“Aye, that it is.” I pull out my wallet and remove a sizable chunk of money. “Will this do?”
His eyes go wide. “That’s too much, Mr. Finnegan.”
“It’s not. Take it and please, for the love of everything holy, just call me Finn. And do you have a name?”
“Sure. Finn. Got it.” He stares at the money for anothermoment before shaking his head as he shoves it into his pocket. “The name is Ian.”
Alora gives him a soft smile. “It’s nice to meet you, Ian.”
His blush had just begun to fade, but it comes back now—somehow even brighter. “Oh. It’s nice to meet me too. I mean you. You’re very bonnie.”
We all have a laugh at that.
“Alright, Ian. You’re much too young for our omega,” I tell him as I grip his shoulder. “Why don’t you take us to your vehicle?”
“Right. Yeah.”
Alora sidles up to me, grabs my hand, and twines our fingers together. “I like the sound of that.”
“The sound of what, lass?”
“You said our omega like I’m already yours. I like it.”
I sigh. “I didnae realize I said that, but I’m glad you like it. I like the idea of you being mine.”
“It’s practically an inevitability at this point, Finn.” Jordan laughs as he joins us. “I saw this shit with Wells and her at the beginning. You’re already hers—you just don’t know it yet.”
Gods, that’s all I want. To be hers.
This woman I’ve spent only a few hours with, has me under her spell. I don’t think I could say goodbye to her even if I wanted to.
“Belonging to Alora sounds like a dream come true,” I finally respond.
Behind us, Wells scoffs. “Kiss ass.”
Without looking back, I flip him off. When he laughs, my shoulders immediately relax. It’s how I would respond to my friends, but I wasn’t sure how it would go over with Wells.
To say we’re still finding our footing is putting things mildly—even after using my bark on him last night.
He doesn’t seem to mind when I touch or kiss Alora, butit’s like he’s testing my boundaries. It’s what I would expect of someone much younger than him, but he’s been the only alpha in their pack for nearly a decade. I’ve already proven that I’m the stronger alpha, and I don’t want to rub that in his face.
I stop when something occurs to me, even though we’re still a few feet from Ian’s truck. I turn to face Jordan and Wells, pulling Alora along with me. “Were either of your parents alphas?”
“No, they’re both betas. It’s why it was a surprise that Wells revealed as an alpha—especially since I was also a beta.”
“Ahh.” I nod. Everything makes more sense to me now.
Wells looks at me questioningly. “What’s the ahh for?”
“You’ve been testing me today in small ways. It’s something I see in young alphas as they try to figure out where they are in the hierarchy. You’re old enough that it usually wouldn’t be an issue after my bark affected you.” I give him a quick smile. “But you haven’t been around alphas in this kind of situation before, so you’ve never had to test another alpha.”
“Was I?” He winces. “I didn’t mean to do that. I’m sorry.”
I shake my head. “No, there’s no need to apologize. I’m a psychologist, so my brain needs to understand why people do the things they do. The fact that you’re subconsciously testing me makes even more sense. It’s not you, the human part, trying to test me—it’s the alpha. Which, aye, is part of you, but also not. Does that make sense?”
“Makes sense to me.” Alora grins. “It also makes other things make more sense. It explains some of his possessiveness, too, right?”
“It does, but I thought you were an engineer. How do you know that?”
