Chapter Eleven
This isn’t at all how I thought this was going to go.
While I agreed with my pack to come onto Heated, I didn’t actually think we’d find another omega to join our pack. It’s clear that Evangeline and I aren’t an omega pair, but I actually like her—which surprises me.
She’d taken her time to make sure that I was comfortable with being on the show and with what was happening. She didn’t have to do that, and I wasn’t expecting it. I didn’t deserve for her to act like that when I was such a bitch to her when we met.
Evangeline is gorgeous and has a successful career. She’s older and everything I want to be, but I don’t know how to go about it. I don’t know how I go from being the entitled omega I know I am to being an independent omega. Instead of admitting that out loud, I lashed out at Evangeline. I didn’t like the way Malachi watched her. I didn’t like the hunger I saw in Ana’s eyes. They’re my alphas, and they shouldn’t be looking at another omega like that.
Or at least that’s what my insecurities were screaming at me.
It’s been less than twenty-four hours, and yet Evangeline is already making such a big impact on me. I still don’t know that I could allow another omega into my pack—at least not yet—but I can’t bring myself to say that out loud. I don’t know if I can share my alphas and beta with anyone else, but admitting that means that we’d be sent home, and I know I’m not ready for that yet.
The least I can do is try—not just for my pack but for me as well. And for Evangeline.
“Paisley?”
I blink, turning to face Ana. “Hmmm?”
She purses her lips, face stern as she shakes her head. “I’ve been calling you for the last few minutes.”
“Sorry. I guess I was zoned out. Is there something you needed?” I give her a soft smile. She’s a bit of a hard ass, but that’s what I need more often than not. I need someone to be firm with me and not just let me get away with everything like Malachi and Nash do. She’s definitely our firm hand of the pack.
“It’s time for us to head to the interview. Are you sure you’re doing okay?” Her face softens as she drops to sit on the bed beside me. “I hate that I didn’t see how much you were struggling with all of this. It shouldn’t have taken Evangeline pointing it out for me to notice. We haven’t been giving you enough attention, obviously.”
I shrug, trying to hide the hurt her words force into me. “It’s really okay. I know how excited the three of you were to come on Heated. If I really had a problem with it, I would’ve told you. I just… I don’t know how I feel about it. I’m conflicted on the whole thing.”
She hums, entwining our fingers together. “All you have to do is say the word, and we’re out of here. Nothing is worth you being uncomfortable or unhappy. You’re our number one priority—even if we forgot that for a short time. We don’t need a second omega. We already have the perfect one for us.”
“Yeah?” I laugh, a smile unfolding as I turn to fully face her. “Then why are we here?”
Ana confidently opens her mouth before snapping it shut. Frowning, she shakes her head. “Honestly? We signed up because of the prestige it could bring us to have an omega pair in our pack. But you know that.”
“I do, but I don’t like it. That’s probably why I acted the way I did. Evangeline and I aren’t an omega pair.”
“How can you be sure?” Ana’s words are hesitant—something I’m not used to from her.
“I don’t know how to explain it,” I tell her. “It’s just a feeling I have in my gut.”
Ana sighs. “I should probably let Bree know we’ll need to head home at the rose ceremony, then.”
“Why?” I shake my head. “Just because we’re not an omega pair doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t get to know her. I like her, and I think the three of you do as well. I’m still not sure that having another omega in the pack is something I can handle, but how will I know if I don’t at least try?”
A smile slowly creeps over her lips. “That’s very mature of you, Paisley.”
“Unexpected, right?” I giggle, and I can see her fighting her own laughter.
“I wouldn’t say that,” she starts before breaking off with an apologetic smile. “Okay, yes. That’s exactly what I was thinking. You’re still so young, Paisley, and this is an unexpected situation. I’d honestly worry if you didn’t struggle. But I love how Evangeline was able to see the root of the problem and her willingness to work with you. If you’re truly okay with this, then I agree—we should continue to get to know her.
“As great as it would be for you to be part of an omega pair, it’s more important that you’re happy. If being on the show ever leaves you feeling anything but happy, then you tell me, and we’ll leave.”
I nod, a smile lighting up my face. “I love you, Ana.”
“And I love you, omega.” She leans in and kisses me, slowly coaxing my lips open until her tongue brushes against mine.
I moan into the kiss, trying to move closer, but she breaks away with a laugh. “Sorry, omega, but we have an interview that we’re officially late for.”
“And we both know how much you hate being late for anything.” I brush my lips against hers before allowing her to pull me to my feet, laughter spilling from my lips as she grimaces.
Yeah, my alpha deplores being late. She’s one of those people who likes to show up at least fifteen minutes early, if not more. Too bad I’m terrible at being on time for anything. I don’t even know how she puts up with me half the time.
“Well, come along, then,” I sass as I hurry past her, laughing when she lets out a growl before following me. Stepping into the sitting room, I realize that Nash and Malachi must’ve left without us.
