Lola & the Millionaires: Part Two

by Kathryn Moon

  Alpha. I narrowed my own gaze back at her and then stiffened at the first prick of a knife—one at the back of my neck beneath her palm, and another against my stomach. Just warnings for now, but easily turned deadly.

  “Eve,” I said. How the hell were we supposed to talk like this? With the music louder than our conversation ever could be, it was pointless.

  Her smile was slick, but there was no warmth in her dark eyes as she guided me with a gentle touch. I hunched over her, her lips against my ear like a lover’s.

  “I don’t like working for alphas,” she said in my ear, words as smooth as the way she’d snared me in her trap, as smooth as the glossy black hair piled onto her head.

  She was slender, although it was clearly pure muscle. Without the heels, she had to be no taller than my shoulder, but being this close to her made all the hairs on my body stand on end. She could kill me, probably with or without the knives. I was twice her weight and I was trained, but she was inch-to-inch deadly. Her entire presence was a warning, and even the dancers around us had opened up, giving more space to her than they had to me alone.

  “But I’m considering the case for the girl, the beta,” Eve said in my ear. “I don’t have any qualms about killing little Joseph, but I think you better give me a good reason not to make sure you and your pack never go near that girl again.”

  I swallowed hard staring over the pale and slender shoulder. “Lola would be devastated.”

  “Are you sure? Because she seems to be fine while she hides out with the bikers,” Eve said, feigning a nuzzle against my temple that made me queasy. Eve had found Lola? It’d been all of two days, and she’d tracked Lola down to the Howlers. Regardless of Eve’s threats, I wasn’t a fan of the woman taking an interest in my girl.

  “If Lola doesn’t want to be a part of our pack, she doesn’t have to be. But I still want Indy taken out,” I said.

  A little damp drip of blood was all that was left of the pressure at the back of my neck as Eve’s arms dropped from around me. She stepped back into the space the dancers seemed to afford her unconsciously, and nodded once at me.

  “I’ll track him down,” she said, leaving me to read the words on her lips.

  My shoulders eased. This woman was poisonous, but if she could turn that poison on Indy, I really didn’t care.

  She turned into the crowd and grabbed a young male beta by the collar, pulling him into her arms. His eyes lit up at the first whiff of her, and he ground himself eagerly against her. Eve took his jaw in a firm pinch of slender fingers and pulled his face to her for a rough kiss. She caught his free hand before it grabbed for her ass, and twisted it behind the man’s back, arching him against her.

  I shook my head and turned away, weaving through the crowd quickly, eager to get away from the scene.

  'Will you walk into my parlour?' said the Spider to the Fly.

  Eve could weave her webs. I knew her type now, and I was more than happy to serve Indy to her all wrapped up in a silky bow.

  Eighteen

  Lola

  “Look what we just got!!” Baby squealed, bursting into the apartment on Saturday morning. She had an issue of Designate in her hand, but her grin dropped as she saw me folding up the bedsheet I’d been using. “Waaaiit, are you leaving?”

  I bit my lip and nodded. “I feel like… I mean, I’m having such a good time here, but I know the guys are missing me and I feel sort of guilty.”

  “Aww, I mean, I get it. It’s just been super fun to have you around, and everybody loves you,” she said. “But if you’re ready to go, does that mean…?”

  “I feel ready, yeah. At the very least to be on the path to becoming a pack member. Definitely to not spooking and running away just at the idea of discussing it,” I said, shrugging. It was more than that though. Talking with Tornado about the bond had left a craving in me. “I love them, and I think being here has been a little bit of a wake up call. I’ve had all these ideas about what it meant to be a beta, and this pack is so…”

  “We’re very equal opportunity,” Baby said with a nod. “Except, I guess with just one omega. Although, I dunno. With what you told me about male omegas, I’m kinda—”

  “Girl, keep it in your pants. I have seen first hand exactly how much sex you are having, babe, and you are not missing out.”

  “You haven’t seen it firsthand!” Baby cackled and waggled her eyebrows. “Bet some of the guys wouldn’t complain if you wanted to though.”

