Good Girl by Sam Hall

Chapter 16

Omegas don’t share. It’s not in their nature.

Omegas don’t share. It’s not in their nature.

Marcus’ words went round and round in my head on the drive over to the Lasseter estate. So that was their big secret, why they didn’t take an omega when they obviously wanted to. I frowned, the suppressants making me feel a little woozy, so the memory was slippery, hard to nail down and consider.

Omegas don’t share. It’s not in their nature.

Yeah, all right, I got it the first time,I thought. But do we?

I mean, they weren’t wrong. We were raised on a steady diet of romantic storylines between alphas and omegas, and there was always one pushy, demanding alpha who put his or her whole soul on the line for their omega, all that tough façade cracking and finally breaking down for them. That was what we wanted. We were required to submit over and over, and would if we got that. The one moment of true surrender, when the alpha realised that this wasn’t instincts or hormones or biology. My eyes slid sideways, skimming over the lot of the guys sitting in the huge SUV, seeing the dark bulk of them. When they realised they’d never respond to another omega, to anyone else, like they did you, that was when we could do it—submit to their intensity, their passion, their hunger. When it was safe to give into our own.

“What are you thinking about, omega?” Orion asked as I squirmed in my seat, my cunt throbbing at the thought of it. A hand running down the back of my neck and staying there, forever, as I knelt. I wouldn’t be a good girl then, I’d be theirs. “Omega?”

My eyes jerked up at the command in his voice, his studying mine as his fingers traced the clasp of the damn collar, then slid under the pearls, stroking the skin there.

“I asked you a question.”

“Submission.” I bit the word off but didn’t dare raise my voice. This was hard to say as it was without the rest of them hearing. “Submission to an alpha. My alpha. When he proves himself to me. When he deserves it. That’s what I was thinking about.”

I was acting stupidly, recklessly. Orion might have his mates, but his nature still jerked his leash when an omega said things like that. Because no matter what he’d chosen, part of him, all of them, would always want that.

Which made me feel suddenly sad, my mood plummeting as it often did with suppressants. Everything became so much more elevated, as if in revenge for trying to suppress what I was. It wasn’t fucking revenge. Wanting some sort of control over my stupid biology was a perfectly natural response, and on that, my therapist and I agreed. So I looked up, reached my hand out, ready to take his in mine and give him my sympathy when I saw his expression.

His eyes glowed in the gloom, his face pale, his expression stony. He jerked his hand out of reach and then clasped his around my wrist to stop me from moving. For a few moments, he held it, frozen and still, just like the rest of him, his lips parting, no doubt to deliver some cutting words, when the car pulled to a stop.

“We’re here,” Marcus said, turning around and looking at the rest of us. “You gonna talk battle plan, Orion, or just hold the omega’s hand?”

“You look after her,” he replied, opening the door and stumbling out, off to anywhere but beside me.

“Well, all right,” Marcus said with a smile. “You’re with me, glued to my side, omega. The rest of you stay lively. This place, these fucking people—”

“We know,” Brendan said, shooting me a sidelong look. “There is no way this isn’t going to become a bloody clusterfuck.”

“We should take her home. She shouldn’t be out anywhere,” Rhys grumbled.

“And do what? Get myself off over and over as I watch you guys fuck on the CCTV?” I sneered. It felt weird, the expression. “That’s how we got into this situation in the first place. I’ve taken my suppressants, and George can escort me. You guys can fuck off and do whatever it is you would usually do.”

I was working up to an epic flounce, the tight fit of my dress not exactly conducive to that. I struggled out of the car, my heels hitting the concrete, then straightened up, ready to stride all the way up the long driveway to the main house at the Lasseters’, but I didn’t get very far.

“What the…?” I hissed when I saw Marcus beside me, his hand wrapping around the exact spot Orion had gripped me, overlaying Orion’s referred warmth with his own. “How the hell…?”

“You’re right,” he replied, but not to my questions. “We did get you into this mess, and we’ll get you out of it. This…” His head jerked towards the hulking house, light streaming from every window and doorway. “This isn’t a nice event supervised by proud mamas. This is a battlefield, where alphas play with omegas, and for you, it’s not an evenly matched one. George can’t do shit for you here, but we can.” His grip loosened enough that I could pull away if I wanted to. “I have a club to fucking run, an empire to build, and a million problems, each one could take all of us down in a second, but I’m here with you, offering my help if you want it.”

My head jerked up as I heard the muted whoops coming from the house.

