CHAPTER SIX - Jason
I was so fucking hard when it was time for our shift at eleven.
Lyla’s sweet scent had thickened, and I couldn’t stop inhaling it.
At one point, I was behind her, trying to discreetly scent her right from her gland on her neck, but she made a quick turn and bumped against me. I nearly came on the spot.
Once Eloise got the okay from the doctor, Ozzi and I helped transfer her to the long term care ward. She had a roommate who snoozed through most of the activity, and while I was glad Eloise was doing good, I was there to see Lyla smile her gorgeous fucking smile.
“Jason!” Ozzi snapped his fingers in front of my face and jerked me out of my Lyla filled thoughts. “Are you going to help me restock the ambulance or are you going to stare at that shelf of gauze like you want to fuck it?”
Why was the guy on edge? He’d been snapping at me ever since we left Eloise’s room. Get your uniform on, properly clock in, clean the gurney. Blah, blah, blah.
The ambulance was just cleaned by the previous shift. If I couldn’t see it, I could definitely smell it. They had only one call, and so spent their time giving the inside a thorough scrubbing.
“What’s up your ass, man? The ambulance has been sanitized and stocked. Sit and relax.” I leaned back in the desk chair and linked my fingers behind my head. “I just want to savor the good vibes from our morning with Lyla. Never has there been a hotter Omega.”
Ozzi shook his head and snatched up a pack of gauze in front of me. “We’re on the clock, man. Now isn’t the time to be daydreaming about girls. If your head isn’t in the game—”
“Jesus, Oz.” I grunted and sat rigidly on the edge of the seat.
“We chat all the time like this. You know when we’re on call that I’m focused on the job.
” I’d noticed he kept his distance from Lyla all morning.
He was nice to her, but maybe he didn’t like her.
The thought pissed me off more than I expected. “How can you not like Lyla?”
“What?” Ozzi shot me a narrow-eyed glare. “I like Lyla.”
“Then why have you been acting weird?” Usually he was a people pleaser. Everyone always liked him. Whenever I’d get hot-headed, he was there to make peace.
“I haven’t been acting weird.” He huffed and folded his arms. “You’re just too gone on that Omega already. You barely know her.”
“So this is about Lyla!” If he didn’t dislike her, then maybe, shit, was he jealous that she and I got along so well?
We both had dated before, but never had any trouble with the other over it.
Certainly he couldn’t feel like he’d lose me.
We worked and lived together. We saw each other all the time.
Or, fuck, he did like Lyla and was jealous of me.
“You have nothing to worry about, bro. We’ll always be packmates.
” There was also another option good for both of us.
“We could share her. I have no problem with it just as long as you know I’m her favorite. ”
Ozzi rolled his eyes, but I saw the amusement there. “That’s not it. I like her fine enough. She’s hot, but my family would totally disown me if I even considered dating her.”
Of course they would. They barely approved the fact we were friends.
I sometimes thought they believed I was the reason Ozzi didn’t become a doctor, which I knew was bullshit.
Good thing I didn’t care about their approval or not, but his family was important to him.
“Well, yeah, she’s not a docile little Greek Omega wanting to play house and have babies for you. ”
He didn’t deny it, and instead sighed, putting down the supplies he held and sitting in the chair across from me. “The thing is that I do like her. A lot. The way she smells… like the Garden of Eden. Paradise.”
I leaned forward with my forearms on my thighs.
“Fuck, yeah, she does. I’m pretty sure she’s my scent match.
I’ve been sniffing her all morning. And when we touched, BOOM!
” I made an explosion gesture with my hands.
“I knew for certain. Scent matched, compatible, and all the Alpha instincts I try to keep on the downlow are busting free.”
Ozzi nodded slowly and sat back, a look of contemplation on his face.
I knew him too well. He’d never commented on the scent of any Omega before.
Not even the rich sophisticates his parents introduced him to.
He was also the most loyal friend I’d ever had.
He was trying to pick the right words to support me, please his family, and back off what could be a potential mate for him too.
So as his best friend, I wasn’t going to allow it. “You’re a scent match with her too.”
I didn’t bother phrasing it as a question and let him try to deny it. In fact, this was awesome. Other packs shared Omegas. I felt no jealousy with Ozzi because he’d take damn good care of any Omega same as me.
I laughed and sprang up, grabbing him by the shoulders. “She’s your scent match. She’s mine too. We can share her, man! We won’t just be a couple of dudes who call ourselves a pack. We’d be a real pack with an Omega. This is the best Christmas gift ever!”
Ozzi’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head. He took my hands off his shoulders and directed me to sit. “It doesn’t matter if she’s my scent match. My family would never approve, especially if we were sharing her.”
I didn’t sit. Couldn’t sit. His family, no, his family’s stupid expectations which were drilled into his head were pissing me off. “It’s none of their fucking business what you decide to do, isn’t it? Are you really willing to give up a scent match for the sake of pleasing Mother and Father?”
He gave me a little push and scowled. “Family is important to me, you know that. While their expectations are Old World, I have responsibilities as the eldest son of an eldest son. My father and grandfather are very strict about it. If I don’t marry a proper Greek Omega, I’ll be disowned.
Not everyone can have a chill family like yours. ”
True. My family was fantastic. My mom and dad married young and were even more in love now than they were then, and all they wanted for their children was for us to be happy. Ozzi’s family was always polite to me, but they had a stick up their ass called ‘tradition.’
“The only person you have a responsibility to is yourself. You’ve never had a scent match before.
” I threw up my arms. Surely he had to see that this was fate.
“And the chances of both of us being compatible with the same Omega? I bet it’s almost nil.
Lyla could be the perfect mate for you, and you don’t want to explore that because your family wouldn’t approve?
” I raised my brows. “You might never find another compatible Omega again.”
I don’t know why I was pushing it so hard. If he didn’t want Lyla, that meant I could have her all to myself. The thought pleased me in a way, but to share an Omega with my best friend and packmate? That satisfied me on so many more levels.
Ozzi let out a long hissing exhale. “Look, man, I’ll be your wingman. I’ll support you in your pursuit of Lyla and keep you from pushing too hard too fast. But you’ve got to respect my decision.”
He had my back, and I never doubted he would.
He saw what happened with my ex and tried to warn me, but I wouldn’t listen then.
I could go over the top and not realize it, but Ozzi would help keep me in line.
Yet as he helped me, I looked out for him.
He needed a woman who had brains and bounce, not some submissive mouse of an Omega.
Lyla was exactly what he needed. I wasn’t going to drop this sharing thing. “You’ll change your mind.”
The radio crackled and the dispatcher’s voice echoed in the small room. “Ambulance three. Respond to two-zero-nine Main Street. Sixty-eight year old man with chest pains. Be advised he is in the second floor apartment. Over.”
Ozzi reached over and picked up the radio, pressing the button. “Ambulance three team here. Call received. Time eleven thirty-seven a.m. On our way to the scene. Over.”
We grabbed our jackets and ran out of the office to the waiting ambulance. I hopped in the driver’s side and switched on the engine. Ozzi slid into the passenger’s side, did up his belt, and switched on the sirens.
He’d change his mind. I was determined that Lyla was the Omega who would break him free of the chains of his family’s expectations. She’d be ours by Christmas.