Knot the Alphas’ Feral Omega

7. Oliver

7

Oliver

The moment that Killian and Lilah packed up—with her still wearing his clothes, despite everything inside me pushing for her to walk out of our home and our lives without any evidence that she was there in the first place—I turned to Emmett and fixed him with a hard look.

The front door slamming left the silence between the two of us ringing harshly, and he met my gaze impassively, taking a sip of his leftover coffee.

“We still need to talk about this,” I insisted, my voice rough. I desperately tried to project calm, knowing my pack needed it from me right now, but it was difficult. My wolf had been screaming to shift all morning—ever since Lilah first walked into our house the night before, if I was being truly honest with myself.

I hadn’t had such difficulty containing a shift since I was young, and my alpha markers became clear. The fact that I was having such a problem now only made it even clearer in my mind that Lilah couldn’t stick around. She was dangerous.

Emmett regarded me for another moment, his hand flexing against his arm. Finally, he shook his head, his eyes flashing gold. “No.”

I reared back a little. As stoic and silent as he usually was, Emmett was far from a submissive alpha, but he had never blatantly gone against me like this.

“Emmett...” I started.

He shook his head again sharply, and when he opened his eyes again, they had returned to their normal dark brown. “No, Ollie. You don’t get to make a unilateral decision here. Killian has made his interest in this woman more than clear, and her wolf clearly feels as strongly about us as we do about her. It doesn’t make sense, but many things in life don’t.”

It was the most words I had heard Emmett speak in one go in years , and for a moment, I was rendered speechless.

Then I pressed my lips together, widening my stance. A low, aggressive growl ripped out of me, but Emmett wasn’t intimidated. His eyes flashed gold again, matching my energy, and it took a few moments before the simmering tension calmed, and I could take in a full breath.

“We can’t,” I finally said, my voice low and full of repressed emotion. “It isn’t right.”

Emmett cocked his head to the side, his eyes back to normal again, and he finished his cup of coffee before setting the porcelain mug aside. “Jack would have wanted this for us, and you know it. It was all he wanted when he was here, and that wouldn’t change now that he isn’t.”

Emmett’s words punched a hole in my chest, and for a moment, I couldn’t breathe. Grief overwhelmed me, just for a split second, blurring my vision and making my eyes sting with unshed tears. I dragged in a breath, the lingering scent of Lilah inflaming me even more, and I pressed my hand against my chest as I willed my heartbeat to regulate.

It took longer than I wanted—almost a full minute—but when I looked up at Emmett again, his expression had softened slightly. All of us had been affected by Jack’s passing, but it wasn’t a secret that I’d taken his loss harder than the other two.

“We have to move on,” Emmett said, short and to the agonizing point.

I swallowed and looked away from my packmate. My wolf was oddly silent, and I rubbed my hand over my chest again, heaving out a deep breath.

“The idea that she’s our scent-match is absurd,” I finally said, my voice weak. Even as I said it, though, I could feel the soft brush of her cheek against my jaw as she scent-marked me. She might have been a new omega, but there was no doubt that her instincts for serving an alpha were impeccable.

And I hated how much I wanted to be that alpha she served—myself, Emmett, and Killian.

Emmett cocked his head to the side, his normal silent stoicism returning, and I blew out a breath, running my hand through my hair. I was sure the strands were in disarray and that I would have to do it again before I left the house, but I didn’t care.

“I don’t know if I can commit,” I finally whispered, the words heavy in the silence between myself and my packmate. He blinked at me, and I clarified, “Lilah. I don’t know if I can commit. To her, in the pack. I...” I swallowed. “It’ll just be too hard.”

Emmett pursed his lips and hummed softly before saying quietly, “Nobody is saying you need to do it tonight. Killian would understand if you weren’t able to give her the bite. He would be upset, but...”

Emmett’s words trailed off as I shook my head. “I don’t think so,” I said. “I saw the way he looked at her. I’ve never seen Kill like that before. He’s smitten, and...”

Emmett sighed. “You’re right,” he finally said.

The silence that settled after his statement felt almost too heavy to break. I knew that, in that moment, Emmett was feeling the loss of Jack as keenly as I was. Our packmate had always been the most level of us, willing to call each of us out on our bullshit, no matter how we reacted. He would have been the perfect second in the pack hierarchy if we ascribed to such archaic views of packhood.

He wasn’t here, though—and Emmett was right. Even more than Killian, Jack had been vocal about his desire for an omega—a mate to balance us out, care for us, and soften each of our rough edges.

Claiming an omega without Jack felt wrong, but the idea of never even trying in respect to his memory...if anything, that felt even more wrong.

“I’ll try,” I finally said. My voice was rough with sadness but clear and strong. In my chest, my wolf hummed softly as if content with my decision, and Emmett nodded, not saying a word. “I don’t know if it’ll work out,” I warned him. “But...I’ll try.”

Emmett smiled and nodded again. “Okay.”