Omega Phoenix: Claimed

Chapter 2

2

Zack

Spence smacks me in the arm as the waitress flees to the counter, her neck all red as she tries her hardest to keep her skirt from flaring up again. She’s wearing a very sexy red lace thong and nothing else, almost like she wants someone to see it. And that lucky guy is me, apparently. Very lucky, since she’s got a great ass, and the thong only made it better.

“Stop staring. You’re scaring the girl.” Spence smacks my arm again, harder this time. “I hope you didn’t do that on purpose.”

“Hey! I’m innocent!” I hold up my hands. “That was a hundred per cent not my fault. I had nothing to do with it.” For a change. “What are you taking me for?”

He sighs, shaking his head. “A monster. A monster who would do things like that just to annoy a girl, to get her attention.”

I stare his way. “Your point?” Yes, I’m a hydra shifter, which you could define as ‘monster’. But I’m not sure what that’s got anything to do with what just happened.

“Nothing.” He leans back, looking around the place appreciatively. “Just be nice to the waitresses. We don’t want to be barred from another cafe, especially one that has such good eye candy.” He smiles now, almost smirking.

“And where the desperate girls won’t think to look for us.” I grin at him.

He’s got a point. The last cafe we used to frequent got found out and suddenly all the local human girls went there, crowding out the regular customers.

And then there might have been an unfortunate incident with a blouse that was missing buttons and a bra that miraculously had come undone at the same time which resulted in a great pair of boobs being revealed in the middle of the cafe... It was fun at the time, but we were barred from the place after that.

I love the ladies, a lot, and they seem to love me too. But sometimes it’s nice to just hang out with Spence without a throng of giggling girls around. A bad boy reputation is fun, but also exhausting to keep up all the time.

The waitress comes over again, her face still red as she puts the cups of coffee down. “Here are your orders. Anything else?” Her voice is clipped and she holds her tray in front of her, like a shield, the position pushing her boobs up even more, as she looks anywhere but at us.

My c**k is starting to really pay attention to her now. Damn... She looks good.

This girl is the other reason we’ve been coming here. I don’t know what it is, but I like looking at her, almost like I want to get to know her or something. She doesn’t smell like a shifter, so no chance of any unwanted consequences, but something keeps pulling my eyes to her. I want to stick my d**k in her. I bet she’d be a great lay, but stupidly, it feels like I’d like to get to know her in other ways too. Which is new, but might just be because of the pressure from my parents to take a mate lately.

“What’s your name?” The waitresses don’t wear name tags here and since she’s been avoiding us all week, I’ve not had a chance to ask yet.

“Cyra.” The way she says it is almost lyrical. “Do you want to order anything else?”

“Cy~ra.” I try it out and she frowns at me, her hard gaze making my c**k strain against my jeans. “No.” I shake my head. “I think we’re good. Since the other thing I’d like sadly enough seems to be missing from your menu.”

She rolls her eyes and then looks at Spence, who just nods, giving her his most innocent smile, and then she walks off, this time keeping the tray behind her so I can’t accidentally get another peek at her nice ass.

“Cy~ra.” I repeat again, slowly. It’s an unusual name, I’ve not heard it before. “Sounds like she’s named after a flower or something.”

Spence laughs and shakes his head. “Really... You. Are you now going after the girls who are definitely not interested in you, just to annoy your family even more?”

“Who says she’s not interested?” I look after Cyra as she’s doing something behind the counter. “She seems interested enough.”

“You think everyone is interested in you.” He turns the coffee cup in his hands, an unimpressed look on his face. “Anyone who steps within ten feet is supposedly interested in you.”

“And the flaw in my reasoning?” I raise my eyebrow at him.

“You’re forgetting that I’m always nearby and definitely not interested in what you’ve got in your pants.” He laughs, flashing me a quick grin.

“Pff. You don’t count. I’ve known you for too long. You’ve seen what’s in my pants plenty of times. If we’d been compatible, we’d have known by now. No, I’m not talking about you, I’m talking about other people.” I look down at the cup of coffee, not helping my own grin.

The coffee here is fine, and they don’t bother you if you stay here for a couple of hours without ordering something every thirty minutes or whatever weird rule they’ve got in some places. For a place where we can just hang out together, this is great.

