. I can't believe this happened." She shakes her head.

"Jack said you were shocked to see the guy."

"I was. He's not supposed to be in the city. We were together in Sapphire Valley when we were in high school. We broke up more than a year ago. I don't understand what he's doing here. Besides making sure I never forget the dumbest mistake I ever made."

It's exactly like Jack said it looked, then.

The guy's Beth's ex.

I think we've found the source of her uncertainty around men and dating.

An unstable ex-boyfriend who likely didn't treat her how she deserves to be treated.

It's bad enough that he hurt Jack. I already have a need to retaliate because of that.

Now, there's no way I'm going to be able to forget about teaching that asshole a lesson.

I don't know who he is, or how to find him, but I'm damn well going to find out.