Lost in Arcadia

Encounters (4)

“Hmm, does he now…?” At long last, Kade pulled his eyes away from Palmer to smirk at his friend. “Let me guess—you went for him and he rejected you?”

As he had touched on a sore spot, Hayley was immediately defensive. “It wasn’t me he rejected. Or at least, it wasn’t just me, okay? He brushes off all alphas on principle!”

Kade thought of something as he looked over the railing again. “Must be an omega.”

Hayley shrugged and replied, “Probably. I heard one alpha tried to blast him with his pheromones but didn’t get any reaction, but I don’t know if that’s true. No one I’ve talked to knows his second gender for sure. All we know is that that ring around him is his hunting ground. Those of us up here have learned not to trespass.”

“Why not?” Kade said doubtfully. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Dude, are you kidding? You try getting stone-cold rejected in front of all those betas—see if you wouldn’t find it freaking humiliating.”

“…”

“…That’s it?” In disbelief, Kade snorted and shook his head.

‘Typical alphas…’

After also tossing back the rest of his drink, he stood up.

“Sorry, bud. I might not be able to wingman you tonight.”

Hayley’s eyes widened. “You’re going for it?”

“Yup.”

“I’m telling you, Kade, it’s not worth it…”

Laughing, Kade told her, “I’ve actually grown used to being made fun of by betas. I swear, it’s really not all that bad.”

With that, he headed for the stairs and went down.

***

Coming out tonight was a mistake.

He wasn’t supposed to. It was usually Saturdays that he did this.

But when he arrived home earlier, he had been told that his mother and younger siblings had gone out to attend a dinner function.

No one had bothered to tell him about it. Had he known, he wouldn’t have wasted his time making that weekly trip back home at all.

That was why, instead of sitting down to eat the food that had been prepared only for him, he went out again.

He shouldn’t have.

It was a really, really bad mistake.

The reason was…

“Hey, Palmer!” the man to his far left had shouted some moments ago. He was one of the betas that Arden Callahan Palmer had drawn to him like flies to rotting fruit.

With a corner of his mouth lifted in an elegant but arrogant smile, “Palmer” replied, “Yes?”

“It’s so boring just sitting around here and talking! Don’t you want to dance?”

The woman to Palmer’s immediate right answered before he could.

“What are you, a caveman?” she said while giving the guy a nasty look. “What’s wrong with just trying to get to know each other over drinks?”

Offended, the guy lashed back, “And what are you, a toddler? This is a nightclub! If you wanted to just talk, you should have gone to a cafe!”

“Good point,” Palmer commented in between taking sips of his drink.

The two turned to him.

But while the woman was seemingly ready to feel affronted and the man was looking hopeful, Palmer continued, “I don’t dance, though. Sorry for being a bore.”

The man backpedaled at once. “No, no, I didn’t mean—”

“Don’t let us keep you,” said the woman with a triumphant smirk. “You probably don’t have anything interesting to say anyway.”

The man began rising from his seat. “What the hell is your problem?”

A second man in between him and Palmer tried to intervene. “Hey, calm down. Let’s just go, okay?”

Palmer himself then spoke. “I don’t dance,” he repeated, drawing the others’ attention back to him. He showed the belligerent man a suggestive smile and continued, “But I like seeing how well other people can move. You know what they say about good dancers, right?”

The man, who had been drinking steadily since earlier due to the abundance of alcohol at their table, returned a salacious smile. “Yeah…?” he replied. “Make sure to watch me, then.”

Without bothering to invite his companion, the man stood and flashily made his way towards the edge of the dancefloor.

“What a jackass,” the woman commented in distaste after watching him for only a moment. “You’re not actually interested in someone like him, are you? Does this mean I’m out of your strike zone?”

Both surprised and amused, Palmer turned to her. “I thought you were only engaging with me to be polite. Were you actually interested?”

The woman gave him a mock and flirtatious glare. “Well, duh. I mean, look at you. Who wouldn’t be interested?”

Palmer chuckled. “Most women aren’t, you see.”

Laughing as well, the woman inched closer to him. “They probably just feel insecure about your looks. Me, though, I have no such problem. You and I can just be pretty together.”

Despite himself, Palmer smiled at her. Her blonde hair and light eyes already reminded him of someone, but her general attitude made the resemblance even more striking.

“Then let me tell you a secret…” he said quietly by her ear. “I actually have a stronger preference for women.”

The woman met Palmer’s steady gaze with twinkling eyes. “Is that so…?”

“Mhm…” Palmer answered.

‘Unfortunately…’ he went on privately while taking another sip of his drink, not drawing his eyes away. ‘Most women aren’t able or willing to give me what I need. But maybe this one could…’

Palmer felt her place a hand on his thigh as she said suggestively, “I used to be a cheerleader. What do they say about good dancers anyway…?”

