Chapter 10 Dalton
DALTON
Setting the last pie in the display case, I looked up when the bell over the door rang, signaling a customer.
Peyton walked through with the omega I couldn’t get my mind off from the day before.
So far, I hadn’t found the courage to bring him up to my alpha.
Curious about what the two of them together meant, I leaned against the counter, my heart thumping an erratic rhythm in my chest.
The omega looked uncomfortable, his gaze bouncing between the two of us, uncertainty in the scrunch of his eyebrows as they wrinkled in confusion.
Peyton guided the omega to the counter where they’d both sat the day before.
It was early, and only a few customers sat off to the side where Janice took their orders.
“Peyton? What’s going on?” Looking at my alpha, I wondered why Peyton had dragged the cute little omega into the diner. It didn’t seem possible. There was a surreal quality to this meeting I couldn’t ignore.
“This is Theo,” Peyton said, guiding the omega to a stool.
The omega, Theo, shifted, a grimace on his face as his shoulders tightened, clearly uncomfortable with being the center of attention.
“I know.” I stared at him, my heart hammering against my ribs. Seeing him up close was overwhelming. Despite being a beta, even I could smell that his heat wasn’t too far off.
Peyton stepped closer, resting his hand on the counter between us.
“Dalton, we both admitted we felt a pull toward him. It’s not just you, and it’s not just me.
It’s both of us.” He glanced at Theo, then back to me.
“Since we’re both feeling it, I thought it was only fair that he be part of this conversation.
He has a right to know what we’re thinking, and we need to know his thoughts about a possible relationship with the two of us. ”
“You mean like a third? Like in the old days?” Swallowing some of the fear I had that this might mean the end of my relationship with Peyton as I knew it, my voice dropped to barely a whisper.
“I didn’t think anyone did triads anymore.
” Back when the population had more betas, triad relationships were more common.
As fewer and fewer betas were born, the tradition died out.
“Are you sure about this?” I asked, my voice trembling. “Because if this is just… if you’re doing this because you think I need a buffer, or because you finally found a real omega…”
“Dalton, no,” Peyton said fiercely. “This isn’t about replacing you. It’s about completing us. But we ask him. Together.”
Looking at the omega standing next to my alpha, I spoke to him for the first time.
“How do you feel about what’s happening?
Are you even attracted to either of us? Did being near Peyton speed up the onset of your heat?
” Because if Peyton caused this omega’s heat to come up sooner, our whole world was about to change.
The omega shrugged his shoulder. “My heat has always been very regular and I still had a few weeks before mine was due, so yeah, it’s coming earlier than it should…
” He paused as if not wanting to admit to what I was beginning to suspect was the truth.
“It started after I sat down next to your alpha. He is your alpha, isn’t he? ”
“Yes.” I nodded, gripping the counter until my knuckles turned white. “He’s mine.” I turned to look at Peyton, needing him to confirm it. “So, you think this is your omega?”
“No. I think this is our omega, Dalton. Not just mine. I think he belongs with both of us.” Peyton looked at the omega. “Tell him you’re as attracted to him as you are to me. I’m not wrong, am I?”
“No, you’re not wrong. I don’t know why, but I’m attracted to both of you.”
I looked at the omega, really looked at him.
He was terrified, confused, and smelling delicious.
No, my senses weren’t as strong as an alpha’s, but I could still smell the omega’s heat coming on.
My beta instincts warred with my insecurities.
I wanted to claim him, but I was terrified of losing what I had.
“I… I don’t know if I can do this,” I admitted, the words tasting like ash. “Share you. Share us.”
Peyton didn’t get angry. He just reached out and took my hand, lacing our fingers together. “We take it one step at a time. If at any point you say stop, we stop. I promise.”
I looked at our joined hands, then at the omega who was watching us with wide, hopeful eyes. I couldn’t be the reason this failed before it began.
“Okay,” I breathed, though my heart was still hammering in my chest. “Okay, I’ll tell Jace something came up.”
As the diner filled up, I noticed the attention we were drawing from the customers.
“Why don’t we take this upstairs? Apparently, we have a lot to discuss and not that much time to do it if a heat is coming soon.
” As a beta, that was something I couldn’t sense.
An omega’s heat usually drew the attention of an alpha.
It was a way to ensure the continuation of our way of life.
Not something betas were equipped to do.
And that fact alone terrified me more than I dared to admit.