Sable
“I hate you,” I hiss, as I adjust the costume Plum picked for the hundredth time. “This fabric is a crime against omegas.”
“Lies. Now stop complaining, we look cute, and everyone else is in costumes too.” Plum snorts, hooking her arm with mine and dragging me toward the front gates of the pumpkin patch.
“Yeah, well, no one else is dressed as a sexy cat, Plum! Just us… What were you thinking? I knew I should have put up a bigger fight.” I tug at the black bodysuit, trying to stuff more of my cleavage down under the satin fabric.
The black fishnets and black boots aren’t so bad, but I feel like everyone is looking at my ass. Sure, the fat, fluffy cat tale hides ninety percent of my goodies back there, but still. I can feel the breeze on my cheeks.
“Stop,” Plum growls, jerking me to a halt in the parking lot. For an omega, she’s very assertive. “Do you think I look like a dirty alpha stealing slut, or whatever it is you’ve convinced yourself that you’ll be called?” she demands, lifting a perfect brow at me.
“No,” I murmur, seeing exactly where this is heading, and now I feel like an asshole. We’re dressed in matching costumes, so if I look like a harlot, then so does she.
“Right, so if you don’t think I look like some evil omega plotting to steal mated men away from their packs, why would anyone say that about you, and even if they do say something shitty, why the fuck do you care?
Whose opinion on your outfit should matter?
” She props one hand on her hip and tilts her head at me.
God, she’s so confident. I envy that about her.
“Mine?”
“No, mine,” she snorts, cracking a smirk, and bumping my hip with hers. “Obviously yours. So if you think the costume is cute, then why give a shit what anyone else thinks? Do you think you look cute?” She stares me down like she’s daring me to deny my own cuteness.
She’s right. I know she is, and I wish I were as effortlessly confident as she is. No one else knows I’m not confident though. It’s an illusion.
So, if I just fake it?
“I think I look like Binx from Hocus Pocus,” I murmur. I really do love that movie. I’ve always wanted to own a cat café. Well, ever since I was thirteen, and I learned they were a thing, that is. I even have a name picked out and everything.
Binx’s Potions and Purrs.
“Damn right, you do! Just have fun, Sable. Stop letting others ruin your night. No one should get to control your joy but you,” Plum says with a sharp nod.
“Fine. Let's have an awesome night!” I hook our arms back together and hustle toward the already busy entrance.
“Heck yeah!” Plum whoops, practically skipping beside me. I know it won’t happen overnight, but she’s right. I shouldn’t let people I don’t even respect steal my joy. “I can’t decide if I want to go get pie first or funnel cake.”
“Funnel cake. Obviously,” I scoff, pretending to give her a judgmental look.
I don’t mind pie, but nothing beats caramel apple funnel cake.
My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
I take a deep breath, just trying to get a whiff of it.
“Oh no…” I whisper when a familiar scent hits me instead, and I stumble to a stop.
Rhian, I was ready for. But this? Fuck, I don’t think I can handle this.
“What? What’s wrong?” Plum looks around for signs of danger, probably mentally prepping her daggers for stabbing, and instead spots the alpha who is causing my internal panic at the same time my eyes land on him.
“Ohhhhh. Well fuck.” She winces, glancing back at me.
“He still pissed?” she wrinkles her nose at me, and I cringe.
“Well. I haven’t seen him in six years, so, no? There’s no way he’s still upset, right?” I ask, clinging desperately to Plum’s arm. All that fake confidence gets snatched right out from under me.
“Uhh. Hard to say. He was pretty hurt when you left.” Plum tries to land the blow gently, but I know she’s right.
‘I could make you happy, Sable. Just give me a chance.’
I flinch at the memory. “We were just kids back then. He’s probably got a mate now. A whole family–”
“Nope. Still single.” Plum cuts me off before I can even finish the thought, and I groan.
“Okay, whatever. Fuck it. I’ll just say hello. What’s the worst he can say?” I take a deep breath, steadying myself as I hold onto Plum for dear life.
“Eat shit and die?” Plum offers, and I glare.
“Very helpful.”
“You asked.”
“It was rhetorical.”
“Ah, my bad.” She snorts, tugging me closer to my doom. Is it hot out here, or am I breaking into an anxiety sweat? Fuck, I didn’t wear any scent blockers. He’ll not only scent me, but he’ll scent my anxiety. How nervous just the sight of him has made me.
