Chapter 5: Cards and Restless Omegas
The warmth of the waterfall still clung to their skin like a memory as they stepped back into the clearing. The central fire was higher now, crackling against the encroaching dusk, throwing long, dancing shadows from the figures gathered around it. The familiar scents—woodsmoke, pine, the distinct signatures of pack—welcomed and antagonized them in equal measure.
“There they are,” Jisoo’s voice, warm and relieved, cut through the low murmur. She was perched on a stump near a rough-hewn table where Leonid and Minho sat, a deck of cards spread between them. Rosé, nestled against Jisoo’s legs on a folded fur, offered a small, knowing smile to Jennie.Jennie felt the pack’s eyes on them, a silent assessment. She kept her chin up, her hand still hooked in Leonid’s belt loop, anchoring herself to his unflappable calm.
Leonid gave a barely perceptible nod to the table and guided Jennie past it toward the omega circle. Mina, sweet-faced and gentle, patted an empty spot on the large fur beside her.“We saved you some blackberry wine,” she said softly.
“Thanks,” Jennie murmured, sinking down.Her eyes, however, slid back to the alpha table.
Leonid took his seat beside Minho. Minho, a bear of a man with kind eyes, clapped him on the shoulder.“We were about to send a search party. Thought maybe Jennie finally snapped and dragged you off to live in a cave.”
“Close,” Leonid said, his voice flat, but a faint trace of amusement ghosted around his lips. He picked up his cards, fanning them out without really looking.Jennie accepted a carved wooden cup from Rosé. The wine was tart and sweet, staining her tongue purple. She forced herself to listen to the omegas.
“...and then he said the den smelled like a wet sheep, can you believe it?” Mina was giggling, telling a story about her mate, John.
Rosé laughed, a light, airy sound. “John’s nose is offended by everything except his own boots.”
Jennie smiled, but it felt tight on her face. Her senses were tuned to a different frequency: the rustle of Leonid’s sleeve as he laid down a card, the low rumble of his voice saying, “Raise,” the scent of his skin cutting cleanly through the smoke.Her omega heart beat a stubborn rhythm: mate, mate, mate.
Karina, sitting a little apart, hadn’t said a word. She was sharpening a bone needle with a small stone, her movements precise and angry. Every so often, her gaze would flicker from her task to Jennie, then over to the alpha table, lingering on the empty space where Kai usually sat.
“You’re blocking the light, Jennie,” Karina said suddenly, her voice not loud, but sharp enough to slice through Mina’s story.
Jennie turned her head slowly. “Am I?”
“Your constant sighing is moving the air,” Karina muttered, not looking up from her needle.
“Maybe you should sit somewhere else then,” Jennie replied, her tone deceptively sweet.Her fingers tightened around her cup.
Rosé shot Jennie a warning glance, but Jennie was already setting the wine down.The pull was too strong, a physical ache. She rose gracefully, ignoring Karina’s scoff, and drifted across the clearing.
The card game paused as she approached.Minho grinned up at her. Jisoo raised an eyebrow, a smirk playing on her lips.Jennie came to a stop behind Leonid. She let her hands rest on his shoulders, feeling the solid muscle beneath his worn cotton shirt. She leaned down, her black hair curtaining them both for a moment, and pressed her lips to the sensitive skin just below his ear, right where his mating bite from her stood. She inhaled deeply, filling her lungs with his unique spice and clean sweat.Leonid didn’t turn.He didn’t need to. His body unlocked a fraction, a subtle yielding only she would feel. He grunted, a soft sound lost to everyone but her, and placed a card on the table. “Fold.”
His hand left his cards and found her hip, his broad palm spanning the curve, his thumb pressing a slow circle into the dip of her waist.The contact was a live wire, jolting through her.
“You’re distracting the players, Kim,” Jisoo said lightly, shuffling the deck.
“Only one player matters,” Jennie murmured against Leonid’s neck. Her fingers crept from his shoulders to trail along the open collar of his shirt, tracing the strong line of his clavicle.
Minho cleared his throat, pretending to study his hand intensely.“I feel like I’m interrupting something. Maybe we should call it a night.”
Leonid’s other hand came up and captured Jennie’s wandering fingers, stilling them. He brought her knuckles to his lips, kissing them once, a firm, warm pressure. “Later,” he said, his voice a low vibration she felt in her bones.The word was a promise and a dismissal. It flooded her with heat and a sharp, sweet frustration. She bit her bottom lip, her dark eyes glazing over for a second before she nodded. She leaned in one last time, whispering so only he could hear, “Don’t make me wait too long.”
He released her hand, and she forced herself to step back, returning to the omega circle with a deliberate, swaying walk. She could feel Leonid’s gaze on her back, a physical weight she cherished.
When she sat down, Karina was staring openly, her jaw tight.“Must be nice,” she said, the words brittle.
“It is,” Jennie replied, meeting her stare without blinking. She picked up her wine cup just to have something to do with her hands, which trembled slightly.
The card game resumed, the conversation at the alpha table dropping into murmured tones Jennie couldn’t catch. She tried to listen to Rosé talk about a new weaving pattern, but her world had narrowed to the space between her and Leonid, charged and humming.
It was then that a new scent washed into the clearing on the cool night breeze: damp earth, aggressive pine, and something chemically sharp.Cheap cologne.
Kai stepped into the firelight.The clearing went quiet. He’d washed, his hair wet and slicked back, but a fresh, purple bruise was blossoming on his temple from where Leonid had thrown him. His eyes swept the gathering, a defiant glint in them, before landing squarely, hungrily, on Jennie.Leonid didn’t stand up. He slowly placed his cards face down on the table.The movement was more threatening than any sudden gesture. He leaned back in his chair, the wood creaking, and his gaze met Kai’s across the fire.He didn’t speak. He didn’t need to.The warning was etched in every still line of his body.
Jennie felt a smile touch her lips, cold and genuine. She held Kai’s stare, letting him see the unhinged delight in her eyes at his defiance, at the prospect of what his return might provoke.Her fingers itched for the feel of fur and the rip of flesh.
The peace of the waterfall was a world away.Here, in the firelight, the game was different. And Jennie, perched on the edge of the fur, her mate’s promise thrumming in her veins, was more than ready to play.