“They won’t let you decide, but I will. What is it gonna be, omega? You walking into the lion’s den with an army at your back or just a spear carrier?”

“I’m assuming he means me?” George drawled, walking over and looking mildly pissed.

“Fine,” I ground out, and the effect of the words were nothing if not dramatic. That smile that had transfixed a million girls at my school spread across his face, a Botticelli angel deigning to look favourably on me. Actually, fuck, make that Caravaggio.

“Well, c’mon. I promise this will be nothing if not educational.”

“If she tips over into frenzy, she’s coming back to ours,” Rhys rumbled. “Promise me, Marcus.”

“Well, I sure as shit wouldn’t abandon her to these idiots’ tender mercies.” Marcus’ face grew serious as we walked up the drive. “I know you like to paint me as some kind of bastard, but I’m your bastard,” he told Rhys. “I wouldn’t leave my worst enemy in a place like this.”

“This is gonna be a clusterfuck,” Brendan muttered. “A total bloody clusterfuck.”

And it was, as soon as we walked in the door.

The party wasin full swing, the house teeming with alphas. Their scent hit me like a Mack truck at full force. I staggered on my heels, and Marcus’ hand went to the small of my back, settling me. There they were, clustered inside the massive open plan living area of the house, their focus on a broad low table.

What was usually a stylish oversized coffee table was now a stage. Two exquisitely beautiful omegas crouched on it, naked, each tightly twined around the other. Lip to lip, groin to groin, they moved slowly, sinuous as snakes mating, because they were doing the same. His fingers were buried inside her, and she gripped him just as convulsively. But it was their cries that clawed at me. Little whimpers of dissatisfaction, they could tease each other higher, but not satisfy the other. Well, rarely. Each leaked slick, gasping, needing the feel of someone’s knot.

“You came.” A tall man with a shock of ruffled blond hair walked towards us, his white shirt unbuttoned, a tie hanging open around his neck. “Logan Lasseter.” He took my hand rather than offered it, kissing my knuckles before letting it go. “I didn’t think you would, the most elusive omega of the season. And with escorts.” The warm tone noticeably cooled. “I didn’t realise you personally did home deliveries, McCallum.”

“For the Lasseters, anything,” Marcus replied, stepping closer. “Brendan, give the man his weed.” A large bag chock full of pungent smelling buds was pulled from Brendan’s jacket and handed over.

“Fuck…” Logan opened the bag and took a deep smell of what was inside. “Just the bloody thing. The payment went through, yeah?”

“I wouldn’t be carrying around half a kilo of dope if it hadn’t,” Marcus replied. “Look, the live porn show is hot and all, but not really what we came here for. Where’s the real party?”

“No?” Logan’s eyes slid over his shoulder, a slow smile spreading across his face at what he saw, then fading. “Pity. I think you’d look spectacular on that table, don’t you, omega?”

And that was when I realised what I’d stepped into. There was a reason why the season went as it did, because even in its carefully guarded halls, rooms, and patios, shit like this went down. Where the powerful used their influence to get what they wanted, no matter what the omega thought. Logan’s question pulsed and pushed at me, my foot tensing as it went to take a step towards the table, my eyes finding George’s and glaring at him, but Marcus’ grip tightened.

“No,” I replied bluntly, my body relaxing again, “not really.”

An eyebrow jerked up, followed by a smile, making me think I’d passed some test or something.

Because I had.

He laughed. “This bullshit’s just to sort the goats from the sheep. Fortune chasers get wind of our parties sometimes, and we check their aspirations at the door. But c’mon, the real thing is through here.”

We were led deeper into the cavernous house, the size of it hard for me to get my head around. Fortune chasers indeed. Most academy omegas would give their left ovary or nut to be master or mistress of this house, but he scorned them for wanting that, Logan. It was evident in his easy smile, his chin tilts as he passed. This was a king in his castle.

“Et voila.” He gestured to a massive room with mood lighting, creating a soft cocoon that masked the size of it. People lounged around in chairs, chatting, drinking, waiters circulating with drinks and canapés. He fished a small metal pipe from his pocket, then flicked out the sticky residue from the cone with his thumb. I’d seen plenty of kids use them at my school for smoking dope. “I’m gonna give this stash a sample, see if I got my money’s worth. Chill, mingle, and if you decide to escape the evil clutches of your bodyguards here, come find me, omega.”

The smile faded, his clear blue eyes filling with something completely at odds with his laidback persona. He stepped forward, tracing a line down the central column of pearls at my neck.