“Happy hour starts at nine tonight! Costumes are welcome all month long!” Taron announces as he passes out neon flyers to everyone entering the pumpkin patch.
There are so many scents surrounding us, but when frosted pine, bourbon, and autumn leaves hit me, there’s no hiding from it. Fuck, he smells like omega catnip.
He’s so fucking hot. He always has been. But right now, in his ripped-up band t-shirt that shows off the entirety of both his biceps and the sides of his abdomen and ribs, combined with his black jeans and work boots? Hells, my scent spikes immediately.
There are only three bars in town, and Taron owns the dive bar.
It’s popular with the younger crowd, and even though I’ve never gone in, I’ve seen pictures online.
It’s nice. Not that I stalked him on the internet or anything.
I was just curious when Plum said he renovated the place a few years ago.
Plum yanks me along beside her, and the closer we get, the more of him I can see, and the more nervous I am.
My cheeks burn red because I know Plum can smell the change, and there's only one obvious explanation.
“Don't say anything,” I hiss at her as we make our way closer. My scent might be flooded with anxiety, but there’s just a sliver of something sweeter. My desire.
“Who me? I would NEVER point out that it's been six years, but your instincts still react to him like it was only yesterday, so how can we assume that Taron isn't still holding grudges like it was only yesterday that you wounded him?” Plum bats her eyelashes at me, and I glare back.
“Thanks for that.”
We're only about six feet from him now, behind a large family that won’t hide me or my scent for much longer.
His black hair is shaggy, about ear length, and curled up at the ends.
When he turns, I see the tattoos on his neck that he never used to have.
Thorny-looking brambles creep across the skin, disappearing under the fabric.
Fuck, he’s…damn. If his scent is catnip, then he looks like sweet oblivion.
‘Take me, alpha, tell me what a good omega I am for you…’
I swallow thickly.
“You would eat him alive,” Plum whispers in my ear, chuckling.
“Would I, though?” I grumble, trying to hide as long as possible, but the moment I see him frown, I know it's over. I’ve been caught. He's scented me.
“No fucking way…” he growls, hazel eyes narrowing, searching the crowd for me, and the second our eyes lock, it all comes rushing back in.
The way he made me feel alive. The way I broke his heart and ran away. The way I cried myself to sleep for weeks in a new city, all alone. So fucking alone. And it was all my fault.
‘Damn,’ he scoffs. ‘Never thought you’d be the one breaking my heart, Sable. Or should I call you Ghost, since this is going to haunt me?’
The memories bang around my mind, forcing a dull ache in my chest to ignite. “Taron! Hey, nice to see you!” I try to be cheerful, but even I can hear my voice trembling. I just hope Plum doesn’t let me go, or I might fall apart right here.
“Little Ghost…” Taron scoffs, crossing his arms over his chest as we stop about a foot away from him.
His words only add fuel to the fiery pain in my heart.
“Never thought I’d see you back in Gravewood.
” There’s a sharpness to his tone that I’ve never heard before, and I hate it.
Just stab me right in the heart and get this torture over with. “What are you doing here, Sable?”
Why do the men from my past keep asking me that?
“Grams left me her shop. I’m here to take over running it,” I murmur, glancing down to the lip piercing I remember all too fucking well.
It’s certainly not the same one from six years ago, but it’s similar enough, and that's all my mind needs to conjure up the memory of the way it felt to kiss him.
He was my solace after Rhian abandoned me, and Colter rejected me. And I ruined everything.
“Came back to stir up some more trouble, huh? Well, you ladies are more than welcome to visit the bar. First drink is on me,” he says in a mockingly cheerful voice, handing me the flyer, our fingers touching for just a breath, and when his scent hits me with more force, everything gets a little blurry for a moment.
There’s a sour, angry hint to it that makes me recoil. My instincts want me to soothe him, but just as quickly as I gained his attention, I lose it, as he steps past us to hand out more flyers.
“Well, I guess that answers your question. He’s definitely still salty,” Plum whispers, pulling me away from the only alpha that's ever made me feel like I'm the only omega alive.
Why the hell did I ever leave?
Was coming back here a mistake?
Fuck.
Sable
After my heart-aching encounter with Taron, Plum and I head for the line, as I try to get my shit together.
I haven’t been to this pumpkin patch in six years, and things have really changed since then. As we pass under the entrance, I can see that it’s at least three, maybe four times as big as I remember.
“Wow, did Rhian and his siblings do all this?” I ask as we get in line for the ticket booth.