As much as I hated Leighton Winston, it was about time I paid her a visit to talk about repayment of favours.
* * *
The ride was smooth in my bright orange convertible, and I passed it off to the valet of a neighbouring building. When I went to wander off he tried to stop me, informing me parking was for patrons only, but I shrugged.
“I’ll be a patron. Later.”
I didn’t even know what the fuck was in the building, but I wasn’t parking my sports car on the street.
“Sir—”
Flipping my wallet open with a sigh, I slid a hundred dollar bill from the confines of it. I pushed it into the valet’s hand. “Look, I’m busy. Take the tip and park the car.”
I didn’t wait to see if he listened. If someone towed my car they’d have hell to pay, but I could afford the tow truck’s fees. I was too focused on Leighton to give a shit.
Sometimes, when I got something in my head I couldn’t stop until I’d gotten it done. Like that one time I’d built a PC from top to bottom, including sourcing the parts, in twelve hours. Or when I’d personally installed a sophisticated security system at the Dirt with Dash studio. That part took a few days, but I’d gone off on a tangent and decided we needed cyber security too. I’d learned to code and hadn’t slept for five days.
This time, my fixation was Leighton.
Couldn’t say it was the first time, but the woman was so off limits it wasn’t even funny. She was a constant reminder of the scent match mate that didn’t want me, and female alphas didn’t do it for me.
Except, she kind of did.
But I wasn’t going to tell anyone that, not ever in my goddamn life.
I slid into her building behind an elderly couple with walkers, beaming widely at them as I helped them hold open doors. We made small talk in the elevator, and by the time I was on the right floor I was bouncing.
I knew which unit was hers, so I didn’t knock. Just walked in, only to stop short at what I saw.
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
Leighton, Ambrose, and some pretty omega with honey brown hair all spun to face me.
Ambrose was barely clothed, his shirt ripped up the back and exposing those scars he was so self-conscious about. The omega had a ring of bruising around her throat and various other scrapes and bruises, her hand fisting what looked like the hilt of a knife at her hip.
And Leighton… she had a smear of blood on her top lip and her normally defiant, controlled expression was nowhere to be fucking found.
“How long have you been banging her?” I demanded, stomping into the condo. “What kind of goddamn betrayal is this? There are billions of people on the planet, Ambrose, and only her pussy was good enough? Or is it the omega you’re fucking. I thought we decided as a pack that we weren’t going to be with omegas.”
The three of them were too stunned to speak, at least until I was nearly face to face with Leighton.
A perfect specimen of omega placed herself between me and the little snake, clogging my nose with coconut and chocolate. Her scent was spiking as her body trembled, and she clutched that hilt like it was the only thing keeping her stable.
“There’s no need to talk to her like that,” she said, putting on a show of confidence as her voice wavered.
I scoffed. “And what do you know, little omega?”
Reaching down I snatched the knife from her before she could stop me, whistling when I saw it wasn’t in a case. Bare silver stared back at me. “You’re prepped and ready to go, aren’t you? Were you planning on stabbing me with this?”
No one had answered a single one of my questions, and I’d thrown out plenty of them. It was getting fucking old. She didn’t answer me either, but when I looked down at her much shorter form I found her trembling like a leaf, tears dripping down her face.
Oh.What the fuck?
I didn’t often feel remorse, but I had the urge to give the weapon right back to her and let her stab me with it.
Last time I’d gotten this tightness in my chest had been with our scent match, and look how that had gone. My life had been shit since he’d rejected us.
Before I could give in to the temptation, Ambrose plucked the knife from my hand and pressed it into the omega’s palm. Her eyes blew wide as she stared at him, her plump lips parting a little. My packmate unnecessarily brushed his fingers across her wrist as he left the blade in her possession.