  I scoffed and shook my head, dropping the folded sheet over the arm of the couch. “Quit propositioning me. I have my own alphas to worry about, thank you.” And just the thought made a smile grow over my lips.

  “Gah, that’s so cute, you totally do,” Baby said, coming and wrapping her arms around me.

  With the magazine in her hand, I finally realized what issue it was. “Wait! Is this the highlighter shoot issue? I totally forgot what month it was coming out!”

  “It’s officially my debut as a fucking magazine model month now!” Baby said, jumping against me. “The pack is gonna throw a party tonight in honor of Seth and I. I was hoping I could talk you into doing my makeup again? I dunno if Seth’ll wanna recreate his whole look though,” she said with a snort. “But I understand if you wanna get back to your guys.”

  I did want to get back to them. For days, we’d all been in contact but so careful with our words. I was trying to be honest and open, and they were trying not to pressure me. I really just wanted to see their faces again and tell them I loved them and that I was in it for good.

  On the other hand, I’d told Leo earlier in the week I’d try and be home by Sunday night. I could still be early if I went back to the pack tomorrow morning, and it would be fun to spend one more night with the Howlers and my new friends. Kind of like a going away and thank you party.

  “I do, but I think I can hold tight until tomorrow,” I said to Baby, catching her brilliant grin.

  “You sure?” she asked.

  I was like eighty percent sure. I nodded, “I’m talking about forever with them, I can do one more night away.”

  As it turned out, bikers and biker chicks had a fair amount of scars in general. I guess that wasn’t so much a surprise. What was a surprise was that in celebration of the magazine, the pack had blown up the pages which featured Baby and Bomber to grainy poster-sized images and plastered them over the walls. I ended up with a makeup booth at the bar, decorating everyone’s scars with highlighter like a face painter at a county fair. I made sure to take pictures too because I couldn’t wait to see the makeup team’s faces when they got a look at these big burly dudes with pastel glitter over their knuckles and on their biceps and jaws.

  I liked the music at the bar, and I liked that it was loud enough to dance to, but not too much to drown out conversation. The one and only time I’d been here before, the room had been chilly with tension, but that had been Buzz and Indy’s fault, not the Howlers. I’d assumed for so long that Baby had found herself with the lesser of two evils, and now I felt like an idiot. The Howlers were warm and welcoming and goofy. Being here was like showing up at a family gathering, although my family had definitely never been made up of tatted up alphas who cussed like, well bikers, but treated women like queens and princesses.

  “Hey, sugar, all done making us beautiful?” Scorch asked as I walked up to the bar.

  “I can officially say that you will be finding glitter and shimmer all over your bar for the next three years at least,” I said with a nod, laughing as Scorch looked stricken by the realization.

  “What do you mean you don’t know the recipe?” Bomber asked Bullet over the bar.

  “I mean, I don’t know what fuckin' goes in the drink, it just sounds cool,” Bullet answered. Baby was cuddled up on his lap, playing with a loose strand of hair, and I gave it about ten minutes before she dragged him off somewhere private.

  Bomber shook his head and rolled his eyes, staring across the bar and calling out to everyone. “Anyb
ody know how to make a Bone cocktail?”

  “You propositioning us, Bomb?” Chef answered as the room laughed.

  “You fuckin’ wish, you dirty old man,” Bomber answered.

  “I know how to make it,” I said. “Well, I remember the ingredients.”

  “Good enough for me, get on back here,” Bomber said, gesturing for me to join him behind the bar.

  Scorch slid out from behind the bar to make room for me, and I turned to the wall of alcohol to hunt down a good rye bourbon for Bullet.

  “It’s gonna taste better comin’ from her anyway,” Bullet said, gleefully goading Bomber.

  “Where’d you learn weird ass cocktails people only order when they think they’re being real interesting?” Bomber asked me, and I grinned as Bullet huffed.

  “She worked the bar where I was a hostess before I met you guys,” Baby said. “We did a lot of theme week cocktails to keep happy hour interesting.”

