Chapter 11
ELEVEN
SIX DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS
The staff has decorated River Faire in its Christmas best for the party. Classy, red monochromatic decorations drape a massive tree in the corner. Black tablecloths and gold runners are on the tables, and soft, twinkling lights are draped over the ceiling.
My colleagues flit around the space, drinking and making small talk as they eat some of the delicious tapas and desserts the restaurant provided. Everyone on my team is here except Felix, and I’m trying not to ask Katy whether he’s planning to show up.
He told me he was coming. With a date.
He’ll be here.
“You look tense,” Mitchell says, taking a sip from a crystal tumbler of clear liquor. Probably a top-shelf tequila, knowing him. “Anxious while waiting for your Omega?”
“He’s not my Omega,” I hiss under my breath, looking around to make sure no one is privy to the conversation. “And I’m not waiting for him.”
I don’t believe my words any more than Mitchell does.
I’m on my second martini by the time I see Felix walking into the restaurant.
I knew he was gorgeous, but seeing him dressed up, his curls styled perfectly, with suspenders and a bow tie, takes it to another level.
On his arm is the most beautiful woman I think I’ve ever seen, with dark hair and big green eyes.
She’s stunning, and the two of them together look like every wet dream I’ve ever had.
Mitchell may have been onto something about winning over his Beta, too.
“Well damn,” Mitchell mutters behind him. “Maybe I’ll talk to her. If they’re not a pair-”
“No,” I snarl. “Stay away from her.”
My friend’s face lights up. “Easy there, Alpha. Is someone feeling a little possessive over a woman he’s never met?”
“She’s clearly Felix’s,” I hiss, unable to take my eyes off the two of them. “Look at them.” Felix is gazing at the woman the way I wish he would look at me. He’s watching her every move, and she’s oblivious to the attention he is giving her.
Fuck, I should not have had those martinis. My lowered inhibitions make me want to go over there, cover them both in my scent, and hide them away.
I never imagined myself with a Beta, or even a pack, to be honest, but now all I can do is imagine what life would be like if I had both of them.
I’m getting so far ahead of myself that I can’t even see my sanity in the rearview window.
“Go talk to them,” Mitchell says, gently nudging me with his shoulder. “Seriously, before someone else with a bigger knot than you does.”
That’s when I notice that several of the Alphas we work with are eyeing the pair up like they’re dinner, and a growl grows in my throat.
Neither Felix nor the woman on his arm, Clara, has noticed.
He hands a champagne glass to her before taking one of his own, and my feet pull me across the room without my input.
Before I can greet them, my entire body locks up, and my gaze snaps onto Clara’s. Her chest heaves up and down. I can see the bubbles in her champagne glass slosh as she trembles.
The scent of freshly baked cookies swirls around me, reminding me of the coffee Felix drinks.
It’s mouth-watering and decadent, and I can almost feel the sprinkles on my tongue.
My heart falters in my chest because I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the Beta in front of me, on the arm of the man I want to be my Omega, is my scent match.
“Oh, hello, Gabriel,” Felix says, his voice snapping us both out of our weird stare down. Does she realize who we are to each other? “This is Clara.”
“Clara,” I say, rolling her name around on my tongue. “It’s an honor to meet you. I’m Gabriel.”
“I figured,” she says, then clears her throat. “I mean, nice to meet you, too.”
What am I supposed to do in a situation like this? Knowing she is my scent match hasn’t taken away my desire for Felix, but what if they’re not together? If he doesn’t want me, would he force her to choose?
She doesn’t need me. Betas don’t have any adverse effects from not being around their scent matches like Omegas do.
Things just got a lot more complicated.
“Have you two gotten any food?” I ask, stumbling over my words. “The dessert table I told you about is just over there.” I point across the room, and watch Felix’s eyes light up.
God, he’s beautiful.
“Oh, no, we haven’t. I’ll go grab us some,” he tells Clara, kissing her on the cheek. She tries to stop him from scampering off, but he waves her away. “I’ll be back in a moment.”
As soon as his back disappears in the crowd, her eyes snap to mine.
“I-”
“You-”
We talk over one another, then laugh awkwardly. “Ladies first.”
“You’re my scent match.”
I nod, rubbing the back of my neck. “Yeah, I came to the same conclusion.”
“We can’t,” she hisses, taking a step closer to me. Her scent swirls around me, making my eyes roll in the back of my head. I have never been turned on by a smell before, but here I am. There is a first time for everything.
“What?” I must’ve misheard her.
“Felix has feelings for you.”
My heart soars.
Does he really? Could the Omega I’ve been craving for years want me as badly as I want him?
“Are you telling the truth?” I ask, taking a step forward and reaching for her hands. “I want him too.”
