I’d caught up with Lydia, telling her as much as I could about what had been going on between me and the alphas. She thought the whole thing was insane, and I had to admit that I agreed. I wouldn’t have believed a word of it if I hadn’t been living through it myself.
As for work, it was boring. Warden had somehow managed to give me even crappier assignments than usual. The latest was about a cherry blossom festival. As if any shifter gave two fucks about cherry blossoms! Our paper was supposed to have the facts about shifter things, like pack attacks and showdowns for the alpha title. At the very least, I should have been reporting on special events like the Shifter Games.
But I couldn’t complain. At least I still had a job. Warden liked to drop hints that he was considering letting me go. I knew that he was trying to get me to report on something the alphas said or did. But that was out of the question.
Today, I was in the living room with my feet on Jacob’s lap. Ever since our pedicure, we’d gotten into the habit of massaging each other’s feet. He said that was the only part of the experience that he’d enjoyed.
His strong fingers dug into my right foot, kneading the tension out of my sole. I closed my eyes and groaned, enjoying the sensation. Every time he massaged me, it made me think of all the other things he could do with his fingers.
Footsteps came to the doorway, and I opened my eyes to see Trey. “You’re just relaxing?” he asked Jacob. “Tonight?”
I blinked, wondering what that was supposed to mean. As far as I knew, there was nothing special happening tonight, no reason that Jacob wouldn’t be relaxing.
“No,” Jacob said. “I’ll join you guys soon.”
Trey said nothing, but stood there looking at him. At this point, I knew them well enough to guess when they were speaking telepathically. They were communicating now, which had to mean it was something they didn’t want me to know.
“Has anyone ever told you it’s rude to talk behind someone’s back?” I said, not bothering to hide my irritation.
“You’re right in front of us,” Jacob said, weaving his fingers through my toes.
I yanked my foot away. “Don’t play dumb with me. You know exactly what I mean.”
He frowned at me, and the look on his face said I’d gone too far. “If we’re saying something we don’t want you to hear, it’s for a good reason.”
I sat up straight, crossing my arms. “Like what?”
“Never mind.”
Together with Trey, he left the room.
I pursed my lips, even more annoyed by them stonewalling me. I’d thought we were past the secretiveness. I thought we were on the same team. Why did they have to hide things from me? If I was their partner, shouldn’t they have been open with me?
If something was going on, I wanted to know about it. Maybe I could help them.
Then again, I was supposed to trust them and look to them for guidance. I knew they wouldn’t be happy if they knew how upset I was right now. They were alphas; I was an omega. That was how it worked.
A little while later, Richmond came in to find me staring at the TV. “We’re going out tonight,” he told me, standing in the doorway. “We’ll see you around ten or eleven.”
I stared at him. “Where are you going?”
“Never mind that.”
“Why can’t I come?”
“It’s not about you, Cassidy. Don’t worry about it.”
But I already was worried. They never did stuff like this. From the moment we’d gotten together, they’d always told me what they were doing.
There could be no good reason for them to keep secrets from me now. Were they up to something? Were they going to attack the packs from the other town, the way I’d suspected in the beginning? I still didn’t understand why they’d made me think that was their plan.
They’d told me my informant was just another person they were tricking. But where had he gotten the idea from? It didn’t make sense – and every time I’d asked again afterward, they’d still refused to tell me.
“Fine,” I told Richmond. “Be safe. I’ll see you later.” I paused for a long moment. “I trust you,” I lied.
Seeming satisfied, he crossed the room to peck me on the lips before heading out again. I stood up and stretched my limbs. I was going to have a big night tonight, myself.
I was going to follow them.
When they left a little later, all of them packed into Richmond’s big truck, I waited a minute and then shifted and flew after them.
I flapped my wings as fast as I could as they merged onto the highway. I was fast, but to keep up with them going ninety miles an hour? I simply couldn’t.
I managed to keep them in my eyesight until they got to the next exit, where they slowed down enough that I could catch up with them as they merged off. My wings were getting tired, and I couldn’t even take any joy in flying when I had to race this fast.
I flew into the bed of the truck and stayed there until the alphas came to a stop several minutes later. When they got out of the car, I waited another minute, then flew up high so they wouldn’t notice me. We were at a parking lot I didn’t recognize, the neon signs on the nearby buildings turned out for the night.
I flapped around for a minute, looking for somewhere that I could sit and listen. I settled on a telephone wire that was strung above them.
The alphas faced four other people I didn’t recognize, at least at first. After a moment, as I peered at them, I could tell they were alphas. I was pretty sure they were the leaders of some packs in Waxing Crescent – which ones, I didn’t know.
“Good to see you,” Richmond said, shaking the hand of the woman opposite him. “Thanks for making the time to come out tonight.”
“Same to you,” the woman said. By the smell of her, she seemed to be a bison shifter, the same as Richmond.
Oakley, Trey, and Jacob greeted the others. As I looked between them, it seemed like each was speaking to their equivalent from the Waxing Crescent confederation. What was going on here? This was too strange for words.
