6. Lain
lain
I sneak a picture of Maisie while she’s lost in thought, her pretty green eyes taking in the view.
I’ve been here hundreds of times, but today feels the most significant.
Callum is against us showing any interest to Maisie, which isn’t a surprise. He cared for Fiona deeply. Her leaving us for her scent matches destroyed him.
Now he’s a grumpy arse who doesn’t even call us a pack any more.
Greer has his concerns about her not being a permanent fixture in Scotland, which are valid. Reason enough to not entertain this attraction.
But there’s something about her. Undoubtedly, she’s the most beautiful Omega I’ve ever met, and I haven’t even been able to scent her.
Greer also noted that she deliberately hides her scent and I wonder why. Something about her is drawing me in like a moth to a flame, and I’m not one to deny myself.
Plus, there’s no one more fitting to make someone fall in love with Scotland than me. Maybe my tour guide ego is too big and she’ll still leave in a month’s time, but at least it will be a month worth remembering.
“Thank you for bringing me along,” she says dreamily.
“My pleasure.”
She glances back at the view one more time before coming back over to me and Fergus, and we take the trail back to the parking lot.
I glance down at her. She’s significantly shorter than me, her wild dirty-blonde curls are up in a bun, and I wonder if she ever wears it down. She turns up to look at me, her cheeks slightly rosy, rounded golden glasses framing the most unique shade of green eyes I’ve ever seen.
Fuck. I have a crush, and I have it bad.
I clear my throat and I swear she smirks as we reach the visitor center.
Gayle, David, Jenny, and Todd are all waiting by the vehicle, and I smile. Older tourists are my favorite because I rarely have to go chasing them down from stop to stop. They’re always on time. Plus, they actually like to hear all the history and my small facts.
I don’t have an issue with kids, but they are a tour guide's worst nightmare. They get the seats sticky, have to take a piss every ten minutes, and usually complain about the long drives.
But Maisie, sitting next to Fergus, petting his chin, might be my favorite guest yet.
We make our way to the next loch and I feel like I’m giving my best performance yet as I spit off historical facts, trivia, and anything else I can think of.
When we get to the parking lot, I grab the hiking bag I bring, filling it with waters and offer a hiking stick to whomever would like one.
“We’re going to do three trail heads today. We’re not in any rush. Please let me know if we need any breaks,” I tell everyone as we start on our first trail.
I have the couples go ahead of me. The first two trails are easy, relatively flat walks, and I like for them to set the pace. Every now and then, I point out an interesting tree, or a creature we see—rattling off some Scottish myth or Highland lore as we go.
Maisie and Fergus walk next to me. She’s quiet and I realize that I’ll need to be the one to fill the silence.
“Do you do a lot of hiking back home?” I ask her.
“From my apartment to wherever I ordered food. I don’t leave the city much,” she says.
“Which city would that be?”
“Chicago.”
“And you like it, living in the city?” I ask.
Her brows furrow, she uses her palm to push her glasses up against her face.
“Well, it’s where I always lived. So I guess it’s fine.”
“I went to the University of Edinburgh. It was nice to live in a city for a little while, but it didn’t feel like home.
I moved back as soon as I graduated, Greer, Callum, and I bought a place.
They built up the restaurant and I started my business.
The nature, the close-knit community, I wouldn’t have it any other way,” I tell her.
She glances up at me, not paying attention to where she’s walking, and she stumbles. I grab her arm to steady her and she clears her throat.
“The way you talk about this place, it’s the same way my mom did.”
“Why didn’t she move back?” I ask.
“She was a single mom, a Beta. My dad dipped to go start a pack. Finances were tight, but she had a steady job in Chicago, and me and Birdie had already made friends and a routine. I don’t think she wanted to uproot our lives.”
“Your ma sounds like she was a strong woman,” I say.
“She was,” she agrees as we reach the bridge and I have to go back into tour guide mode.
We do the other trails, Meall Dubh trail being a huge hit with the stone steps, gorgeous views, and we eventually return to the village.
Everyone seems properly tired, but having had a great time as we make the drive back to town. I purposely end and start the tour at Greer’s.
Both couples give me a hearty tip as they head into the restaurant.
Maisie goes to dig around her handbag and I arch a brow at her. “I need to give you a tip. You gave me the tour for free.”
“I don’t want your money,” I tell her.
“You just spent hours showing me around. For free,” she emphasizes the free part and I shake my head. “I owe you something.”
“Dinner?” I say boldly and she adjusts her stance slightly.
“Dinner?” she parrots.
“Yes, dinner I will be paying for. You will be gifting me the pleasure of your company.”
“I can’t tonight. I promised my sister we would get dinner.”
“A raincheck then?”
Maisie bites her lips and takes a deep breath. “Alright, I can do that.”
I hand her my phone, opening the messaging app. “Why don’t you put in your number so I can send you the photos from today?”
“Swindler in a kilt,” she whispers under her breath, but she gives me her information anyway. I call that a win.
“Thank you for coming along with me. You have a standing invitation for any of my tours.”