“You look exquisite collared, but I have much more…satisfying ways of claiming what’s mine. I’d love to discuss exactly what that would entail at your leisure, Cyn Rhodes.”

“Arrogant git,” Brendan mumbled as Logan ambled away.

“Well, there’s one offer on the table,” Orion said, his mouth a thin line. “The rest of you have deliveries to make. I’ll find a place to sit, perch our omega on my knee, and see what comes my way.”

“Our way,” Marcus said. “You might have gotten over your snit awfully fast and your blue blood is exactly the kind of lure we need, along with the lovely omega’s scent, but you passed the responsibility to me. You make the deliveries, or is that beneath you?”

Smaller bags of white powder were pulled from his jacket and thrust into Orion’s hand.

“You need me—”

“Always, but not for this. Go.”

The pain, the need in Marcus’ voice was there and gone again, and I watched Orion’s head spin at it. Was that part of his pull for the other men? He gave them tiny tidbits of himself, leaving them panting for more? Rhys shook his head, jaw tensing, before he turned and did as he was bid, striding out into the room, people moving from their seats as soon as he did. He distributed bags like party favours to those who had paid, obviously.

“She should be with me,” Brendan said, his voice a ragged growl. “I’m the one that got us into this mess, I should get us out of it. Give the omega to me.”

I watched him growl, posture, step closer to Marcus, shoulders hulking, fists forming, and as he did, so did his lover. Marcus’ hand tightened around my wrist so hard, it started to hurt.

“And this is exactly why you shouldn’t. Go, Brendan. Now.”

It hurt something in both of them to use their alpha commands against each other, which sent my mood plummeting lower.

“You are not responsible for other people’s feelings, thoughts, or physiology,” my therapist said. “If you have a relationship with someone and they want things to change, they can negotiate that with you just like anyone else.”

“But I’m an omega…”

“And half of the bullshit spouted about omegas is socialised, not biology. The fact we are having this conversation now, that you can question what happens between an alpha and an omega, is evidence of that, isn’t it?” I blinked, her words landing inside me like depth bombs. “If you truly were the mindless creature, your brain would shut down, unwilling to hear or even understand what I’m saying, but that’s not what’s happening.”

I stiffened, shifting my wrist in Marcus’ grip until it loosened, and when he looked at me, all that passion and anger and frustration was there until he rapidly packed it away again. Instead, a familiar smug look replaced it.

“I’m going to enjoy this, omega. Your scent drove my lovers mad when you marked me with it last night.” His eyes dropped down, his smile fading. “It does the same with me.”

And then he turned, dragging me over to a plush chair, filling it with his large frame when he sat, then arranging me across his legs. I wriggled, restive, feeling an instinctive need to get the fuck up and run.

“Peace.” This was rasped against my ear, the feel of his fangs grazing the shell making me shiver. “It’s bad enough that I’m plagued by the need to throw you on your feet and let you run through this glorious monument to excess, just so I could hunt you down, but every time you move that pert little arse, it grinds on my aching cock.”

He chuckled when I went perfectly still.

“A drink, sir?” a waiter asked, appearing by our side.

“A Scotch, neat, oldest one you’ve got.”

“And for the lady?”

He took a deep breath, sucking my scent in, reading me.

“Same, and keep them coming.”

“Very good, sir.”

“Relax, omega,” Marcus said in a much calmer voice now. “The scent of fear is just as potent an aphrodisiac, but the alphas you’ll attract as a result are not the ones you want, I think. No waivers and consent discussions with them.” He let out a long hiss of a breath. “You have no idea how many omegas are locked up in fancy arse places like this. Thank you,” he said when the waiter returned with our drinks.

“Should I be drinking?” I asked, hating the question as soon as it was out of my mouth, consulting the brown liquid as if it had the answers.

“You should do exactly as you please. I’ll watch over you, hold your hair back if you vomit, whisper sweet nothings as you do. You’ve thoroughly entranced my pack, made yourself their project, and so you’ve become mine.” I turned to see him tip the Scotch to his lips and swallow, smiling mockingly at me. “No harm will come to you. I won’t let it.”

The challenge in his eyes glittered right up until I took a mouthful of the Scotch, then his focus returned to the room, his hands slowly sliding through my hair.

“Wouldn’t expectto see you here, McCallum.”

Several tall men appeared, settling down in the chairs in front of us. The cut of their suits and the careless way they wore them all spoke of wealth.

“I didn’t recognise you, without all the hoopla,” the other said, carelessly waving to the space around us. “That and you don’t have Orion Ratcliffe’s cock halfway down your throat.”