  “This one was from our Western week,” I said with a nod, grabbing a short glass and pouring in the rye into the glass, squeezing in a lime quarter. “Do you have simple syrup?”

  “Here,” Bomber passed me a little bottle, and I guesstimated the amount for the drink.

  “And finally…” I’d seen the Tabasco on the counter when I’d come in, and I grabbed it now, sprinkling it into the mix.

  “Oh, handsome, that looks gross,” Baby said as I slid the drink to Bullet, who frowned at the Tabasco bottle in my head.

  “Now that I think of it, maybe it was called Bone Machine?” Bullet said.

  “Tough, this is your drink now,” I answered with a shrug. At that moment exactly, I saw the man approaching the bar, his eyes on me.

  In torn jeans and a leather jacket, Matthieu blended into the crowd, his hair damp from a shower and raked back, curling on the ends and threatening to fall forward into his eyes.

  My heart ran like a race car in my chest, and I wrapped my hands around the edge of the counter. After so many days of not seeing him, I wanted to cry or swoon as I watched Matthieu slide onto the empty barstool next to Bullet. Slowly, the room seemed to take notice of him, his energy just a little too heavy for the party. His scent called to me, tempting me to crawl up onto the bar and slide into his lap.

  “Matthieu,” I breathed.

  I only noticed the lines of worry around his eyes as they softened. “Hello, Lolotte,” he purred, leaning as far forward as he could over the bar counter.

  Just the sound of his voice, thick with his purr and aching, made color rise in my cheeks. I turned away from the bar, grabbing a second glass, and pulled his favorite scotch from the shelf, pouring him two fingers and adding one cube of ice before facing him again.

  “My favorite,” he said, but he was looking at me instead of the drink. “I didn’t realize you were keeping track.”

  “Holy shit, man! You French??” Bomber squawked at my side. “Jeeeeesus, now even my panties are wet.”

  Matthieu flashed a grin as Baby cackled on Bullet’s lap. My alpha dipped a head in Bomber’s direction, raising his glass and taking a sip. “Merci.”

  “Bar’s yours again,” I said to Bomber before quickly jogging around and onto the floor, heading directly to Matthieu.

  He rose from the stool just in time for me to crash against his chest, his arms circling me tight around my shoulders, and his face in my hair. We were both panting like we were winded, when really all we were doing was taking deep gasps of each other.

  “I was afraid you wouldn’t be pleased to see me,” Matthieu said, his rough cheek against the top of my head.

  “I’m always happy to see you,” I said, grinning as I realized the words were true. I tilted my head back and rose to my toes, nipping playfully at Matthieu’s throat and shivering as his purr roared in answer.

  “Ohmigod, helloooo, daddy,” Baby moaned behind us.

  “You better watch it,” Bullet muttered to her.

  “I was coming home tomorrow morning, but I’m glad you’re here now,” I said, kissing Matthieu’s jaw.

  He tensed around me and then loosened his hold enough to lean back and look down into my face, his eyebrows rising hopefully. “Home?”

  Somewhere inside of me, that ever persistent self-destructive flame tried to light a new match, to swallow the promise I’d made up my mind to make. Worry flickered in my head, but this time I stamped it out.

  “To my pack,” I said softly.

  Baby squealed in the background, her cry of happiness stifled as Matthieu’s eyes widened above mine. But he didn’t ask me if I was sure, and he didn’t ask me to repeat myself. He dove down, his hands on my waist holding me tight, and I relaxed as his lips crashed against me.

  I’d missed his flavor, I’d missed the way he kissed—perfectly happy to devour and dominate me in the gentlest way—and I’d missed his scent. As nice a week as I’d had here with the Howlers, Matthieu was reminding me now that all my senses were turned up high when I was with him and the rest of our pack.

  I moaned as his tongue licked against mine, my arms circling his neck and my body loose in his arms. The bar was cheering around us, laughs and hoots growing louder the longer the kiss extended, Matthieu totally uninterested in our audience. I detangled us slowly, smoothing my fingers through his hair to calm him until he finally let me catch my breath, his own lips continuing over my jaw up to my ear.

