Chapter 10

Stepping up beside Hawk, I watched our Omega with her friend. They were talking about something that affected her, and I selfishly wished I were closer so I could hear. Anyone could see they were both fully engaged, and I couldn’t seem to keep my eyes off Isolde for more than a couple of minutes.

“How was he?”

“The ex?”

“Yeah.”

Hawk snorted. “He didn’t say anything too dickish while I was there, but you know the type. His fiancée was almost worse. She acted like Isolde being with us was shocking and horrifying.”

“Mm.”

Blowing out a breath, he turned and leaned more fully against the frame so he could see me. “I called her ‘baby girl.’”

My eyebrows rose into my hairline. “Not your normal term of endearment.”

“It slipped out, and it felt so fucking right. This is going to hurt.” He shook his head.

Watching the way the late afternoon sun glinted off Isolde’s hair, I couldn’t look away. She was like a living flame. Fuck me. I wanted to walk out there and kiss her again. Those moments kissing her felt like an eternity, and even more confirmation she was mine.

“It won’t hurt,” I said. “She’s ours, and she’s going to feel it. Hell, she already does.”

“Omegas—”

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, I know. Omegas don’t form scent matches outside of heat. That doesn’t mean they don’t feel anything. You can’t tell me looking at her that she doesn’t sense it. She does, but she doesn’t understand what it is.”

“And that Alpha hurt her,” Hawk growled. “It was the reason I had to go over there. I saw the look on her face and I literally could not stop myself.”

“Know the feeling,” I said. My body was rooted to this spot by sheer will alone.

I wanted to walk over to her and kiss her until she was nothing but a mess. I wanted to ruin her makeup and see her completely undone. I wanted⁠—

“So you’re another one of the pack?”

Hawk pushed off the doorframe to stand at his full height. “Speak of the devil,” he muttered.

I turned and found myself looking down at Isolde’s ex. His fiancée was nowhere to be found. I had a good six inches on his height, and I shouldn’t have enjoyed him having to look up at me as much as I did.

“Rowan St. James.” I offered him my hand, and when he shook it, I squeezed it harder than was strictly necessary. He tried to cover his wince.

“We’re all a little surprised to see you here with Isolde,” he said, looking between the two of us.

“Why?”

Sliding his hands into the pocket of his suit—which was clearly expensive for the sake of it, considering it didn’t fit him well—Beau shrugged. “You know, she’s…”

Hawk and I waited for him to finish.

When he didn’t continue, Hawk looked at him. “Is there an end to that sentence?”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know.”

“Actually, we have no idea. Please enlighten us.”

His jaw ticked, and he glanced past us to where Isolde stood with Ocean. I moved, blocking his view. “She’s cold,” he finally said. “Boring. Hardly ever comes, so she barely wants to fuck. She’s great other than that, but there’s only so much you can take. Five of you? It must be torture.”

Rage flowed through me. I locked it down, grinding my teeth so hard my jaw ached. Cold? The last thing my Omega was, was cold. As far as coming? Sex wasn’t all about orgasms. If she had trouble, I’d gladly spend the time learning how to make her body beg. And if that wasn’t enough, I’d throw my entire soul into making her feel good, no matter if she did or didn’t find release.

Sex wasn’t fucking easy. It was a skill. You had to practice, and you had to listen. You had to observe and learn how to read people even if they weren’t speaking. Which clearly, Beau hadn’t, because if he noticed the way Hawk and I were wound up, he’d be on the other side of the room by now.

I clapped him on the shoulder and put on my most charming smile. “Sounds like a personal problem. But hey, if you have trouble pleasing a woman, that’s your business. If you’ll excuse me.”

Turning, I left him standing in the dust. And no matter how slowly we needed to take things with Isolde, I needed to touch her. Right the fuck now. I needed to inhale her scent, so sweet it was almost honey. Nectar. Ambrosia.

She still stood barefoot on the grass with her friend, and Ocean saw me first, eyes going wide.

Isolde looked over her shoulder. “Everything okay?”

I didn’t bother to speak, slipping a hand behind her neck and pulling her to me, turning her so she was flush against my body before I kissed her, long and slow.

She tasted so fucking good.

Her lips parted beneath mine, a tiny moan turning into a whine. Isolde’s hands slid up my chest, wrapping around my neck like we’d been doing this forever and not only since this morning.

“What are you doing?” She murmured the words against my lips.

“Proving a point.” I slid my hand up into her hair, gripping it so I could deepen the kiss. I wanted to tell her everything I liked and everything I craved. Because all I could think about were her answers to those questions.

Hair pulling? I’ve always loved it. Can’t explain it. But no one really does it right. No big deal.

She moaned again when my fingers tugged at the strands, perfume swirling around us. I was glad we were outside. That fucker didn’t deserve to breathe the same air as her, let alone taste her scent.

I broke the kiss, afraid I would take it too far in front of so many people, and we tried to catch our breath. She smiled as she searched my face. “What point?”

My mouth firmed into a line. “Is he still watching?”

One glance at the house, and her eyes narrowed. Clearly Beau still stood there. “What did he say?”

“I’d rather not repeat it.”

“Please?”

I dropped my hands down her body to her hips, still holding her close, ever the picture of the perfect couple. “He said you were cold and barely came, so it couldn’t possibly be fun for the five of us. I didn’t want to punch someone at your parents’ party, so I came out here to prove him wrong.”

Blood drained from her face. Isolde was already fair skinned, and now she looked white. “He said that?”

“Unfortunately.”

“I—” she cleared her throat. “I do have trouble sometimes. It’s hard to turn my brain off, and I’m always thinking about the other person and how I look and smell and⁠—”

I kissed her again to stop her panicking. “I didn’t come out here to ask you about it or for you to justify what your body needs. Everyone is different, and if your partner doesn’t care enough to learn about your pleasure, that’s his loss. All it does is prove what a fool he is, and make me pity his fiancée.”

“He’s not wrong though.”

“Isn’t he?” I watched her carefully. “Is it that you can’t come, or that he couldn’t make you come?”

Isolde bit her lower lip, cheeks turning pink. That one little movement told me everything I needed to know. My Omega wasn’t cold. All she needed was someone willing to learn her pleasure and do the work to fucking earn it.

“I’m sorry, Ocean,” I said over her head. “Didn’t mean to steal her from you.”

“That’s okay. I don’t mind.”

It actually looked like she didn’t. If anything, she looked happy I had Isolde in my arms.

A low, resonant sound echoed through the air. A bell. “That’s dinner,” Isolde said. “Or food, I guess. I don’t think they’re having everyone sit down to eat.”

“Are you hungry?”

Instead of answering, her body answered for her, stomach growling. “I think I was so anxious that I forgot to eat,” she whispered.

“Then let’s go eat,” I said. “And I vote you only eat things that are hot. Right in front of Beau.”

Isolde laughed and took my arm. That sound was everything, and I would do everything I could to keep hearing it for the rest of my life.