I held still, conscious that I was spying on them. This meeting seemed important. Why hadn’t the alphas told me about it? At that moment, I was more hurt that they hadn’t included me than anything else. They hadn’t thought to tell me about what they were up to. I didn’t even care about what kind of scandal this might be, what kind of article I could write about it. I just wished they had been open with me.
“I’m eager to start our negotiations,” the other pack’s vulture alpha said. “Merging will bring great advantages to both of our packs, and both our confederations.”
“Yes,” Trey said. “We should have done this long ago. We’ve spent too many years on a system set up by our ancestors, one that doesn’t make sense in our modern world.”
I listened as hard as I could, but their words still didn’t make sense. What were they talking about doing? What system was so antiquated?
“Before we get too deep into the negotiations,” Richmond said, “there’s a little something I’d like to take care of first.” He snapped his fingers in my direction. “Cassidy, get down here.”
My talons tightened around the phone wire. He had seen me? How did he know I was here?
“Cassidy, I’m not going to ask twice.”
My heart pounding, I let go and came to the ground, where I shifted. Richmond led me a few feet away from the group, all of whom were staring at me.
“You shouldn’t have come here,” Richmond said. “This meeting has nothing to do with you.”
“You lied to me,” I said. “You were lying to me all along.”
“Were we?” he demanded, his eyes blazing into mine. “Because all I remember telling you is that we were doing things tonight that didn’t involve you. You were supposed to stay home.”
“And you were supposed to be my boyfriends,” I shot back. “Why are you having secret meetings that you don’t even tell me about? Why are you negotiating with other shifters?”
; “That’s none of your business. It doesn’t concern you.”
“I’m your partner. Whatever you do concerns me!”
“This isn’t up for discussion,” he said, turning away. “Go home. We’ll talk about this tomorrow.”
“No. You don’t get to brush me off like that.”
“Cassidy, I’m trying to have a serious meeting here. This is not the time or the place.”
“Then what is? Tell me, because I have no idea.”
He glanced back at the other seven alphas, who were waiting for him. “We’ll talk about this later.”
“We’ll talk about it now!” I burst out, grabbing the front of his shirt. I didn’t even know what I was planning to do. Obviously there was no way I could overpower him.
He wrenched my hand back, pushing me away from him. He looked angrier than I’d ever seen him, even in those first few times together when he’d been doing nothing but punishing me. “Don’t try me, omega. We’ll talk when you can be rational.”
I turned tail and strode away, my veins pulsing with righteous anger. How dare he talk to me that way? How dare he touch me like that?
I couldn’t stand him and his sanctimoniousness. The four of them always thought they were so much better than me. They never listened to anything I said. They never took me seriously. I was so frustrated.
It was always them, them, them. Four against one. They never even took me into consideration, and I was sick of it.
I flew home – to my home. I couldn’t stomach being at Richmond’s place right now. I paced around the apartment, angry and exhausted after the long flight. I still hadn’t calmed down an hour later, when a knock came at my door.
The four alphas were there, looking just as delectable as ever. It felt funny to have them in my apartment. I normally always saw them at Richmond’s. This was my own space, the place where I could just be me, alone. They felt almost too big here – larger than life.
For once, the sight of them didn’t send me into a frenzy. Seeing the hard lines on their handsome faces just made me angry.
“So, you came to talk?” I asked. “Good to know you could fit me into your schedule.”
“Believe it or not, the world doesn’t revolve around you,” Richmond said, his eyes flashing. “We had things to take care of that were more important than this.”
“More important than this relationship? Good to know where I stand.”
Oakley stepped forward. “The brattiness isn’t cute right now, Cassidy. We’re serious.”
“And I’m serious too,” I said. “I’m not being a brat. The four of you hurt me, and I still don’t even know what’s going on.”
“Then how can you be hurt?” Jacob asked, crossing his arms. “You don’t know what we were doing, so how can you know if it was more important than you?”
I shook my head. “Clearly I’m your last priority. What else do I need to know?”
“Look, let us explain,” Trey said. “We can have a civil conversation about this.”
“I don’t know if I want to,” I said. “From where I stand, it looks like the four of you were lying and tricking me since day one. You claimed you weren’t going to attack any other packs, and now it looks like you’re trying to merge with them. Seems to me like my informant was right all along. I think you were going to attack the night I said you were. You changed your plans, humiliating me in front of the entire town. You made it look like I was didn’t know what I was talking about, but I was actually right, wasn’t I?”
“Attacking a pack is hardly the same as merging with one,” Richmond said, his voice going dark. “And whatever plans we had, we didn’t want to make public until they were certain. We have asked you over and over to respect our positions. We are alphas, you are an omega. You said you would look to us for guidance. Even earlier tonight, you said you trusted us. Now we see all of that was a lie.”
Trey jumped in, as quietly calm as ever. “What we’re trying to do is have a peaceful merger. We would like our two packs to be connected, while still having separate alphas. That was our plan all along. There was never going to be any violence, and no blood was going to be shed.”
