“Thanks, I appreciate it, but I’ll just go and see what he wants. You can go all rawrr if he proves to be a pest.”
What? I frowned, not sure what Tris’ angle was, but I followed hot on his heels as he approached the other alpha.
“Well…” Len exhaled the word, and there was so much in that simple sound, it made me dizzy. “Look at the two of you. I tried to tell myself I imagined you as more than what you were, some fey creatures come to play with the mere mortals, but I didn’t.” Those grey blue eyes raked all over the two of us, like he’d suck up every detail and store it away for later. Then he straightened up, reminding me just how big and tall he was. I felt like some little fairy creature next to his bulk. He loomed above me, still over a head taller than Tris, but rather than edge into our space and crowd us, his hand shot out.
“These are for you.”
The flowers—one a bunch of white arum lilies, the other of red tulips—were held out in the space between us, an offer, a truce. Oh yes, I liked this alpha, and wasn’t that a worry? I stepped forward, ready to accept them, assuming they were for me, but was surprised to see Len separate the bunches and the massive red tulips come to me. Because I was an omega, I’d studied the symbolism of flowers and how to lay a table correctly, so I knew the tulips represented passion and romance. I had to put my arm out to accept the bunch, the heads oversized, crimson cups. But the lilies?
They were held back, and both of us watched Tristan realise why. Red blotches formed across the tops of his cheekbones, his eyes wide, until I put a hand on the small of his back. He stumbled forward, just staring at Len’s hand before bringing his hands up abruptly to just grab them before his training kicked in. He took the flowers gently, awkwardly, holding them in his arms like someone unused to holding a baby, just gazing at their perfect architectural shapes. Beauty, I realised, that was what they symbolised. My eyes flicked up to stare at Len and saw him watching Tris closely, and I felt a wash of white-hot…what? Fear? Need? Desire? I didn’t know if wanted to fight him or fuck him, but the scary thing? I wanted to find out.
“This is probably a bit forward—” Len started to say, that rich chocolate voice deep enough to sink into.
“Y’think?” Tristan said.
“But I saw a picture in the newspaper of the gallery, of your portrait, and I felt like my soul left my body for a moment,” he continued, then smiled slowly. “And all the blood went to my dick. I figured I’d turn up, bring you two something nice, and see i
f you were interested in going out for dinner.”
“Who would like to go out for dinner?” Tristan asked, his voice as taut as a guitar string.
“Well, both of you of course. If you want to do this separately, get to know each other one on one…” His voice trailed away as he heard Tristan’s growl. Len nodded, his eyes heavily lidded. “I figured it’d be the two of you together. You’re a mated pair.”
“What?” I barely squeaked the word out.
“That’s what this is, isn’t it? You love him, he loves you. You’re mated.”
Len’s broad finger pointed at me, then Tris.
“Omegas can’t be mated,” Tristan ground out.
“But you are,” Len countered. His smile was softer, darker somehow. “Doesn’t worry me one little bit if you come as a pair, just so long as you come.” Silence stretched between us like molten sugar, getting thinner and thinner as our breaths came harder. “What happened the other night? I want that. I want it more than I’ve wanted anything for a very long time, but not just sex.”
He shook his head, and I realised just how intense his gaze was once he’d looked away.
“Seems like you could use an alpha on the regular.”
That was exactly the wrong thing to say. I smelled the sharp scent of lily sap as the stems were crushed between Tris’ fingers.
“We don’t need anything but each other,” my love snapped.
And there it was—the fucking lie at the centre of everything we’d built together, the one he could never hide from me. Any beta or alpha lovers we might take, they’d never know if what we said was true or not, because all they had was their designation’s instincts to inform their worldview, but me? I felt the ache up high and inside me, where only an alpha could touch. The longer Len stood there, looking like something from lumberjack porn, handing over handfuls of expensive blooms, the longer I’d feel it. My body, it knew Len’s feel, Len’s taste, and no matter what I felt for Tris, I’d crave that still, but the biggest lie was something deeper still.
I moved closer and placed the tulips in and on top of Tris’ lilies, watching the way they intermingled and liking that contrast between red and white, then looked up at Len and saw his look of satisfaction, making me wonder if that was what he’d intended all along. Freed from their burden, my hands went to Tris’ shoulder, then to the small of his back, where I knew he’d feel the ache. I slid my fingers, just the tips, under the waistband of his jeans, so I could just touch the hot skin there. Tris shot me a look over his shoulder, and everything I suspected was there.
His lips were parted, his breath whistling in and out, his pupils blown wide and staring, and I knew why. My beautiful omega was juicing for the alpha, his cock and arse leaking slick, readying himself for what he needed. Which was why I did what came next.
“Where did you want to take us?” I asked. “And when?”
“Now.” Len recovered quickly, the word just blurted out, a rueful smile letting us know just how little chill he had. “Sorry, but I don’t think I’ve got it in me to let you walk through the door without me.”
“Let us?”
Tris’ words were crisp, sharp.
“Fuck…” Len raked his hands through his hair, those massive biceps bulging through his shirt. “That came out wrong. I fucking thought this through and everything, I promise, but…”
He was losing us and he knew it, that was what was plain on his face in a curious mixture of longing, pain, and frustration, but not with us, I realised. With himself, and that was what sealed the deal with me. All the alphas in my life provided impenetrable façades of strength, so much so, his vulnerability was sexy as hell. For a second, I stared at him and he stared at me, before I turned to Tris.