“I told them to head out,” Ana says as she takes my hand in hers and leads me to the door. “I figured it was better if at least part of the pack was on time.”
I wince. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. It’s clear that you have something on your mind—you don’t ever have to apologize for that. If you ever want to talk about it, I’m here. If you just need time, then just tell me.”
“Thank you, alpha.” I stop her from opening the door with my hand on her arm, leaning in for another kiss before pulling away. “You’re the best alpha an omega could ask for.”
That brings a smile to her face, and I can’t help the pleasure that rushes through me, knowing that I’m the one who put it on her face.
She swings the door open before striding down the hall, keeping a hold of my hand as she does so. Coming into the game room, I see that we’re the last to arrive.
“Oh, good. You’re here. Come have a seat.” Bree waves to the couch where the rest of my pack sits.
There are three couches that form a U-shape and two loveseats beside the couches to form longer sides than the center. Nash and Malachi sit on the center couch while the day one and two suitors are spread out across the remaining couches and loveseats. I haven’t had a chance to meet any of them, preferring to be in our pack suite than out here among the suitors. I know eventually, I’ll have to meet them and get to know them, but I’m just not ready for it. Just meeting Evangeline and the rollercoaster of emotions I’ve gone through over the last day is more than enough for now.
I make my way over to the couch, choosing to drop onto Malachi’s lap and leave the empty spot for Ana. Taking a moment, I glance around the room to take in the other suitors. My eyes snag on one of the men, smaller than the others and covered with tattoos, sitting on one of the couches closest to us. Tilting my head, I try to figure out what’s different about him than the others. He’s sitting beside a pretty blonde, his eyes lifting to meet mine, and that’s when I realize what it is—he’s an omega.
“I didn’t know there were other omega suitors,” I blurt out, and he grins.
“So far, it’s just me and you. I’m Koda.”
“Hi, Koda. I’m Paisley, and this is my pack.” Unlike when meeting Evangeline, I don’t feel the need to get territorial over my pack. Interesting. I wonder why that is. I’d blame it on him being male, but I like men and women both. I don’t really prefer one over the other, but if I had to choose, I’d choose women.
Koda nods his head to Malachi and Nash. “I met these two earlier, but I haven’t met this alpha.”
“Koda, this is Ana. She’s our head alpha,” Malachi interjects, and Ana stands so she can shake his hand.
“It’s nice to meet you, Ana,” Koda purrs, but once again, I don’t feel jealousy ripping through me.
When Ana glances at me to check in, I just shrug. I have no idea what’s going on or why I’m reacting differently to this omega. She runs a hand over my hair as she sits back down. “It’s nice to meet you as well.”
Bree clears her throat. “The rest of the introductions will need to wait. I need to get this interview done and wrapped up before the suitors start arriving if I can.”
All eyes turn to her, and she gives a soft smile. “Pack Reyes, I’d love to hear from the four of you since you’re our newest suitors. You met Evangeline a week later than you were meant to, and it was a bit bumpy in the beginning there.”
“That would be my fault,” I say with a shrug. “Having Evangeline around my pack made me really possessive and quite bitchy. I’ve never really acted like that before, and I’m not sure what came over me. I didn’t think I was going to be able to handle it. But she was so gracious about it and gave me an out. All of last night, I was sure we were going to be heading home, but when I woke up this morning… It’s like something clicked inside of me.
”I wanted to get to know Evangeline. I didn’t view her as a threat to me or my pack. I don’t even know what changed my mind. I wonder if meeting her a week later didn’t have something to do with my reaction. I had an extra week for the anxiety to build. Because meeting Koda just now, I didn’t feel any of that. I didn’t feel like I needed to pull my claws out and prove that they were mine. Anxiety is an interesting beast.”
Ana smiles as she takes one of my hands in hers, Malachi taking the other. “That it is. Honestly, I’ve been beating myself up over the fact that I didn’t realize just how much Paisley was struggling. That’s my job as her alpha, to know when she’s upset, and I had no idea. It wasn’t until Evangeline pointed it out that I realized it was more than just nerves or whatever. I felt like I was failing my omega, and if I was failing her, then why would I deserve a second?
“If there’s one thing an alpha doesn’t want to admit to is failing their pack. I thought for sure we were headed home. When Paisley told us this morning that she wanted to go on the date with Evangeline, we ended up skipping breakfast with her because I wanted us to talk it out as a pack before making that decision. Obviously, we decided to go on the date, and I think it was the right decision. It allowed us to see what could be. Even if Evangeline isn’t meant to join our pack, at least we know that it’s possible for Paisley to not only exist around another omega, but thrive.”
“Might be a little early to say that.” Malachi snorts. “But I think it’s important that we continue to communicate with each other—not just within our pack, but with Evangeline as well. I think it’s the only way we can move forward on the show.”
Bree nods. “What about you, Nash? You’ve been awfully quiet over there.”
He shrugs. “I don’t tend to talk when I don’t have anything to say, and I feel like my pack has said everything I’m feeling.”
