“What the hell did he say?” James asked in a low, tense tone, doing his best to pretend he was looking at the art.
“That you were the real deal.”
His eyes dropped down, his brow knitting slightly as he searched my face for the truth, but I just smiled. I held my glass up to him and took a sip of the gloriously effervescent wine and then did what everyone did here—pretended to look at art as we all scoped each other out.
“You must
introduce us to your omega, James! We’ve never seen you with anyone at a society event,” an older woman exclaimed. My grandmother, inspired by the work of a famous American author used to call them social X-rays—skeletally thin women of a certain age, who had both the bank accounts for haute couture and the frames for them. No omega curves, they wore shockingly chic clothing that hung so perfectly from their coat hanger bodies, it made you wonder about the preoccupation with our small, softer forms.
“Kit Greyson,” I said, holding out a hand.
“Ohh…I thought I knew your face. You’re the image of Olivia.” I wasn’t. Olivia was my paternal grandmother, and I knew I took after Mum’s side of the family because that had been thrown in my face way too many times to forget. “Nan Pinkham. I was on the hospital fundraising committee with your grandmother.”
“Of course, Mrs Pinkham. She used to mention you often.”
“No, she didn’t,” she said with a smile, taking my hand and patting it. “And if she did, that’s a detail no one expects an omega to retain. So, you’ve caught the eye of young Chadwick here. Well done, you! We’ve all been thrusting our grandsons and granddaughters at him with increasingly embarrassing vehemence, and he slides out of our clutches with just a charming smile. Perhaps because he never looked at my Avery like he looks at you.”
“Why am I having second thoughts about the wisdom of bringing a date to the gallery?” James asked, setting his glass down on a nearby plinth and rubbing his forehead.
“I personally look forward to the day when I see you wearing his mating mark,” Nan continued with a devilish grin. “Seeing these mighty alphas brought low by their heart’s desires? At my age, there is no greater sport. Lovely to see you again, James.”
“And you, Nan,” James replied, in a much harassed tone, steering me away.
We passed several art pieces before he’d say much more, pulling me in close in a way I wasn’t entirely sure was conscious.
“Well, I wanted the glitterati notified of our potential union, and that’s been achieved,” he said, his fingers toying distractingly with the ends of my hair.
“Gran always said Nan was an awful gossip,” I agreed. “So yeah, mission accomplished.”
“Message the boys,” he directed. “We’ll stay for the actual opening speech and then leave dear Philip to his designer loving customers.”
Which was how we came to be outside the doors of Abaddon, about an hour later.
“There you are.”
That vicious hiss was all I got before arms and scent engulfed me, Tristan sweeping me up and twirling me around. He set me down away from the other guys, hiding their view of me with the wall of his body.
“Pregnant?” His brows jerked down severely. “Knocked up and mated? This is the bullshit your family is prepared to pull?”
“It gives us time, space, and an excuse to be here.” I looked at the sombre black doors that marked the entrance. “We need time to explore things, Tristan—things we need to look at.”
His hands were restless, stroking my hair, tracing the line of my shoulders, sliding down my arms. Finally, I grabbed them and held them with my own.
“We need to explore what you need as an omega.”
“Not an omega…” he muttered.
“But some of you is, right?” I tightened my grip, listened to the sharp intake of breath as I forced his hands down. “Alpha and omega. I know the alpha side real well, now I need to meet the omega.”
“How?” he snapped, his eyes sharpening. “Want me up on one of the platforms, submitting to one or both of them?” His words came out as a sneer, but I saw through it.
“Not unless you want to. You said that you needed me, that no one was touching me without your permission, so make me your alpha.”
“What?”
“Just for tonight, in front of all those people. Let me put you into omega space, see how you deal with it. There’s plenty of people, things, stuff to ground you if it doesn’t work out, and I’ll stop as soon as you say.”
“You’re going to top me?”