“Any, huh?” she asks, ready to walk away.
“For a cost of my choice, of course.”
She shakes her head at me, but heads toward the Heather Beag. She glances back at me once, her cheeks rosy and sweet, and I sigh to myself. I already like her far too much.
The bell chimes over the entrance of Greer’s, my pack mate drying off some drinking glasses, stacking them neatly behind the bar. When I sit down at one of the high back bar stools, he slides me a pint and arches a brow at me.
“How’d it go?” he asks.
I take a sip of the beer, letting it coat my throat as I think about how today went. Before I can get a word in, a hand claps on my shoulder. It’s Todd from the tour group.
“Amazing tour. Where did your sweet girlfriend head off to?” he asks.
“She had plans with her sister,” I tell him with a smile, not correcting him.
“Ah. I remember when Jenny and I were young and in love. They were amazing years, and they only get better,” he says lovingly about his wife. “Also, we already posted our Google review.” He holds out his massive phone, showing me the short but sweet review he left.
“Appreciate it, Todd. If there’s anywhere else you and the missus want to go while you’re here, you know who to call.”
“Not Rory,” he says with a wink and I laugh.
The older gentleman walks away and Greer leans over the bar top.
“Girlfriend, huh?”
“I wish,” I groan, taking a sip of beer. “I don’t know how to explain it. We were with Fiona for nearly a year and yet…” I shake my head. “I don’t know how to explain it.”
He nods his head in agreement, neither of us knowing how to describe this pull we have to Maisie. It’s not just an attraction, it’s something else entirely.
“She’s got a lot going on,” Greer says and I nod.
It’s clear that she’s grieving and losing her job has definitely added an extra layer to the complications of her life.
“All I know is I want to spend more time with her,” I say and Greer sighs.
“And if she isn’t open to a pack, isn’t open to dating?”
“Then I’ll have shown her how magical Scotland is, which is exactly what her mother wanted.” It would suck if she wasn’t open to dating, but I mean every word.
There’s a good chance that Maisie isn’t looking for a relationship, or even open to it.
She has a life, well, pieces of a life waiting for her across the ocean.
I also don’t know much about her sister.
What are her intentions? I feel unhinged even thinking about the fact that I’m already plotting on a way to convince a woman to stay in my country, but nothing about this connection is rational.
“Callum isn’t going to like it,” Greer says and like he summoned the man, he walks out of the back of the restaurant bringing me a plate of fish and chips.
“How was the tour?” he asks, and I smirk at him.
He didn’t always used to be this grumpy; he’s always been serious and intense in his own way, but Fiona broke the fun part of him, the soft bits he only ever let her see were gone.
Taking care of Fiona gave me joy on a basic instinctual level, but she never particularly showed much interest in me.
Callum was her favorite, and it was evident.
I'd hoped that when we bonded things would change, but it never happened.
Callum was broken-hearted, and I hate to say it, but I was relieved. It fractured our pack and for the last two years, I’ve been trying to figure out what could bring us back together.
“The tour was the best yet,” I tell Callum, dipping the fish in tartar sauce and taking a bite. At least getting his heart broken didn’t ruin what a great cook he is.
“What was so great about it?”
“Let’s see. Fergus didn’t have to shit during the drive. The tourists tipped me incredibly well.” I tap my chin a few times. “Oh, and the sexy, curly-haired Omega who kept me company the whole tour didn’t hurt either.”
“The one who said my food made her sick and has bewitched my nan and my dim-witted pack mates?”
“Dim-witted? Greer and I both did better than you in school.”
“Book smarts and street smarts aren’t the same thing. Why would you let her charm you? Omegas never stay, Lain. She’s going to leave here in under a month and take your sappy little heart with her,” Callum says, and I blink at him.
“Maybe she does,” I reply with a shrug, and he pinches the bridge of his nose.
“You two can do whatever you want, but I want no part in it. We aren’t a registered pack, anyway.” He tosses that last bit in like a grenade and it sends an ache in my chest.
“We are a pack. We live in the same house. We’ve been mates since we were in nappies. It’s been two years, Cal. Are you planning on never bonding with an Omega?” I say the words, assuming that he’ll scoff and just say he needs more time.
“I’ve been thinking that I’m just not for pack life, that I’m better off on my own.”
“You don’t mean that,” Greer chimes in and Callum shrugs.
“We’re different people now. I’m holding you two back. You’re over what happened with Fiona and I’m glad that you are ‘cause this fucking pain sucks. I can’t. I just fucking can’t,” he says, shaking his head and turning his back to us as he goes back to the kitchen.
I glance at Greer and for the first time in my life I have to wonder if one day I’m going to have to choose between Callum being my pack brother or the future Omega I’ve always wanted.
“Don’t even think about it, Lain,” Greer says, reading me like a damn book. “He’ll come around. Maybe not to Maisie, but he’ll come around.”
We can only hope so. Either way, I’m not going to let him deter me from getting to know Maisie, even if she is inevitable heartbreak.