“Jacoby, Smythe, still fucking arseholes, I see. To what do I owe this displeasure?”

“Well, we had to take a look at the omega that caught your eye. All those vows of fidelity to Orion gone once you got a sniff of omega pussy?” the dark haired one said. Jacoby, I think.

“Admittedly, it is very fine pussy. What’s your name, sweetheart, or doesn’t the big bad alpha let you speak?” said the other man, who had light brown hair meticulously combed back in a side sweep. He leaned towards me, chuckling once Marcus began to growl.

“Cyn Rhodes,” I said, sticking my free hand out abruptly, making Smythe frown.

“Rhodes? You’re…”

“Yes,” I replied, taking his limp hand and shaking it, pulling away before his grip could firm and show his dominance over me.

“What the hell is a girl like you doing here?” Jacoby asked with a frown, then started to look around. “Where’s your chaperone?”

“Right here,” I said, leaning back and daring to trail a finger through Marcus’ hair. I snuggled in tighter to Marcus, nestling my head into his shoulder.

“Yeah?” The frown gave way to a smile on the stranger’s face, his eyes going heavily lidded. “Well, if that’s your scene, you should come into the backrooms. Something as pretty as you would prove to be delicious. Come, omega.”

An imperious, offhand command, it had me shifting in my seat until Marcus’ arm tightened around me.

“You can talk to the omega, promise her the world, seduce her from me, but you won’t order her off my lap like one would a dog,” Marcus said in a low tone throbbing with menace. “I don’t share with the likes of you.”

“Oh yes, you do. Orion’s one of us,” Smythe said with a lazy smile, looking back into the room. “And daddy will do just about anything to restore him to that position. You haven’t heard?”

He and Jacoby shared a moment, a smile, a long look, all full of malicious pleasure.

“You should give her to us if you want your little quartet to continue, because this one’s been claimed by the Ratcliffe family. She’s been extended invitations, been allowed to have her season, but the deals have already been done. Anyone who makes a serious play against the Rhodes girl will incur the wrath of the entire Ratcliffe clan, including you.” Marcus’ grip tightened and tightened. “You’re hugging your replacement to your chest, the girl who will actually be permitted into a party like this without kilos of drugs in her jacket, the one who will take your place by Orion’s side as he is restored to his position.”

“Benson’s making bold moves across the chessboard, which makes me wonder why,” Jacoby said, a picture of indolence as he rested his head on his hand. “I came to take a look at what all the fuss was about…”

He reached out, sliding a single finger up my calf, using it to part my legs to the sounds of my distress, then breathed in deep as he caught my scent. The smug smile dropped away, and something feral replaced it.

“Give the girl to us. We’ll arrange for her chaperone to be distracted and then have our fun. It’ll ruin her, ruin her reputation, and your precious Orion will be your own again.” He ground his teeth, staring at me with an alien hunger. “You brought an omega close to frenzy here. No one will be held to blame for what happens next. It’s just nature following its course.”

I struggled, went to kick, trying to get to my feet and fucking run, but Marcus held me fast, pinned against him.

“Get. The fuck. Away.”

He didn’t roar nor shout, he didn’t need to. His voice was pure venom, and no one wanted it dripping on them. The guys were up and out of their seats, the sounds of the chairs hitting the floor reverberating through the whole room. Brendan and Rhys appeared as if summoned.

“What the fuck happened?” Rhys asked, staring down at the men as they scrambled away. Tame little alphas, they cowered away in the face of a real one.

“Where’s Orion?” Marcus snapped.

I expected him to shove me away, discard the thing that was causing all the pain I was getting off him in waves, but instead, he held me so tight, it hurt to breathe.

“Settle down…” Brendan soothed. “You’re hurting Cyn.”

He stood up, and I was let loose so quickly, I stumbled, but not for long. His hand still wrapped around mine, Marcus marched us through the crowd that was steadily thickening, people wondering what the hell was going on. We strode through the rapidly clearing path up to where a temporary bar had been set up, Orion slouched against it. A hand went to the back of Orion’s shirt, grabbing it and using it to haul him backwards.

“What the fuck, Marcus!” Orion spat in return.

“When were you going to tell me?”

“What? You’re creating a bloody scene. Quiet down.”

“Quiet down?” That was exactly the wrong thing to say. I was shoved into Orion’s arms, which opened to catch me, to hold me still, on automatic.

