91. Chapter Ninety-One

Chapter Ninety-One

Gio

I t feels like I haven't seen Beth in days, but that's because Arrow's heat makes time feel elastic. I can and have fucked him for days before without ever losing my knot until he was done with it, and I won't say it's not incredible, but it does start to wear an Alpha out.

That's why Enzo and I try to switch places as much as possible when he's in heat.

It's what Arrow prefers, and it stops either of us from becoming too exhausted to function properly in the days after.

Having a third Alpha will be a good thing for him. Probably.

If I could pick one for him, it would not be Rourke.

Jack told me what happened at Beth's apartment last night, and he seems to have forgiven him, but it's not as simple as that for me. Beth's old boyfriend seems like trouble, and I'm much too used to following my instincts to ignore that.

I have a pack to protect.

That comes first.

"There you are!" Jack exclaims, coming toward me from the apartment.

"Where did you expect me to be? It's past time for Beth to be here."

"You know you can watch out the window and just come down here once you see her arriving, right?" he asks, raising an eyebrow at me as he takes his keys out of his pocket.

"She's almost here?" I ask, trying to shake off my sour mood.

"See for yourself," Jack says, motioning to the door.

I take a look and I get to watch Beth approach, smiling and laughing.

It makes my heart swell with joy, until I realize she's happy because of Rourke.

I growl lightly, and Jack sighs.

"He's not so bad. You might find out you have a thing or two in common."

He unlocks the door and opens it before I can come up with a reply.

I have no desire to get to know the man who took advantage of two of my mates, even if it seems as if he is supposed to be mated to them. Something is seriously wrong with the universe to let that happen.

"Come in," Jack greets our mate and her unsavory tag-along.

Beth steps into the restaurant reception area first, still smiling like a woman in love.

"Arrow thought it might be nice if we all sat down to some lunch while he's resting," I announce, not completely sure how I'm going to make that happen considering Enzo is currently servicing Arrow's very active heat but knowing I do not want Rourke upstairs with my Omega. Nor do I want him in Beth's apartment with her, but I do not have any control over that.

Jack clears his throat. "Uh, I thought we were doing that a little later?"

Rourke steps into the restaurant, and Jack closes and locks the door.

I stare him down the same way I did in the pantry, when I realized who he was and what he'd done.

He stares back, making me even madder.

I'm the lead Alpha of this pack. He has no right to walk in here and challenge me.

Stronzo!

He lowers his gaze. "I apologize for before. I was out of line. I hope Arrow can forgive me for my deception, and I hope you can forgive me for upsetting him, and for upsetting Beth."

So, he knows how to show respect to a lead Alpha.

It doesn't mean he's not an asshole.

"I'm not in the habit of forgiving people who hurt my pack. You will have to prove yourself worthy of Arrow and Beth before I can accept you as one of their mates."

"I'll try as hard as I can."

Jack motions to the dining room. "Why don't we all take a seat?"

"I'll check on lunch," I tell them as he leads them to a table.

He nods. He knows as well as I do, I'm flying by the seat of my pants right now.

I'm too fucking mad to let them into my apartment.

Not that I have any problems with letting Beth join Arrow and Enzo.

It's that trash she brought in with her that I'm having the problem with.

I mutter curses under my breath as I go to the refrigerator and find the things I need to put out a platter of antipasto. It takes a couple of minutes with my slapdash serving manner. It's not the best-looking platter, but I don't care. It only exists to ensure we all stay downstairs.

Jack enters the kitchen and raises an eyebrow at me. "Are you okay, G?"

"I'm fine," I mutter.

"You don't look fine."

He comes over and puts the platter on a tray.

"Calm your fiery Italian ass down and come speak to Beth and Rourke."

I take in a deep breath. "I'm doing that."

"Well, maybe do it a little better," he suggests, before he exits the room with the tray.

"I'll do something better," I mutter as I step back out into the dining room.

