22. MAX
Chapter twenty-two
MAX
T he frittata is cooling on a counter when I smell Katie. Her rich scent hits me before I see her descend the stairs. Loren lightly grasps her fingers, nothing too intimate. More tender. Reassuring.
I have no jealousy towards Loren’s advances– we’re Pack, and this is our Omega. There’s room in my heart for all of us. I am grateful that she’s allowing us to touch her. She was so skittish yesterday, I worried that it would be days before we even made it this far.
Callum glances at her once over his shoulder, before glaring back down at his coffee. Prickly bastard.
“Good morning, sunshine. Did you sleep okay?” I ask, slicing three pieces of fresh bread and popping them into the toaster oven.
“Good morning, Max,” she says, with a shy smile. Katie is not normally a timid woman. I can tell by the way she held her shoulders yesterday. But something is bothering her. I slide my gaze over to Loren. He doesn’t say anything or indicate that he has gained any more information, but when he does, I know he’ll share.
“That smells delicious,” Katie says. She sniffs the air delicately and her stomach rumbles. She hesitates behind Callum, her eyes assessing his back.
“Looks like our girl is hungry! Let me get the plates ready.” I busy myself with preparing plates with freshly toasted bread, lightly buttered, and a heaping slice of frittata for Katie. The least I can do is feed my Omega. After all she’s gone through to get to us, feeding her would be the greatest joy of my heart.
Callum grunts. “I’ll take mine to go.”
He gets up, giving only a cursory nod to Katie and Loren before grabbing a plate and heading towards the back door. I frown at him; this is no way to treat an Omega. Especially a new Omega who is clearly having a hard time adjusting.
Katie sucks in a breath as he leaves, her shoulders rolling in.
Loren guides her to a seat at the counter, and I set a plate in front of her. My Alpha instinct wants to soothe her, to cuddle her in my arms and ease the sting of Callum’s cold treatment. I get it; my packmate wasn’t expecting an Omega in his life ever . And after the Beta bitch, he’d sworn off relationships beyond the pack.
But this is Katie. Our Omega.
“If this is all too much of an inconvenience, I really can go back to the Conservatory,” Katie begins, pushing her frittata with a fork. “My sisters are there and they can rerun the blood test – you even said that blood tests aren’t conclusive.”
“What?” I ask.
She is saying words that are incomprehensible. She’s been here a single night, her scent creeping through the house like a magic spell. Already, I cannot imagine a world where she isn’t here, where her maple syrup sweetness isn’t floating on the stairs.
She is my Omega. I want all of her– her scent, her heat, her worries and fears. I want her affection and trust. I want the sweet tension of her body.
I take a bite of frittata to hide my salivation.
“Callum isn’t a morning person,” Loren says, with his characteristic tone of diplomacy.
“Are you sure?” Katie glances up, and I watch the visible resettling of her shoulders and jaw. She blinks once then swallows and stabs her fork into the eggs. Just like that, she’s swallowed whatever fear and overwhelm she felt and is facing Loren with eyes as sharp as knife blades.
Godsdamn, this woman! I swallow and offer a smile.
“Cal is grumpy when he can’t get what he wants when he wants it,” I say, winking at her when she turns my way. “Top up?” I nod to her coffee. She nods and pushes it toward me.
“Oh, and just what isn’t he getting?” She pops a forkful of frittata in her mouth.
“Well that’s obvious,” I hand her the mug, and let my fingers caress the top of her hand. She glares at me for a moment, but there’s no real heat. Not the anger kind anyway.
“You smell like the best part of an Autumn morning.” I grin at her blush. “It’s hard to have that scent in your head all night and know you can’t lay a finger on its source. I mean, unless you ask. Then –”
“Max,” Loren shoots me a warning look.
So what if I tease her a little? She needs to loosen up. So does he.
Gods above, we all need to relax more.
I snort. “I can’t even flirt with our Omega?”
“First,” Katie says before Loren can answer. “I don’t belong to anyone. Okay? Blood match or not. I’m not your Omega. Second, is my smell that strong? Should I… Aurelia said there are scent suppressing soaps. I can get some of those to make my time here easier.”
“No!” Loren and I shout at once.
“Your scent is like …” I can’t find the right words: warmth and peace, but also sex and desire. The best of home and also a hot night on the town. The woman you want to take dancing, and the woman you want to wake up to. Forever.
“Your scent is calibrated to be most appealing to your… matches.” Loren says.
She scrunches her eyebrows, then shrugs and takes another bite of her toast.
“Well, don’t think that just because I’m calibrated, you can take liberties.”
“Of course we wouldn’t!” Loren looks truly horrified. What a gentle giant. He’s not naive, but he did grow up in one of the Old Family Packs. Standards are so different with them. Plenty of Alphas would ignore her requests for space. Plenty of Alphas would take her because of the blood match and use it as a claim on her, regardless of what she wants.
But we’re not like those Alphaholes.
We are willing to wait for our Omega.
But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to tease her. Fuck, her scent in this house is a constant tease. So, I’m going to flirt and tease my way straight into her heart.
“I’m not one of those little helpless Omegas. I’m not afraid of defending myself. Just so we’re clear.” Her gaze narrows at me.
A lance of protectiveness spikes through me. She doesn't need to protect herself –not from us, and not from anyone else. It’s our job as Alphas to care for and protect her. But the hard set of her jaw makes it clear that she’s not interested in a lesson about Alpha biology and our protective instinct.
Okay, Tough Girl. I see you.
“Not a wilting flower; noted.” I raise an eyebrow at her. “One of these days, I’m going to take you to my gym –see what you can do.”
She’s lean, a hint of tan from the sun, and her triceps are sculpted –not something you can do by accident.
She holds my gaze and nods. “Absolutely. Bring it on.”
“Oh my Omega, I promise you I will.”