37. Jordan
Chapter thirty-seven
The original Alphamatic location is gorgeous, with loads of natural lighting and massive exercise rooms with glass walls lining the back of the facility. The camera crew is setting up for Cyrus' ad shoot, chatting with Nolan Sloane as they determine the best locations.
My eyes are trained on the men's locker room, where I know Cyrus is getting ready with our all-male hair and makeup crew. We didn't want the gym to shut down for the day and certainly didn't want to take up floor space, so the locker room made the most sense.
I feel like I'm going to crawl out of my skin. Usually, I don't supervise shoots like this, but I couldn't stay away. Lanie was pissed I made her stay behind at the office, but the last thing I wanted was her breathing down my neck too.
"Oh, hello," a soft voice says beside me. It takes me off guard and I startle, narrowing my eyes at the woman beside me.
She's tiny, with blonde hair that hits her shoulders, a heart-shaped face, and hands propped up on a massively pregnant stomach. It only takes a moment for me to recognize her.
"Nora Summers," I say with a smile. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, it's Sloane, now. Nolan is one of my Alphas." Almost like he heard her, the handsome Alpha looks in our direction, beaming. "We have met before, haven't we?"
"I was the supervisor on an ad campaign you were on years ago." Embarrassment clogs my throat. Now that I know what Nora went through as the Perfect Omega, I'm ashamed I was even a tiny part of it.
Her face lights up with a broad smile. "That's right! So, I am not wrong to assume this is your campaign as well? Most people do not visit our gym in pencil skirts."
My black skirt and green blouse look out of place among the athletic wear. Heavily pregnant, Nora wears sneakers, leggings, and a flowy yellow tank top and looks perfectly put together.
"You're not wrong. I don't normally supervise shoots, but…" My face heats. I don't know this woman, and I almost admitted that I couldn't keep away from Cyrus.
"Oh, you should know my Alpha told me about what happened between you and Cyrus. I mean, as much as he knows." She shrugs and points at a bench before strolling over. When I sit beside her, she continues. "So he is your Alpha, then?"
"He is," I admit, taking the claw clip out of my hair so I can use it as a curtain for my insecurities. "Sort of."
"Ooh, I sense a story." The delicate Omega turns sideways to give me her undivided attention, and I'm struck by how easy it is to be around her.
"We have a similar genome," I blurt out, like a psychopath.
"Oh." Her face drops, and it's obvious I've made her uncomfortable. "I'm… not sure what to say to that."
"Fuck, well. Okay, so I presented as an Omega at thirty-two. But I knew I was an Omega, but it was like I was trapped. Anyways, my doctor ran my genome and found that it was very similar to yours, so there shouldn't have been anything keeping me from presenting, but then he found a gene, and there is a theory-"
"Wow, sweetie, breathe," she coos, touching my arm. "Take a deep breath and then try again, okay?"
I take a moment to calm myself before laughing awkwardly. "Sorry about that. But there is a theory that the gene I had suppressed my Omega until I found my scent match, and then that activated it. My doctor turned out to be my scent match."
"Oh! What a wonderful surprise. I bet you were just thrilled."
The sound of weights clanging around us draws my attention, and across the room, I see Cyrus holding a dumbbell and staring down a camera.
He looks intense, with his eyes smoldering and jaw set tight. I'm not sure if he's pissed or if this is just a look for him, but I'm a little ashamed to admit it works for me. His chest is bare, a soft smattering of dark curly hair covering his torso, and he's got a pair of red Alphamatic branded shorts hanging deliciously low on his hips.
I rip my eyes away from the distractingly attractive Alpha and turn back to Nora.
"I was thrilled. However, the presentation was a mess, and I ended up in the hospital, and well…"
And not for the first time recently, I unload the whole Stargazer story on a stranger. Nora listens closely, asking questions and reaching out to put her hand over mine whenever I get choked up.
"And now you don't know if you're ready to forgive?" she asks quietly.
"Yes. No. I'm not sure. What if I forgive too soon?"
She snorts when she laughs, and it's so inconsistent with her image that I end up folding over in a peal of giggles. She lightly backhands my bicep.
"Anyways, as I was going to say," she says, exaggerating her words to break through my laughter, "there is no such thing as forgiving too early. One of my Alphas and I got off to a rough start, and when I forgave him, he felt so guilty and thought I should make him beg my forgiveness. He beat himself up a lot over it all." She pulls her hair over one shoulder, eyeing the ends of it curiously. "But I didn't need that. I just needed to know that he was mine."
Nora places a hand on her stomach and winces, making me jump to my feet. "Oh shit, are you okay? Do you need to go to the doctor?"
Now it's her turn to laugh at me. "Sit, Jordan. The baby just kicked the daylights out of me." I settle back down, and she gently rubs the side of her stomach. "This is a lifetime thing, Jordan. It's not just the courting. It's the scary moments where you're unsure if you'll ever be yourself again. It's moments of joy when you celebrate your Alpha getting promoted to the top position at his school and the despair when something you'd begged for was ripped away all too soon."
