The line rang once.

“Hello?”

“I-I’m sorry,” River bleated. “I’ve drunk too much and I-” A whimper slipped out. “I want to go home.”

The puff of a cushion releasing weight and the jangle of keys. “Share your location, I’m on my way.”

“O-okay.”

“And stay on the call with me.”

River nodded to herself. She pulled the phone away from her ear to share her live location and then put it back in place.

“Still with me?” The question was punctuated by the rev of an engine.

“Yeah,” she mumbled.

“Do you feel sick?”

“No. Just… panicky.”

“Okay, I’m two minutes away.”

“’kay.”

“Are you inside?”

“Yeah.” She stood. “But I-”

“I’ll come in and get you.” Someone honked. “Stay where you are if you’re comfortable.”

“I’m… I’m hiding in the bathroom,” she admitted.

“That’s okay.”

River sniffed. Despite the understanding words, she still felt silly.

“I’m parked.” The slam of a car door. “I can smell you.”

Those four words flushed her hot for some reason. Of course he could smell her, everyone could.

There was a knock at the bathroom door, and the distant yelp of a disgruntled partier accusing line-pushing. “It’s me.”

River jumped up and unlocked the door. When she opened it, Elliott blocked anything else from view. He held his hand out, and River took it. She was clammy and shaky but he didn’t retract his fingers in disgust. He pulled her into his side and dropped a dark jacket over her shoulders. It acted as a cape of protection as they exited the party. His claim was staked, visually and through scent.

Crisp, cold air clapped into her as they passed through the front door and her chest rattled a little with her enthusiasm for a deep breath.

“Easy,” Elliott murmured. He tucked the jacket tighter around her.

“S-sorry.”

His car had mounted the curb right outside the building, and a few drunken stragglers were assessing it with comments about horse power and wrapping. River didn’t know what it meant. As long as a car had four wheels and brakes that worked, it was good enough for her.

Elliott unlocked it and the onlookers jerked back, pretending to be interested in the brickwork, or maybe taking a leak up against it. He walked River to the passenger side and opened the door for her, even offering his hand as leverage to lower herself into the seat. She swivelled the jacket to her front and cuddled it like a blanket while Elliott buckled her seatbelt for her. Bent over her, his neck inches from her mouth, she wondered what he’d do if she bit him. If she slathered her scent all over him with her tongue. If-

He pulled back and shut the passenger door.

She clapped her cheeks with her hands. When Elliott joined her in the car, she was squishing them between her palms, distracted by their squidginess. He paused, belt half-pulled across him to stare at her.

River dropped her hands. “Sorry. Trying to wake myself up a bit.”

“If you want to nap in here, you can.” Elliott clicked his belt in and settled in his seat. “You’re safe.” He turned the key in the ignition and tapped at a selection of buttons on the console, including, thankfully, the seat warmers. River snuggled down and let her eyes close, amazed at how much more drunk you could feel when you took time to just… stop.

“Thanks,” she slurred.

“Mm.”

The car moved under her, easing off the pavement slowly. His driving was smooth, and River was almost rocked to sleep with each turn and pause. But then a thought popped into her head, a question, and within her alcohol-soaked brain, she couldn’t find a reason not to ask it. She cracked her eyes back open.

“How come I never see you at parties?”

Elliott’s tongue pressed against his cheek through a smirk. For a moment she wasn’t sure if he was even going to answer.

“Wh-”

“You’re an alpha and you’re hot so you must get invited to loads,” River babbled. Her mouth was loose under the influence of liquor. That much she was aware of. How to reverse this effect… not so much.

Elliott choked on air and his hands adjusted themselves unnecessarily on the wheel. “Is that right?”

“No.”

“You don’t think I’m hot?” He grinned past the wind shield. “Because I’m definitely an alpha.”

River’s mouth fell open while her brain worked in slow-mo to find something to say that wouldn’t humiliate her further.

“Before you lie, remember that omegas aren’t the only ones with sensitive noses.” He looked pointedly at her crotch before returning his attention to the road.

“I meant- getting invited to parties. Lots. Do you?”

“I’m well-practiced in refusals,” he answered, cryptic.

“You like clubbing instead?”

He huffed a laugh at the lights ahead. They turned red and he slowed to a halt, his face aglow. “No.”

“I saw you.” She rolled to her side in the seat, pressing her cheek to the leather back. The jacket slid off her shoulder a little. He caught the movement with his cobalt eyes. “At Glacier.”