  “I should take you home right now, but I’m afraid I won’t make it back before I need to feel you against me,” he whispered in my ear.

  I tucked my blush against his shoulder as Matthieu’s hands stroked my back. Now that I had Matthieu back in my sights, I badly wished the rest of the pack was here too. But Matthieu was right. I needed more of this moment with him, preferably privately, and there was no way that would happen between the Plaza and getting home.

  “Come with me,” I said, lifting my head and biting on my smile. I found Matthieu’s hand on my waist and tangled my fingers with his, stepping away and leading him to the door that led up to the apartments.

  “Don’t break my couch, Lo!” Baby called, now with Bullet and Green both circled around her.

  “Worry about your own couch,” I answered, shaking my head. She’d have those alphas all over her in a minute now.

  “It was, um…very lovely meeting you all,” Matthieu said, blushing as he gave the cheering room a small wave. “Rake is hoping to have you all over for dinner soon.”

  I laughed at that and Matthieu’s vaguely overwhelmed expression as I dragged him along behind me. He followed me into the stairwell and I leaned past him, shutting the door on the party’s laughter, sighing at the quiet that followed. Matthieu crowded me to the wall, and I wrapped myself around him, tilting my head back. Tears welled at the corner of my eyes as Matthieu scattered kisses over my forehead and cheeks and mouth.

  “Fuck, Lolotte, I’ve missed you,” Matthieu murmured.

  “I’ve missed you too,” I said, choking around the words. “All of you. I’m sorry I left like that.”

  Matthieu rumbled and stepped back, eyes catching mine. “But it was worth it? You feel…”

  “I feel sure I belong with the pack,” I said, holding his gaze and watching tension melt away on his face.

  He brought my hand up to his lips, pressing a wet kiss to the center of my palm, and then his brows jumped. “So where are you taking me? This stairwell smells of someone else’s pack.”

  I laughed. “Pretty sure this whole place reeks of Baby and her alphas. Come on, they gave me a little studio to use.”

  Matthieu followed me up the stairs, his fingers combing through strands of my hair. “This is new.”

  “I let the girls goof off with it. I was missing having color in my hair.”

  “It suits you,” Matthieu said, catching me on the hall landing and fitting himself to my back, kissing my shoulder. “You could do something at Designate with this kind of color.”

  I hummed and decided not to tell Matthieu that opal hair h
ad been a trend two years ago. He was good with the business end of the magazine, but it was for the best he wasn’t an editor. I unlocked the door as we reached my borrowed apartment and pulled Matthieu in behind me. He grinned as I slammed the door shut and then pushed him against it, rising up on my toes and pressing myself to him.

  “Another kiss please,” I said.

  Matthieu purred and bent his head to do exactly that, but he pulled away far too quickly, hands framing my waist and guiding me back a step.

  “Come sit with me, I want to talk first,” Matthieu said, strain in the words.

  I frowned but let him slip out from between me and the door, following him to the couch and sitting there on my knees, facing him. “Nothing good ever started with ‘I want to talk,’” I said, although I was fairly confident Matthieu wasn’t about to tell me he’d had enough. Not after the reception I’d gotten downstairs.

  He growled softly and leaned toward me, taking my chin in his hand and pecking my lips. “I want to be sure you feel good about this. And not that you’re trying to keep the peace.”

  I sighed and shook my head, and Matthieu leaned back, making room for me as I slid over onto his lap, facing him. “I feel good about this. I’m still nervous. I’m still anxious. But being here made…I think it made the pack feel like less of a fantasy. These people have what I want, what you’ve all offered me. And the only person standing in the way of that is me.”

  Matthieu leaned in and kissed my jaw, pushing my hair back over my shoulders as his lips traveled down my throat, pulling away just as I arched my neck for him.

  “I know we rushed the topic at dinner on Tuesday. I especially got carried away,” Matthieu said.

  Because he’d offered me a bond. My smile fractured a little. “Do you…feel differently now?”

  Matthieu’s eyes widened and he stiffened in front of me. “Differently? What? No! No, I still want to claim you, Lola, but only when you don’t have any doubts.”