His chest tightening in anticipation, Palmer turned towards the dancefloor and began, “Well…”

He stopped.

Most of the people with him were strangers he had met for the first time tonight. They had gravitated to him after being allowed sooner into the nightclub at his say-so, with the added promise that they wouldn’t have to spend a single cent the entire time. They had been assured that Palmer would be paying for everything.

The rest had already benefited from previous association with him, sometimes in more ways than one.

But among that group of strangers was a face he had recently become familiar with. Despite the new hairstyle that that man sported, Palmer recognized him at once.

“Sh*t…”

Quite abruptly, he rose to his feet.

The woman looked up at him in confusion. “We dancing, after all?”

“Sorry,” Palmer replied, unable to completely hide his panic. “You guys can order whatever you want. The staff will put everything on my tab.”

“What? Why? Are you leaving already? Hey, wait!”

Disappointed, the woman could only stare after Palmer's back. Meanwhile, the people on the dancefloor also noticed his hurried passage.

“Where is he going?” many wondered aloud. For all they knew, he could simply be headed for the restrooms, but it appeared to some like he was aiming for the exit.

“No way you’re leaving just like that…” said a disgruntled man among the group, the one who had been sitting with Palmer earlier.

He broke away from the rest to follow.

***

Kade was confused.

He could have sworn that the guy called Palmer had looked right at him and immediately decided to skedaddle.

Was that usually how he rejected alphas? Because if so, Hayley’s reaction seemed disproportional. Kade hadn’t even made any advances yet.

As he watched the man through the gaps in the crowd, Kade noticed another intriguing detail about him: Palmer had a tattoo at the base of his nape.

From a distance, it first appeared to be a stylized and colorful cross. But while Kade switched directions to continue drawing closer to the seemingly fleeing man, he saw that it was actually a dragonfly tattoo.

Due to its location, Kade’s suspicion that Palmer was an omega increased, and he found that he couldn’t help himself. He pushed harder to decrease the distance between them.

Near the narrow passage that led to the exit—once he had drawn close enough to him—Kade released his pheromones. His scent traveled through the air within a one-meter radius.

Recognizing that he was the source, many people nearby looked at him. Kade didn’t pay them any attention.

It was only one man’s reaction that he was interested in.

To his own surprise, he got more reaction than he was bargaining for.

***

‘Sh*t, sh*t, f*ck…’

Palmer cursed continuously as he tried to make his hurried way out of this place.

Of all the nightclubs in this area alone, why did he and his boss’s brother have to end up in the same one?

And Gods, of all people, why did that man have to come for him?

True, he didn’t think Kade had managed to recognize him from afar. After all, he had gone through all this trouble to be Palmer tonight. Not Arden.

But if Kade saw him up-close—or worse, heard his voice…

Just as he was about to make a successful escape, two things happened.

The first was that a particular scent reached his senses. It was a scent that made him stop in his tracks.

‘What…’

The second was that a hand landed forcefully on his shoulder. Unlike the woman's hand earlier, this one had made direct contact with his skin.

Unprepared for it, Palmer sucked in his breath.

At the same time as that hiss of pain escaped him, he lost control of himself.

His pheromones were also released into the air.

'No…' he thought in confusion and rising fear, simultaneously buckling under the pain and trying to free himself from the hold someone had on him. 'No, no, why—'

Amid his dazed panic, Palmer heard a man say above his head, "Hold on, are you…?"

He didn't get to finish the question. All of a sudden, Palmer felt the hand on him abruptly draw away, as if removed by force.

It released him from one kind of pain. But not from the other.

"He—hey!" someone else shouted nervously. "Some men are fighting over here!"

Another person said in concern, "That smell… I think that omega is going into heat."

'No…' Palmer thought again as he forced himself to continue making his way out. 'No, that's impossible…'

But before he could even take a second step, he was stopped again.

Another hand had gripped him on the shoulder. From the scent emanating from this person, Palmer knew it didn't belong to the previous man.

It belonged to the alpha whose pheromones had impossibly affected him.

He waited and waited for pain to hit him, one that was infinitely more excruciating than before.

It didn't come.

Instead, it was that other kind of pain that intensified—an aching need that throbbed deep within him.

"It's you…" he heard Kade Harker whisper, voice shaking in wonder and in some unfathomable emotion.

Palmer thought he had been caught, but then…

"It's you," Kade repeated as he made the omega who was incapacitated by pain turn around to face him.

Palmer did see recognition in his eyes. However, it was not the kind he feared.

"Palmer…" said Kade, reaching up with a trembling hand to touch his face.

The omega could do nothing but stand there, frozen as he fearfully met Kade's eyes. He didn't know what was happening. To either of them.

Then, Kade began to lower his face. "It's you…" he continued. "You are my mate. Mine."

As the alpha and omega's scents swirled in the space around them, their lips met in a hesitant kiss.