Her eyes get a little glassy, tears pooling in the corners. "Stupid pregnancy hormones," she mutters, wiping her face. "What I mean to say, Jordan, is that you can forgive even if it hasn't been made up to you. There is a lifetime of highs and lows to experience together. Why hold off on the high because of a low that came before?"
Her words sucker punch me, and I gape at her like a fish. She giggles melodically at my expression. "Besides, I'm still using Chase's prior behavior as an excuse to get him to rub my feet." She kicks her feet up like a child and pouts. "Especially since I can't see them anymore."
With my trauma dumping session and Nora's very public court trial that exposed her trauma, I feel very close to this Omega. "Would it be weird to exchange numbers?" I ask after a particularly funny story about Nora getting stuck in her nest on her back like a turtle, her belly making it impossible to get out on her own.
"I would love that, actually." She doesn't hesitate to shove her phone at me, and I program my number immediately.
"Jordan." The scent of sweet blackberries overwhelms me, and I look up to see a sweaty, still shirtless Cyrus looming over me. "Do you have a moment?"
Nora flashes me a pretty smile and awkwardly hauls herself to her feet. "It was so nice to meet you, Jordan. Please stay in touch."
"It was nice talking to you, Nora."
"Oh, Nora? You're Joey's Nora, right?" Cyrus asks, taking a step back to give the other Omega space.
Her blue eyes light up. "You know Just Joey?"
"We're the ones who stayed in the house recently. My packmate, Simon…er, Slime, knows Joey." Cyrus looks uncomfortable, keeping a wide distance between them.
"Oh! Slime! From the safe house." She flips her gaze to me. "Well, it seems Lunarcrest is a very small, big city, huh? We will have to host you all for dinner. I just love to entertain."
Nolan comes up behind his Omega and pulls her against his chest. "You're too pregnant to entertain."
"I'm pregnant, not broken," she says with a slight growl. "But you're right. After the baby is born, please?"
There is zero doubt in my mind that this Omega has her entire pack wrapped around her well-manicured finger. The four of us exchange pleasantries, and I remember I'm here on the job and review the timeline for the campaign with Nolan.
Eventually, Nora sways on her feet, and he rushes her out, promising to review the documents I owe him as soon as I send them later today.
"How was the shoot?" I ask Cyrus, following him across the gym to where the camera crew is packing up. "Do you feel like you got some good shots?"
"I think so, yeah," he mutters. "I'm a bit surprised you weren't a part of it, though."
I wrinkle my nose, placing a hand on his bicep. "I got caught up with Nora."
"I did this to get close to you."
"You sound like a child right now, Cyrus." I peel away from him to debrief with the crew, ignoring his frustrated huffs behind me.
By the time I'm done with my team, he's showered and changed, pacing across the gym's entryway. I stand in front of him, making the massive Alpha stop short, and cross my arms.
"What is up your ass, Cyrus?"
His face curls in a snarl. "You! You are, Jordan. You haven't said anything to me after I cut myself open in front of the whole nation."
"I didn't ask you to do that!" I snap. I feel the weight of eyes on my back, and I grab him by the arm and pull him outside to speak a bit more privately. "Do not be mad at me for not jumping up and down that you spilled our business for all to see."
"I was trying to be romantic!" He runs his fingers through his hair, tugging at one of the curls. "I wanted you to know how I feel, and then you're just going to act like it never happened!"
"You don't get to decide how I handle this, Cyrus."
He crowds me, pushing me against the brick siding of the building. This close, his scent is all that exists, an almost too-sweet cheap blackberry wine that conjures feelings of nostalgia for a more innocent time.
"You're not handling this at all, Omega," he growls. "You're burying your head in the sand. We're not descended from ostriches. We're descended from wolves, and you need to act like the Luna you are."
"Listen, jackass, I am doing nothing but processing and handling all of this shit. My whole life got upended, and you're pissed that I'm not handling it exactly how you think I should?" I push against his unmoving chest. "You don't get to decide how I process the trauma you caused."
"You're not the only one whose life got upended!" he shouts, his eyes wild as he glares at me. "We gave up our homes and moved in together to prove to you we could be a pack, only for you to avoid us for months. We moved in with you no questions asked. You don't think our lives are different? That our jobs aren't suffering? We've been living on your scraps for months, and you treat me like I'm a fucking monster for wanting the smallest amount of affection from you?"
He takes a step back, shaking his head. "I fucked up, Jordan. You don't have to keep shoving the biggest mistake of my life in my face. All I want is to love you. To take care of you. But it's starting to seem like you'll find any excuse not to love me back."
I'm too stunned to speak, his words battering against my flimsy defenses and freezing me in place. He doesn't wait for me to respond, and I silently watch my Alpha walk away.