Pack of Lies, page 4
“Jubilee can stay with me overnight,” I said, breaking the tension in the room.
Three sets of eyes landed on me.
“Me?” Jubilee asked, wide-eyed.
“You,” I confirmed. “If that’s not enough to get Denzel’s panties untwisted, then he really is just a dick.”
Denzel’s scowl would have made a shier omega cower, but not me. I smiled sweetly in the face of how annoyingly attractive he was. Reese looked amused and impressed by my solution.
“Whatever. Take that bedroom. Reese and I are in this one.” He pointed off to the left and swerved off to the right, slamming the door of the bedroom behind him like a petulant child.
“I’m intrigued to know how you chose him as your pack lead,” I said.
Reese would have been the better choice in my opinion. He was level-headed and protective in a productive way, not a controlling one.
There was a crash from the bedroom a second later that did nothing but prove my point.
FOUR
MARLOWE
“Oh my gosh, Quentin!” I squealed, batting away my mate with my free hand. “You’re slobbering all over me! I have to go out in public, you know. I promised I would bring Mrs. Kingsley these cupcakes for her niece’s birthday.”
Quentin grinned, continuing to kiss and lick the mark on my shoulder. My cock pressed against the zipper of my pants uncomfortably, and I squeezed the piping bag I held too hard. Purple icing exploded over the chocolate cupcake and I groaned, turning to face him.
“Pumpkin, you need to stop distracting me,” I scolded. “These need to be done in an hour.”
“You have two left, cupcake,” Quentin said. “You’ll be done in ten minutes.”
My scolding was undermined by how darn short I was, and how tall he was. He towered above my five feet, which was incredibly unfair. I also undermined myself by moaning pitifully when he pressed me back against the counter, his hardness rubbing against my stomach. My erection rubbed against him too, tight between us.
The icing bag hung limp in my fingers and my mate took it, placing it on the counter. Then he dragged his fingers through my ruined icing and painted my lips in purple.
My tongue darted out to taste the sweetness, and Quentin pressed two fingers into my mouth. Instinctively I sucked, my arousal heightening. His scent grew heavy in the air, green apples and mulberry wine, a perfect combination of sour and sweet.
“Let me take care of you, Marlie,” Quentin murmured. “You can’t bake away all your anxiety over the others being out of town.”
I groaned around his fingers and he took them out, swooping in to kiss the icing off my lips. He licked and sucked until I was clean again, and then pulled back.
“I can’t help it,” I said. Lifting my hand, I wiped off a final smudge of purple from his blond scruff. “Them being gone makes me nervous. Especially because Denzel will never tell me anything about what they’re doing. I know him and Reese are trained with weapons and work security contracts all the time, but they stay in the city. And Jubilee never goes with them. He can barely use a gun. What if he gets hurt?”
“Lee isn’t going to get hurt. My brother would never let that happen. This is a special case, but once they come back they’re not going to go out of town again. They hate leaving you.”
Frowning up at Quentin, I tried to believe him. Quentin knew Denzel better than anyone. He was his little brother and had been around him since the day he was born.
“What if Denzel gets hurt?” I asked quietly. “He’s the pack lead. What would we do without him?”
Him being the pack lead wasn’t really what I was worried about. I worried because I loved him, and I might fall apart without him.
Quentin kissed me gently, brushing our noses together. “You’re not going to lose him or anyone else. They take their safety seriously, and this job isn’t dangerous.”
“I saw you taking the guns out of the closet,” I said. “Jubilee left me alone for a minute to grab one of his notebooks, and I left the nest. That was a lot of guns. Big ones. They never take that many. Denzel always said those were for emergencies only. Why was this job an emergency?”
He sighed. “You’re quiet as a little mouse, did you know that? I had no idea you saw.”
“I know you hide things from me so I don’t worry, but sometimes it makes me worry more.”
“Marlie, I can’t tell you what they’re doing, but I promise they’ll tell you when they get back. Denny would kill me if I breathed a word and I’m assuming you don’t want to lose your favourite mate.”
He injected some humour into his tone, smiling and moving back to let me wander from the counter. “I don’t pick favourites,” I said.
“You sure? I make the best pasta.”
The change in tone made me lighter again. Maybe it was better if Quentin took care of me and we talked about it.
Though, baking was always helpful too.
I went to the sink to wash my hands, moving the ruined cupcake off to the side and wiping down my mess. “If anything, Reese is my favourite,” I said casually, hiding my grin as I picked up the piping bag again.
“Reese?” Quentin asked, scandalized. “He’s not even really your mate.”
“He joined the pack when I asked him to and he’s the nicest to me.”
“The nicest to you? What planet are you living on, cupcake? All Reese does is grunt and say what’s polite.”
“Yes, he’s very quiet. And he loves my baking.”
Quentin growled, snatching the piping bag from my hand before I could get to icing the next one. His hands landed on my hips a second before I was lifted from the ground and carried into the living room.
A big bay window faced the street, and our single couch was big enough for the whole pack to cuddle, and then some. He deposited me down onto the plush cushions, hovering over me.
“Marlowe, you’re being a brat,” he said.
