I gesture toward the hallway and start to mumble an excuse, but it falls dead on my lips as I slip away.
Miles doesn’t follow after, but that’s okay. I need some time to think, to weigh my options here.
I race down the steps toward the living room, only another man appears before me as soon as I’ve made it downstairs, the kitchen door swinging shut behind him.
“What’s with all the shouting? Wait, who are you?” He’s not as tall as Miles, and he’s not covered in ink like Archer. This one—either Noah or Ben, by process of elimination—has long dark hair that falls partway down his chest. His skin is perfect and blemish-free, while his jaw is strong, his cheekbones sharp. I’ve never used the word “beautiful” to describe a man before, but for him, it fits perfectly.
It takes me a second too long to find my voice. “V-Violet,” I manage at last, staring at him openly the whole time.
And he stares right back with a slight tilt of his head. “The omega from San Francisco?”
“Yes, that’s me.” My hand shoots out in greeting before I can stop it. How embarrassing.
“Ben,” the alpha tells me, accepting my hand and giving it a firm shake.
Then he pulls me to him so our bodies are pressed together. Ben’s only a couple inches taller than me, which means we’re practically standing nose to nose. “It’s nice to meet you, Violet.” A smile creeps across his face as if he’s just made some kind of discovery that pleases him greatly.
“W-what?” I sputter. I really need to get a grip on my speech here, but something about this alpha makes me nervous. Like he could easily pry me open and pluck out all my secrets one by one until I am laid completely bare.
“I think I’ll call you Meg,” he says at last.
“But that’s not my name.”
“Short for omega,” he clarifies as he narrows his eyes at me. “You’re ours now, right?”
“I guess so.”
“Good, because I like you.” A disarming smile follows.
“I like you too?” I say it like a question, because that’s what it is.
“So I see you’ve met, Ben,” Miles calls as he strides into the room to join us. “Down, boy.”
Ben lets me go, and I back away slowly as if he’s a predator and I’m his prey. His words are friendly, but there’s something about him that simply puts me on edge.
“Go sit down, Meg,” Ben tells me, and I jump at his command. My body is a good omega, even if my mind is not.
Miles raises an eyebrow at his packmate. “Meg?”
“Yeah, like omega. Get it?”
“I get it, but it’s stupid as hell.”
“Whatever. Meg likes it, don’t you, Meg?”
I make eyes with Miles, sending an unspoken plea.
And he understands immediately. “She doesn’t like it. Now stop being an asshole and go find Noah.”
“Sorry about him,” Miles tells me once the other alpha has gone. We’re sitting together on the couch now, hip to hip, so much closer than we were on that sofa at my mother’s house. “Ben uses humor as a defense mechanism,” he explains by way of apology, but that makes even less sense than no explanation at all.
“Why? Do I make him nervous or something?”
“Very. Generally, the worse the joke, the more on edge he is. And this whole Meg thing…” He laughs and shakes his head. “Let’s just say it’s not his best work.”
“I didn’t mean to upset anyone,” I say in earnest, folding my hands in my lap. Thankfully, I was able to change into a simple jeans and tank top ensemble before leaving Mom’s house with Miles. I’d be far more embarrassed if I was still wearing that sexy bride getup.
“It’s not about you. It’s all about him,” Miles continues. “Ben’s the most reluctant out of the four of us when it comes to finding an omega and completing our pack.”