“You jumped in without knowing what you were talking about,” Jacob said, emanating fury. “You plastered your incomplete view all over the newspaper. Now you’re trying to do it again.”
“But I don’t understand,” I said, sudden nervousness coursing through me. “Why would you want to merge with another pack? What’s the point?”
“It’s not so much a merger as a pact,” Trey said. “We want to connect for defensive purposes and the sharing of information. We’d be more like close allies then an actual joined pack. But you didn’t know any of that. You didn’t understand, and you followed us anyway, and you were going to report on it.”
My heart pounded. All of a sudden, I felt like I was the one who was in the wrong. “I wasn’t going to report anything,” I said slowly. “Honestly, this wasn’t so much about the political side as it was about our relationship. I need to feel like I can trust you guys. And right now, I don’t.”
“Well, we need to feel like we can trust you, too,” Richmond said. “And you’ve given us no reason to believe that.”
I bit my lip, shaking my head. “Then I think that’s all there is to say.” I drew my shoulders back, straightening up. “Fuck this and fuck you.”
They stared at me, looking amazed.
“Why are you just standing there?” I demanded. “Get out of my apartment.”
“Cassidy, take a deep breath. You’re being unreasonable.” Trey grabbed my hands, his eyes pleading with me.
“I don’t think I am,” I said. “In fact, I think you’re being unreasonable by still being in this house. You need to get out. Now.”
“Just stop and think about this,” Richmond said. “We don’t want to leave on a bad note.”
“Then you shouldn’t have done any of the things that you did tonight. I’m sick of the bullshit. I can’t be the person you want me to be.”
“This is ridiculous,” Oakley said. “You’re our girlfriend. We care about you. Do you really want to give all of this up over such a small thing?”
“It’s not a small thing,” I lashed out. “The four of you have been teaming up against me since day one I can’t go through my life being the odd one out. You still won’t even tell me the truth about the mystery informant that brought me to you! I need someone who respects me, not just constantly telling me to shut up and look pretty because I’m an omega. I need something that clearly you can’t give me.” I’d never known I felt this way, but now all of my unconscious, built-up resentment was pouring out.
“This is insane,” Richmond said. “Look, we weren’t going to tell you this, but from day one, it seemed like this was more than casual dating. We realized early on that we were meant to be together. There’s a reason you came to my door. Fate brought you to us, and that’s not something to trifle with.”
I wasn’t one to play around with fate, but at the moment, I felt like I had no choice. “Sometimes fate gets things wrong,” I said. “Now get out of here before I really get mad.”
Trey and Oakley looked like they still wanted to protest, but Richmond held up a hand. Apparently they didn’t even need to speak telepathically. Without another word, the four of them let themselves out.
And then I was alone, trying to understand what happened tonight and how such a good thing had so suddenly, so horribly, gone wrong.
FOURTEEN
I was tempted, severely tempted, to write an article about what I’d found out. It would have been the right thing to do for my career. Warden would’ve been overjoyed by the inside information.
I typed up a draft of the article, staying late at work to finish it. But when everything was there on the page in black and white, I couldn’t convince myself to send it to Warden.
Even after everything, I couldn’t betray my alphas like that. They wanted the news of their agreement to come ou
t when they were good and ready, and I couldn’t fault them for that.
I pressed delete on the document. They could reveal this in their own time.
For the next week, I didn’t do much besides going to work and coming home. Lydia kept calling me, wanting to hang out, but I was too caught up in my own downward spiral. I didn’t feel like eating. I barely slept. All the joy in my life seemed to be gone.
The only thing I did do was pleasure myself incessantly. My sex drive was off the charts. Every time I used my hand or pulled out one of my sex toys, my mind was filled with memories of things the alphas and I had done together.
But that was only a physical response. The way I had been drawn to them was only a matter of chemistry. There would be other men – better ones that were more compatible with me in every way. Half the thrill had just been the fact that there were four of them, and the other half was the kinky things they’d wanted to do with me. Now that I had discovered my submissive side, I could explore that with anyone. They weren’t special.
Except for how they totally, completely were.
I dropped my vibrator on the mattress after yet another unsatisfying orgasm. I’d been trying to exhaust myself enough to sleep, but it hadn’t worked. I was no closer to slumber than I’d been before I picked up the toy.
My phone rang, and I turned onto my side to reach for it. It was past eleven at night – what was Warden doing calling me? He’d never called this late, no matter what was happening in town.
I answered, equal parts curious and hesitant.
“Cassidy, I’ve just received a press release from four of the alphas in town. Your four boyfriends, to be specific. Are you aware of the agreement they’re making with the packs from Waxing Crescent?” He didn’t sound too happy.
“Yes,” I admitted, dread creeping into me.
“And you didn’t think to let me know? Or to write an article about it, maybe? You didn’t think this would be relevant news for our readers?”
Surrender to the Alphas (Waxing Crescent Book 5) Page 10