I’ve known Spence since we were kids. His clan is next to ours. The hydras and griffins are pretty friendly, as long as nobody makes trouble. We basically grew up together, always in the same class, always in the same schools, always doing things together.

Some people have said it’s odd, especially now we’re ‘of mating age’. But, you know what, f**k them, who else would understand me than another Alpha from a similarly proud race? Some people just don’t understand what that’s like, to be like us, the pressure on us, or they’re just jealous.

Although, I have no idea how long we can keep this carefree lifestyle up. Our parents are getting more and more annoying and with the mating season coming up...

My Omega Mum was really preachy when she heard about me hanging out with human girls again last weekend. She doesn’t want me to hang out with them because they’re ‘below my status’ and that I should start looking for an ‘honourable mate’, no matter how not ready I am to settle down.

We’re only young once, why would we cut that short by settling down too soon? We’ve still got a couple of years of fun ahead of us before we’ll have to worry about family fortune, mates and a gaggle of little kids.

Yeah. Hell no, that I’m cutting that short.

The cafe is quiet, it’s getting dark outside, and I know they’re closing soon. The waitresses have been cleaning the other tables but they’ve not bothered us yet. Probably because they know who we are and our reputation. But I’m also sure that the cute waitress, Cyra, has been avoiding us on purpose.

I push myself up. “Right back.”

“Zack...” Spencer sighs. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

“Me? Stupid?” I grin. “When am I ever?” I grab my card and walk over to the counter.

Both girls look at me, but Cyra quickly glances back down at the glasses she’s polishing when she realises it’s me, her face falling.

“I’d like to pay, ladies. And thank you for the great view... I mean service, earlier. Thank you for the great service.”

Cyra goes bright red and nearly drops her glass as she quietly curses.

The other girl, Audrey, who’s served us before, looks between Cyra and me and taps on things on the computer. “You’re paying for the both of you?” She looks over to Spencer quickly, before her eyes go back to me, slowly sliding from my face down. Oh, yeah, she’s got no problem showing that’s she’s interested in me.

“Yes.” I hold out my card again.

“Okay.” She taps a few more things on the computer and then points me towards the terminal.

I hold my card against it and the payment goes through immediately. “Thank you, again, for the great service. We will definitely be coming back soon.”

I turn around, hands in my pockets, but I’m pretty sure I heard a grumble from Cyra. Something very much like ‘I wish you wouldn’t’ and I grin. Oh, yeah, we’re definitely coming back, she’s even cuter when she’s angry.

Spence gets up once I return to the table, narrowing his eyes at me. “What did you do?”

“I paid. What else did I have to do?” I wait for him to get his jacket, but he won’t move, just looking at me.

“And you didn’t incidentally say something to upset the cute waitress?” He looks back to the counter. He definitely saw exactly what happened.

“I might have thanked her for the great... view.” I wink and then quickly get out of his reach before he can hit me again. The guy’s violent, I tell you.

“You’re such an asshole.” He sighs. “Do I have to go apologise to them now? So that we’re not going to be barred from this place too?”

“Do whatever you like.” I shrug. “I’m leaving, though.”

I walk out of the cafe, making sure to stay in the line of sight of the waitresses. I’m not playing with them, I’m not doing anything but having some fun. Mum can’t get upset with me over this, this is totally harmless.

And Spence can be such a goody-goody, it’s his charm. Next to me, the evil black prince, he always looks like a white knight, and he likes to act like that too. Even though he’s just as depraved as I am, he’s just not as honest about it, or better at hiding it.

The air outside is cold as I open the door. Winter is getting close, which means that mating season is going to be here soon. Normally, I don’t care about it too much, but I have a feeling that my parents aren’t going to be so relaxed about it this year. I have a feeling that they might get up to things, like choosing someone for me, if I don’t choose a mate this mating season, no matter how much I don’t want to.

My Alpha father was almost thirty when he mated my Omega mother, who was in her early twenties. And they’re both convinced it’s better if you mate young. That having a family is good for you. That it’s better for the family and the hydra clan.

I don’t know, I don’t see why it would. It would just mean less fun for me. My parents can wait a while longer with their wish for grandkids. I’m doing things on my own time, like I’ve always done.

Hydras do things their own way, it’s always been like that, so why are they surprised now?