Jack is placing the platter down on the table.

I move over there and sit down next to Beth.

"Did Jack tell you all of the restaurant preparations have been made?"

"Yes!" she says, smiling broadly. "And he said Enzo thinks we can open on Saturday. That's awesome. Oh, wait, I said we, didn't I? I meant you. Sorry."

""We" is appropriate," I assure her. "We would be closing down soon if you hadn't come along and showed us everything we were getting wrong. You're a big part of the success we're about to have."

"I'll just be so happy to see this place doing well," she admits. "The food is incredible. It deserves to be successful."

"It really does," Jack agrees. "And take it from me, this platter is not an example of Enzo's wonderful cooking. It's just a taste of some of the raw ingredients."

Beth looks at it and then looks at me. "Gio, are you feeling okay?"

I blink at her, wearing a concerned expression, her neck craned just enough for me to notice one of her marks. I reach out to brush her hair back from it.

It's fresh so it stands out starkly. When it fades it'll look prettier.

"Enzo?" I ask, as a crimson flush starts to crawl up her cheek.

She bites on her lip as I remove my hand. Then, she turns her head and pulls back her hair at that side, showing me two marks made close together.

"Enzo, and Jack," she says quietly.

So, that means she let Rourke mark her.

"I need to speak to you, alone."

She frowns, and glances over at Jack.

He shrugs at her. She doesn't look at Rourke.

She nods and gets up. "Sure."

I lead her out of the dining room, not sure where we're headed until I'm taking my apartment keys out of my pocket.

We can't use the office, and I'm not content to talk to her where that man might hear us and try to intervene.

She doesn't try to start a conversation as I lead her up the stairs, and she just watches me quietly when I let us into the apartment and turn back to her.

"Who is this guy?" I ask, not understanding.

"Didn't Jack explain?" she asks, coming closer to where I'm standing by the door.

"He told me the guy broke up with you to save you from his mother's wrath. It sounds like bullshit to me. He also didn't tell Arrow who he was when they met in the alley. He knew Arrow wouldn't have wanted to be claimed by him if he knew who he was."

I'm aware that I'm getting riled up and ranting now, so I stop talking.

She nods slowly and takes her phone out of her purse. After a few seconds, she shows me the screen.

"Context," she says, pointing to the news article of a famous actress that's on the screen. "This is Rourke's mother. She's a narcissist who decided she didn't like me dating her Alpha son. She and her husband, the multi-millionaire CEO, have their fingers in a lot of pies. They can cause a lot of trouble for the people they don't like. Rourke dumped me to save me from his psychotic mom. He hurt himself doing that, as well as me. If you don't know, a narcissist isn't capable of love. At least not for other people. He's lived with that his whole life. He knows better than anyone what that bitch is capable of."

I frown as I take in her explanation.

It feels less like bullshit, I admit, but I'm still not completely happy with it.

"If he did that to protect you, then why is he back? Why now?"

"He came looking for me to protect me, because that's what an Alpha does. He was stalking me to keep me safe. That's why he started a fight with Jack. He thought he was a random creeper. Think about it as if it were you, Gio. If you pushed me away to keep me safe, wouldn't you have a hard time once you knew I was someplace new? He was still at the police academy when I first got out here, but he came looking for me as soon as he graduated. He did everything he could to keep me safe, even if he wasn't going to get to be with me."

"I … might have made some of the same choices. Maybe," I admit, not liking that she's made me see it from his perspective. It makes more sense than I thought it would.

"He knows he'll have to work for everyone's trust. He understands that. He just needs to be given a chance." She gives me a pleading stare and I know I'm going to have to try harder to be civil to him.

"I'll try not to think of him as an asshole."

She smiles. "That's all I ask."

We laugh, and she steps closer.

"Actually, it's not quite all I ask." She looks up at me, craning her neck to show the mark Rourke made there. "I left this space for you, lead Alpha Giovanni."

Now, I feel a whole lot better.