“You said you had a plan,” Marcus snarled, a picture of quivering rage, one so fucking convincing, I hunched down in Orion’s grip, trying to make myself smaller.

“I do. We’re making this work. We’ll walk out of it stronger than ever.”

“Just the four of us?” This was it—the challenge, the gauntlet thrown down before Orion. He could either pick it up and save his relationship, or he could leave it. My heart beat so fucking fast, a little rabbit patter that just seemed to speed up the longer I was held tight.

“With whoever we want with us. It’s us, always,” Orion replied, and for a moment, I thought he’d done it. There was something so bloody raw in his voice, always was when they broke down and talked to each other.

“There is no us when you take an omega as a mate, Orion. There’s no room for us in a ‘done deal.’ This is the condition your father put on the money, isn’t it? Isn’t it?!”

“Rhys, take Cyn and get everyone in the car. I’m not putting our fucking business on blast.” Orion’s blue eyes scoured the room, as if he would face down every single person in it if that was what it took. He brought silence to the entire space at his command.

But Rhys broke it.

“Come here, Cyn. I’ve got you.”

It was then, as that massive frame folded around mine, creating a wall around me, one that protected me from everything and everyone, that I broke. My fingers clawed at him, trying to scratch out the fear and the anger and the frustration I couldn’t, wouldn’t give voice to.

“That’s it. I’ll take you somewhere safe now. I’ve got you.”

“God, she’s so bloody perfect,” Marcus said on a growl as we strode out of the Lasseter house, past the unsatisfied omegas moaning for the alphas’ benefit, out the door and into the night. “Little kitten sounds of pain, just small sounds of pleasure as you all bow down before her. It’s been two fucking days. Two days, and that’s all it took for your father to get what he wants. Not an untried eighteen-year-old, too starry-eyed and stupid to be of interest, not well-worn and jaded either. Just bright and beautiful and so bloody clueless, she tips into frenzy at the slightest touch. And you’re rampant.”

“Yeah?” Orion snapped as we reached the car. “And so are you. You don’t want to admit it, don’t want to face it, but if I shoved my hand down your fucking pants right now, I’d find you dripping for her. For us.”

“Don’t you fucking say it. Don’t you dare. You promised, Orion.” That sound, of an alpha breaking, it’d stay with me for the rest of my days. My body went perfectly still, because it knew it was witnessing something that was never allowed to happen. Alphas didn’t show vulnerability or cry or scream at anything, except to exert their will. “You promised me.”

“I promised us, and I’ll deliver, always. I swore that to all of you,” Orion replied. “There is nothing my father can do to pull us apart but this.”

Rhys’ hand stroked through my hair, over and over, the sensation soothing, even as the sounds they were making weren’t. Orion’s voice shook with it, with the conviction, with the surety, with love.

“I’ve always loved all of you. When you were still fighting me, thinking this was just some juvenile hook-up to ease our aching balls. When we were building things towards what we have now but assuming we’d be putting this to one side once we found our omegas. When we couldn’t keep our fucking hands off each other, waiting for them.”

Orion grabbed Marcus and threw him up against the car with a brutality that took my breath away and made my thighs scissor. I was an interloper, a cuckoo in the nest, unwanted and pushing all the swallows out without even realising it. But I was also an omega, and the sight of alphas crashing into each other with brutal passion was always going to trip my trigger and make my traitorous pussy leak.

“I know,” Rhys mumbled, stroking me, stroking me, but never where I needed. “I’ll ease you, once we get somewhere safe. I promise. You’re OK, omega. Everything will be OK.”

“It won’t be OK,” Marcus groaned, sounding for all the world like his heart was being ripped from his chest.

“Get her in the car,” Orion snapped. “Bren, I need you to drive. I’ll get on the phone to Miranda, let her know what state Cyn is in and that we’ll keep her safe until her frenzy resolves or she makes a decision.”

“We’re doing this. We’re really doing this?” Brendan asked numbly.

“Nothing is certain, that’s what my father doesn’t understand from his bloody ivory tower. There is always a choice, even when you don’t think there is.”

That felt significant, something I had to hold onto and pore over, but my mind was done. It roared, the fire that I’d been holding at bay, my skin set alight.

“Fuuuuck…” Rhys groaned, more howl than human. “The suppressors are failing.”

Doors were slammed, I was slid across a seat, the leather feeling cold, too cold against my bare skin, as the motor roared to life.

“Strap in, fuckers,” Brendan said, “because this ride’s gonna be a rough one.”

“Alpha…” I panted.

“Here, omega. Right here for you.”