Emotion flashes across her pretty face, and she sucks her bottom lip in between her teeth, chewing on it. “You do?”
“Desperately.”
It feels good to admit that to someone out loud. Sure, Mitchell knows how I feel about Felix, but it’s another level to acknowledge the depth of my obsession to my Beta.
Her expression transforms to one of pain before she looks away. “I love him,” she whispers. “I’m in love with him. He’s my best friend, and he doesn’t feel the same for me.”
She cannot seriously believe that. I saw the way he looked at her. I imagine it’s like how I look at him.
“A Beta doesn’t need an Alpha, but an Omega does. Now that I know his feelings for you are reciprocated, I will not get in the way of his happiness.” Her voice quakes, making my heart crack in two.
I know in my gut that she doesn’t need to be afraid of his reaction to her feelings. She and I scent matching can only be a good thing.
“What if we tell him we’re matched and pursue him together?” I look over my shoulder to see if Felix is on his way back to us. He got stopped by Katy, his back to us. I angle my body so I can keep an eye on him and not risk him overhearing our conversation. “We tell him we both want to court him.”
She takes her hands from mine and stares at me. “And become the pity Beta he accepts so he can get the Alpha he wants? And you? Am I a stepping stone to help you get to him?”
Her words are like a slap, and I realize, in my excitement and hope that everything I could ever want was falling into place, I have botched it. I have not acknowledged my desire to pursue her independently of Felix, to court her.
“No. You are much more than that. You are meant to be mine.”
I try to keep it under wraps, because it’s not very ‘Alpha’ of me, but I am a romantic at heart. My parents have one of those love stories for the ages, where they met across a crowded room, drawn together by a force that neither could deny. They were married three days later.
I cannot help but see the parallels to how I met Clara.
She looks like she is about to protest, to reject me, but I can’t allow that to happen before she even gives me a chance.
A glance across the room shows Felix still engrossed in a conversation with Katy, so I grab Clara’s hand and pull her away from my coworkers, through the hallway, and into the event manager’s office. It’s, luckily, empty.
“My parents are scent matches. They have told me my whole life how incredible it was the first time they met. They were all in from the first moment. I have longed for a love like theirs my entire life. I will not squander my chance to have that kind of love. Especially with a woman as beautiful as you.”
Her eyes are wide, her hands shaking in mine as she looks up at me.
I’ve got at least a head on her, and the difference in height between us makes me want to pick her up and wrap her legs around my waist and never let her go.
She’s about the same size as Felix, and now all I can think about is what it would be like to have both of them curled up underneath my arms.
“I…” She looks around the office, searching for something intangible that will give her the answers she’s searching for. “I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything. Just give this, us, a shot.
Please don’t reject me before you’ve had a chance to get to know me.
You are mine as much as I am yours. And it means something that we both want that handsome Omega out there as our own.
” I pull her hand to my face, rubbing my cheeks along her wrist, subtly depositing my scent there.
“I cannot think of anything that feels more like fate than this.”
“Scent matches aren’t fate,” she mumbles petulantly, even though she is leaning into my touch. “It’s science.”
Is she always this pragmatic, or is she just scared because of how quickly this is happening? I don’t believe that science is the only thing that draws scent matches together. There is more to it than that.
I step closer to her, our bodies brushing against one another, giving her plenty of time to pull away. I wrap my hand around her neck and duck my head, ghosting my lips across hers. When she doesn’t shove me away, I try my luck again with a gentle kiss.
Her lips part on a gasp, and she presses herself against me, ensnaring me in a kiss that has my heart stopping.
This is the moment I will tell our children about. The kiss that started the rest of our lives.
When we pull apart, I rest my forehead against hers, breathing hard, like I just ran a marathon. “Tell me this isn’t more than science.”
“I don’t know what it is. But I can’t allow myself to think about it.
I love Felix, Gabriel.” She takes a step backward.
“And he has feelings for you. I can’t… I can’t pursue anything with you when I know that he wants you.
He needs an Alpha. It’s not right for me to take the one that he wants from him. ”
“No, what’s not right is you pretending like this isn’t fate at work.
You wouldn’t be taking me from him. We both have feelings for the same Omega, and we’re scent matches.
That means something. The three of us could be incredible together.
He’s ours, Clara. There’s no reason why we can’t all be together. ”
She backs away, pausing in the office’s doorway. “I… I can’t do this. I need some air. I need to think.”
As she gives me her back and practically runs away from me, I feel like something inside me is breaking. Why can’t she see that this could be perfect? How could this have worked out any better than it has?
I need to win them both over. That’s the only option. Now that I know Clara, having tasted her lips, I cannot be without her.
And finding out that Felix wants me the way I want him? I’m not letting anything keep me from him anymore.
But how do I pursue a relationship with two people who love one another but won’t admit it?