My breath hitched. Quentin only called me by my full name when he was in a certain… mood. One I’d apparently just awakened in him with my teasing.
“I’m not a brat.”
“Not usually. Right now? Yes, you are. You can’t tell me Reese is your favourite when he doesn’t even fuck you. And if he did, he wouldn’t fuck you like I do. Your needy little hole is always desperate for my cock. Mine.”
Every inch of my body was hot, my legs spreading further apart by the second. My hands greedily grabbed at his biceps, pulling him to me.
“OK. Yes. Yours,” I said.
Arching my back, I rubbed against him. He may be upset by my words, but his bulge was as prominent as mine was.
A low whine left me, and he smirked. “See, I know I’m your favourite. Because when your alphas leave, who stays behind? Me. I take care of our pretty little omega. I tide you over so you don’t put the others into a rut as soon as they come home.”
I shivered, nodding in agreement.
There were totally no favourites.
But in this moment, where there was only Quentin, there might be a favourite. It was not fair to ask me questions when the arousal was making me dizzy.
“Please take care of me,” I whimpered.
His mouth opened to answer, but his phone vibrated in his pocket. I groaned, the vibrations going straight to my cock, but Quentin grabbed the phone and answered. “Hello?”
“We need to talk a moment. Is Marlowe with you?”
Denzel’s voice came over the line and I grabbed the device before Quentin could answer. “Denzel?” I gasped. “You’re OK. Right? Tell me you’re OK?”
My mate heaved a sigh, and I pictured him rubbing that spot between his eyes. He always did that when he put on the long-suffering act. Or maybe it wasn’t an act, and he did get stressed out dealing with me. Who knew?
“I’m fine, sugar. Jubilee and Reese are fine too. We’re not going to be home as soon as we thought, though. The job has been extended.”
“No way! You said three days maximum. It’s three days tomorrow. Can’t you… quit? Or something? We don’t need the money.”
“I’m so sorry, sugar, but this job is too important to quit. I need to talk to Quentin. Can you let him take the phone somewhere else?”
“So you can continue to hide how dangerous it is from me?”
“Nothing is dangerous.”
“I never want you working security again,” I said. “Because it is dangerous.”
“After this job, we’ll do whatever you want.”
I blinked. What? Denzel was agreeing to do what I wanted? Not that my alpha never gave me what I wanted — the pack catered to my every whim, and I knew how lucky I was. Usually with an ask as big as this, there was griping about it and I would give in and make my demands less… demanding.
Something was off about him.
Numbly, I handed the phone to Quentin. My beta mate pressed a kiss to my forehead and got off the couch, wandering up to the second floor.
Not knowing how long the updates would take, I dragged myself off the couch, palmed my softening erection, and went back to the kitchen.
I went through the soothing motions.
Wash my hands, pipe icing. Next cupcake, pipe icing.
When the final few were iced and ready for Mrs. Kingsley, I put them on the platter and covered it. Then I grabbed a couple of my pre-baked dog treats and put them in a bag for her dog, Charger.
He was a chihuahua.
He did charge, though, right at your feet the moment you stepped into her foyer.
Back on the couch, I pulled my knees up to my chest and waited.
Sometimes I hated being an omega.
The pack had decided early on I was fragile and needed to be coddled, which could be annoying when I wanted to know what was going on. However, most of the time I was in fact fragile and in need of coddling.
“He wants to say goodbye, cupcake,” Quentin said from behind me.
I jumped, too focused on worrying to hear him coming back downstairs. I reached up and took the phone from him. “Hello?” I said hesitantly as I brought it to my ear.
“I’m sorry I brushed you off, sugar,” Denzel said. “You know I’m always eager to get back home to you.”
“I know.”
“And I love you.”
“I know.”
“Not going to tell me you love me too?”
“Maybe I shouldn’t. You’re being cagey.”
Denzel sighed. “I promise I will always do what’s in your best interests. Please trust me. I love you, Marlowe. More than anything.”
His profession strummed my heartstrings and I pouted. “I love you too. So much. That’s why I’m worried.”
“It won’t be long until we’re home and we can tell you all about what’s going on.”
“I’m looking forward to finding out what kind of job is such a big secret, but I’m even more eager to see you again.”
He chuckled. “Keep Quentin occupied for me. He worries too. I’ll talk to you soon.”
I bid my mate another goodbye and then hung up the phone, staring at it until Quentin came over. My other mate pulled me onto his lap and I snuggled to his chest. He was a comfort, but there were some times when only an alpha’s purr could calm my nerves. Usually Jubilee filled that gap while Reese and Denzel were gone, but this time he wasn’t home either. I hated it.
With a sigh, I stood from the couch.
Quentin caught me around the waist and pulled me back down to land straddling him. “We were in the middle of something, remember? You had just asked me to take care of you.”
I bit my lip and glanced over my shoulder to check the time. “We need to take the cupcakes over to Mrs. Kingsley. I promised.”
“Oh, we will. But you’ll be doing it with a big plug in your ass, so you’re all desperate for me to fuck you when we get home. Be my good little slut and run upstairs to get the plug and some lube.”
When Quentin asked me to run, I fucking ran.