I know my beta isn’t trying to be rude, but it definitely comes across that way. I turn to him, raising my eyebrows. “You should maybe try to reword that, Nash.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. That sounded rude? Maybe?” Nash shakes his head as he wrinkles his nose. “I’m not the best with people sometimes. Paisley’s working with me on it so I don’t end up offending the wrong person.”
“That’s sweet of her,” Bree says slowly, obviously unsure how to respond to that.
It’s a normal reaction to Nash. When he’s on, he’s great with people—friendly and charismatic. The rest of the time, he either falls silent and gives the impression he isn’t paying attention, or he blurts out whatever he’s thinking, never worrying about how it might sound to others. I kind of love that about him, but most people don’t know how to handle him. That’s alright though, because they don’t need to handle him. That’s what Malachi, Ana, and I are here for.
“So, what have the rest of you been doing for the last week?” I ask, glancing around at the other suitors. “We’ve been stuck at the hotel, but it has a nice pool, so it wasn’t terrible.”
Koda grins. “Wait until you see the pools here. The one out back is amazing but there’s another one in the basement. There’s a hot tub with each pool too. Plus a whole theater.”
“I love pools. I can’t wait to check them out. Is that what you’ve been doing with your time?”
He shrugs. “And getting to know the other suitors.”
No one else answers my question, and I shrug. That’s fine. No skin off my back.
Bree glances around the room as silence fills the room. Finally, she sighs. “Seriously? Do none of you have anything else to say?”
An older man with thick silver hair—an alpha, I’m sure—shrugs before glancing at the man beside him. It takes a moment for me to realize I know who he is. Alejandro Delgado. He’s an alpha from last season. I don’t know how I went this long without realizing who he is. Though, now that I think about it, I haven’t paid much attention to any of the other suitors.
“Nope, nothing that I can think of,” the alpha says before glancing over at me and my pack. “I’m Jagger, by the way.”
“Awesome. Most of you know the drill but for the newbies, let me tell you how this is going to go from here.” Bree continues talking about dinner and how we won’t be seeing Evangeline again until the rose ceremony after she meets the last of her suitors, but I tune her out. Nothing against her, but it’s boring information that my pack can fill me in on later.
Instead, I let my gaze flip around the room once more. I’m not close enough to most of the suitors to be one hundred percent sure on their designations, but there’s an interesting mix of people here.
There’s Koda and the woman beside him that I’m guessing is a beta. Jagger and Alejandro sit on the loveseat next to their couch. On the opposite loveseat are two women holding hands. They definitely give off more beta vibes than anything else. Plus, there aren’t many female alphas in the world. Ana is already on the show, it’s not likely that they’ll have been able to find more than one or maybe two, right?
The remaining couch has two men sitting on it, but they’re not sitting close to one another. One of them looks kind of boring, if I’m being honest. He’s definitely a beta and not at all my type. The other one is attractive enough, but there’s just something off about him. I don’t like the way he’s looking at me. I lean back into Malachi’s hold as I fight back a shiver.
Yeah, I don’t think I want to get to know him any better. I sneer in his direction, biting back a grin when he frowns. That’s right, buddy. You’re not shit to me, and you can stay far, far away from me. I see a flash of anger in his eyes before he climbs to his feet, storming from the room without a word.
“What’s his deal?” I find myself asking because surely I’m not the only one who noticed something off about him.
“That,” Koda says as he wrinkles his nose, “is Viktor. He’s the one that caused the kayaking incident.”
“Accident,” the boring guy cuts him off. “It was an accident.”
Koda rolls his eyes, nodding. “Right, of course. He doesn’t seem to play well with others.”
“Maybe if you all weren’t so obvious with your dislike, he’d play better,” the other guy says, and I turn to him with a huff.
“Who are you?”
His eyes widen. “Oh, um. I’m Dustin.”
“I’m Lillian,” the blonde next to Koda adds with a smile. “Over there are Skylar and Cora—they’re mates.”
“Cool…” I glance around the room as the tension levels ratchet up. “Koda, you said there’s a theater?”
Koda smiles, nodding. “There sure is. You interested in watching a movie? It’s what we’ve been doing every night and having our dinner delivered there. They have so many movies for us to choose from.”
I hum, glancing back at Ana and Malachi to make sure they’re okay with it before facing the other omega once more. “Yeah, I think I’d really like that. Lead the way?”
As we all head out, I lean into Ana’s side. She slows down so we’re bringing up the rear.
“What’s going on, Paisley?”
“Don’t leave me alone with Viktor at any time, please. There’s just something… He’s just off, and I don’t trust him.”
Ana nods slowly. “We won’t. Don’t worry, omega. We’ll always keep you safe. I’ll see what’s what with him, but we’ll make sure you’re never alone with him.”
“Thank you,” I murmur, letting her pull me closer to her as she purrs. That’s all it takes for me to feel better, knowing that she’s there for me when I need her.