“There is, Tristan,” Cress insisted. We pulled up at the gallery carpark, and my sister parked the car, turning around to face us. “This can’t go on forever. You know that. Omegas need an alpha.”
“I’m all the alpha Kit will ever need.”
And right then, he was. His voice had all the low menace of an alpha, and even Cress blanched at it. His arm went around me, hauling me closer and keeping me tight against him.
“Kit is mine. She will always be mine.”
“Even if that’s true,” Cress replied after a tense pause, “if you give my sister everything she needs, who gives you what you need? You need her, we all know that. You always have. As soon as you came to the house, the two of you were drawn together by something none of us have been able to make sense of and still can’t. I don’t understand the dynamic between you, so I won’t interrogate that, but I know this.”
Her eyes dropped down, her fingers tracing the seam of the expensive leather console.
“Being with Kent has helped me get the alpha and omega dynamic more. You have…instincts we betas just don’t. I love him, love everything about him, including when he can be a high-handed, overbearing prick, but—”
“If this is when you start talking about training to take his knot, maybe don’t,” I said. “I love that the two of you are happy, but that has no bearing on what’s between the two of us.”
I stared up at Tristan, squeezed his hand, and watched that fire inside him flare harder.
“I love Tris. I always will, no matter what anyone says or does. I know it was expected we’d grow out of it, but we won’t. Not ever.”
His hand, broad, strong, capable of so much pleasure, stroked the side of my face.
“The only way we could have an alpha is to share one,” he said, snorting at the ridiculousness of that idea. Omegas didn’t share, no matter what porn produced for less discerning alphas. If we let someone get between us, took his or her bite, it would unlock something inside us, something destructive. “Which we already do, when it pleases us.”
“If Dad’s hung up on the expense of keeping Tris at the academy, then I’ll ask if he can move back in with us,” I said to the strangled sound of Cressida’s response. “We can maintain the illusion of happy families, just like he does with Mum, but at night, when everyone’s gone home…”
His smile was slow and wicked.
“Jesus, could you imagine? We’d have to soundproof the room,” he purred.
“The two of you are living in a fantasy world.” Cressida burst into our little bubble with a worried expression. “You’ve been allowed a certain amount of latitude because…” A small frown formed, her eyes going slightly unfocussed. “Kit, Dad, he’s losing patience, and trust me when I say you do not want to be on the end of that. He made a mistake with Mum, but he won’t again. Because of her, he’s even more controlling, less likely to let things develop. You don’t know. You’ve been protected somewhat, but—”
“You trying to tell me I don’t know how much of a micromanager he can be?” My voice started to rise, feeling like it echoed throughout the car. “Me, who can’t drive, can’t own property, can’t even inherit my share of the family fortune. Who has to have a chaperone to attend any event. Who must be ‘protected’ at all costs. I’m sorry, Cress, if he was pulling that bullshit with you too, but fuck, don’t mistake me for someone who doesn’t understand what he’s capable of.”
“I know that, but—” she started to say.
“Let’s just go inside,” Tristan said. “Everyone’s getting overwrought.” He shook his head. “We could argue this round and round for eternity, and we’d still end up where we are.” He stared down at me, then pushed a strand of hair back from my face. “Every choice I make will take me closer to Kit—that’s the one true thing that carries me through everything. So c’mon. I want to look at the drawing again. Pretty sure he gave me a couple inches in the dick department.”
“Oh you know the opposite is true,” I said as we got out of the car, moving towards the gallery. “You’re much bigger, much thicker than that.”
“Yeah?” He wrapped his arms around my shoulder. “You been taking measurements?”
“Always.”
“Ahh, you must be Cressida Greyson. My name is Carl Delozian. Welcome to my gallery. Now, this must be Katherine and Tristan.”
“Hi,” I replied lamely, but I needn’t have worried. We got little more than a cursory glance, his focus swinging straight back to Cress.
“I just have to ask, are both omegas currently taking suppressants? And no signs of being in heat? I only ask because we have quite a few unmated alphas coming to the gallery and I want to make sure everyone is feeling comfortable.”
“I’m sorry?”
There was something about growing up the way we did that managed to turn what should have been an apologetic remark into one that was anything but. My sister fixed the man in her gaze and skewered him, until words just came burbling out.
“Well, I just wanted to make sure…
Because of the Greyson name… The insurance indemnity form requires…”
“Hello, you two.”