He corrected, “I was dining, not dancing.”

“You danced with me.”

“I should charge you extra for that.”

“How much?”

“What?”

Her blink was slow as she tried to remember her question in order to repeat it. “How much would you actually charge for your scent mark?”

“Depends who was asking for it.” The lights changed and he returned his focus to driving.

“Me,” River whined, drawing out the ‘ee’ sound for too long.

Elliott sighed. “For you, petal, a ninety-nine percent discount.”

River giggled. “Really?”

“Yep, just a hundred pounds and not a penny more.”

River gasped, then fell back against her seat giggling again.

He swung the wheel and she let the hard turn slide her back towards him. She would happily roll back and forth on the warm seat all night. Safe in his scent.

“I’m glad you called me.”

His words sobered her a little. “I’m glad you don’t drink,” she mumbled in reply.

“Is that why?”

“Why?”

“You called me, instead of someone else.”

River shrugged, shimmying herself further under the jacket. A yawn slipped out and she covered it with her forearm. The arm stayed there, laid over her face, and suddenly the light it was blocking wasn’t stinging her eyes so much. She let them droop closed.

“Hey, stop that.”

River laughed quietly against her arm.

The car slowed to a halt, and this time the engine was silenced.

“I’m home?” she grumbled.

“Yeah.”

River groaned into her arm and rolled back onto her side, back to Elliott, jacket curled tight around her. She just needed to rest her eyes a bit more. Just five more minutes…

Elliott didn’t argue. He didn’t force her awake. He didn’t throw her out of his car.

Her seat lowered, almost flat. Maybe another five… Just to be sure she was well enough to be at home alone…

The engine came back on, and so did the seat warmer, but the handbrake wasn’t lifted. River sighed happily and drifted to sleep.

×

River jolted awake and got slapped in the face by the seat belt still stretched over her.

“Ugh!” She shoved it away and clutched her head, eyes squeezed shut. It couldn’t have been the flimsy plastic that had caused the eye-watering headache radiating from inside. No, that was all alcohol.

The seat belt didn’t fling back and hit her again. Confused, she peeled open her eyes to find an enormous hand holding it back from her. Almost like a slingshot readying.

“You know, there’s an easier way to get rid of this.” Elliott pressed the buckle button and let it retract back into his hand. When he opened his palm it zoomed over River’s head back to the holster.

River groaned and let her eyes shut again. She felt like a corpse warmed up in a microwave. She was a zombie craving water instead of brains. She was nothing but a giant heart and skin, since its beat was all she could feel throughout her entire body.

“What time is it?” she grumbled. Her voice was gruff, dehydration scratching each word.

“Three.”

“Morning or afternoon?”

Elliott chuckled. “Open your eyes.”

“I did it once already,” she argued.

“And was it light or dark outside?”

“Can’t remember,” she moaned.

Her seat rose, curling her upright.

“It’s three in the morning.” The car fell silent. “Time for bed.”

“You go ahead, I’m comfy here.”

The driver-side door opened and shut and River peeked out, surprised that she’d won that battle so easily. Then her door opened.

She gasped, clutching the jacket laid over her. “It’s cold!”

“Maybe you shouldn’t be out in a three-inch skirt in winter.” Elliott scooped her under the armpits and lifted her from the car.

River pouted. “It’s spring.”

She was plopped back onto her own feet, although she staggered a little as she adjusted to balancing on her heels again. She refused to hand back the jacket when Elliott stretched a hand out for it. He raised a brow and snatched it in one aggressive swipe. River whimpered, startled at the show of strength. Then he held it out, open, for her to wear it properly. River slid her arms in and watched him drag the zip up to her chin. He plucked out the curls caught in the collar with careful flicks of his fingers. River tucked her fingers inside of the sleeves.

“You got your keys?”

River nodded.

“Want me to walk you to the door?”

River hesitated. She had asked enough of Elliott tonight. She shook her head.

“Okay, off you go.”

River tottered for a moment. “Thank you,” she whispered. If she were tall enough that it wouldn’t be awkward, she would have kissed his cheek. Instead, she gave him a sleepy smile and trudged away.

It took a few attempts to get the front door open, because she was still a bit tipsy or she was slowly freezing to death couldn’t be clearly deduced. When she turned to close it behind her, Elliott was watching from his car.