He knew all the best ways to distract me from my worries.
FIVE
THORN
Ignoring Denzel’s little hissy fit, I’d gone to bed. It was daytime, but an excess of sleep was necessary when I was recovering from a migraine, unless I wanted it to recur. I didn’t want that. If I was careful with myself, they only happened once or twice a month, and not many reached the level of intensity where I passed out for multiple hours at a time.
By the time I woke up it was the early hours of the next morning, hints of spring sunlight shining in through the cracks between the curtains. I’d estimate it was before most people woke up. Maybe five?
Yet, Jubilee was sitting in a chair in the corner of the room, hastily scribbling on a notepad. His side of the bed was empty, the blankets so smooth and perfect it was obvious he hadn’t been underneath them at any point.
“Did you sleep?” I asked.
He jumped a foot in the air, his pen and notebook splaying onto the floor. “Oh my,” he said, his shaking fingers shoving at the nose of his glasses. “You’re awake.”
“Just woke up. You clearly were not expecting that.”
“Not at all.”
Jubilee gathered the notebook from the floor, shoving a loose piece of paper randomly between the pages. He kept it closed on his lap, his posture impeccable but awkward. Before he’d known I was watching, he’d been casually leaning against the arm of the chair. It had been sexy, honestly.
“Did you sleep?” I repeated my original question.
He shook his head, glancing at the bed beside me. “I was busy. Working. My brain kept going, so I utilized the productive hours.”
That was technical jargon for ‘I was too nervous to get in bed beside you’. Tossing my legs off the side of the bed, I stretched my arms overhead. “If you were awake all night, you should sleep now.”
“I function fine without sleep. It’s the curse of being an academic.”
I raised an eyebrow, spotting an ensuite bathroom. Hopefully, it had some kind of soap I could use and towels, because I was in desperate need of a shower. “There’s no harm in you sleeping now. Studies show you get really fucked up if you pull all-nighters.”
Jubilee let out a pained laugh. “That is not what studies show.”
Grinning at him, I shrugged. “I don’t remember the side effects, but I remember they weren’t pretty. I have enough side effects for the both of us.”
His expression fell, his posture drooping and his eyes lowering to stare at the floor. There was something about me mentioning my time at the Centre and what they’d done to me there that upset him. It was unnerving for me.
What is he guilty about?
I kept the smile on my face until I made it into the bathroom, door fully shut behind me. Denzel could fuck off with his insistence on keeping the door open a crack. This was an interior bathroom. No windows. After a moment of hesitation, I even locked it.
Understandably, I looked like shit when I spotted myself in the mirror.
My silver hair hung in tangles around my shoulders, the thin strands creating clumps of mess. It was greasy from when I’d been sweating. I’d worn Jubilee’s shirt to bed, having no other clothes, and it was creased and half-undone. There were dark smears under my eyes, the golden orbs peering back at me in the mirror.
What was I supposed to do, here?
Who should I believe? Them? My gut feeling, that was giving me warning signs while simultaneously making me want to make them smile?
How could I find information other than what they were giving me? I doubted the local news would do a feature on a shut down omega experimentation centre. It was more of a covert operation. What had the GPRE done with the other test subjects?
My heart dropped and I nibbled on my lip, beginning to strip my clothes. The secure emergency room where I’d sent Twelve when Denzel had caught me wasn’t the kind of panic room that would hold forever. If the GPRE had followed behind, all the others would be in custody by now.
Or dead.
I yanked the shower knob to near boiling hot and stepped under the spray. The discomfort was a shock to my system, but my skin quickly got used to it. Hot water rinsed away the dirt and sweat and pain of the day, the steam making my lingering headache feel marginally better.
They wouldn’t be dead. I’d have to believe that until I learned differently. Most of the other subjects hadn’t been my friends, exactly. It was hard to make friends in that environment, but we all shared a set of circumstances that made us sympathetic to each other by design.
Out of everyone, I was closest to Three. His lingering symptoms were similar to mine, his injection coming before they’d messed with the formula and made it worse. He’d only been a normal omega for three months, though. The nurses speculated it may have been because he was male, and the original formula had been created with female gold pack omegas in mind.
The doorknob jiggled as someone tried to enter and couldn’t. Denzel’s curse came through the door. I sighed.
“I’m literally just in the shower,” I called out. “Not sure how you’re worried about me escaping from a room with no windows.”
His footsteps retreated, pounding against the ground. Poor Jubilee didn’t seem to be getting any sleep, after all. Not while Denzel was hovering in our bedroom.
I took my time with the shower despite the annoyed alpha waiting outside the door. Intermittently I heard him pacing, then stopping. His footsteps were heavy enough they were obvious over the thunder of the showerhead.
I shampooed my hair, soaped up my body twice, conditioned. All the products were for men, with marketing on the bottle claiming scents like ‘mountain mist’ and ‘spiced pine’. It didn’t matter much to me, considering I could barely smell them.
By the time I shut off the water all three of the men were talking in hushed voices in the bedroom. I wrapped a towel around my body and did my hair up in another. The clothes I’d been wearing from them were utterly unappealing, considering I’d already slept in them. Maybe they had something else for me.
