Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Kayla
Sometimes I was a little impulsive, which led me to my current situation sitting on the sidelines watching the Killer Gnomes run through drills and plays. I didn’t even like to watch sports, yet there I was.
I’d woken up wrapped in Beck’s arms and still couldn’t lie to myself that it didn’t put me in a good mood. A good enough mood to ask if I could watch their practice.
What had I been thinking?
But now that I was there, I was already growing bored and didn’t like sitting out in the open. I hated that I felt things just because of what I was. There was no control over it, and that was what frustrated me the most about being an omega.
None of the other alphas had said anything to me yet, but a few eyes had looked at me appraisingly as they passed by. I could see the guys watching out of the corners of their eyes, and something about that made me happy.
The facility was several Alphaball fields set up to practice on and a giant weight room through two doors. There were locker rooms and a small area for people to watch practice.
The bench I was on was on the sidelines where the coaches stood when play was in action, but neither of the coaches was anywhere close to where I was.
I grimaced as Rio was tackled by another team they were practicing with. I didn’t understand what was so appealing about Alphaball. Who in their right mind would want a weighted ball to hit them in the ribs or someone to mow them down to the ground?
I pulled out my phone and saw Kara had finally texted me back. I was starting to worry about her, and had she not responded to that morning’s text, I would have called our parents.
Me: Good morning! I am up before the sun and going to watch men hopefully take their shirts off.
Kara: Are they forcing you to go at gunpoint?
Me: Haha! No, I was tired of being cooped up in the house. Plus, I plan to get them to take me to the mall when they’re done.
Kara: It sounds like things are going well...
Me: I wouldn’t go that far. I’m still not sure what I want.
Kara: I think you should give it a chance. You might not get another.
Me: Have you gotten any answers from Omega Match?
Kara: No. They just said I need to be patient when it comes to finding a pack. Like, what does that mean? Don’t they care that something might be wrong with their program?
Me: They don’t even follow their own damn policy. Look at what’s happened with me. It makes them look bad that the best omega there is didn’t get a match.
Kara: I’m not so sure being the best is all it’s cracked up to be.
Me: It’s going to be fine.
Kara: Sleeping all day and eating a pint of ice cream every night for dinner isn’t fine.
Me: Maybe you should see about going to visit our parents... our heats aren’t even close to starting.
She didn’t respond, and I hovered my finger over the call button. Would that just make things worse? I didn’t want her to hear any of the pack and get even more depressed.
Our whole lives, Kara had been the one to pull me out of my occasional funks. Besides our father’s death, I couldn’t remember a time when she’d been so sad she stayed in bed and ate ice cream for dinner.
I was just about to text my mom when shoes stopped in my periphery. I looked up to find Brian standing there, an impassive look on his face as he watched the field.
Brian wasn’t an unattractive man. He was in good shape and kept his dirty blond hair slicked back. It was his cunning brown eyes that made him look evil.
“Can I help you?” My eyes darted to where the pack was playing through a play.
“You’re distracting them.” His lips barely moved as he spoke. “When they lose, it’s on you.”
“Does it look like I care? It’s not my fault they get distracted by my presence.” I looked back at my phone. “Go coach them or something.”
“They have a lot riding on these games. They just signed a major deal to have their brand be the official gear for all of United Alpha Sports. Do you really want to fuck that up for them?” He blew his whistle and walked forward a few feet to yell something about watching the middle.
Beck looked over at Brian, his hands on his hips. I couldn’t tell if he was mad at Brian for stopping their play or standing near me.
I didn’t know what Brian’s deal was, but I didn’t want to be anywhere near him, so I got up and headed for the small area that was meant for people just watching practice. No one was there, so I picked a chair next to the wall and kicked my feet up on the table.
I checked all the things I’d been neglecting for the past few days. Most of my social media was filled with pictures of omegas with their new packs. I’d had a few messages from classmates asking how I was doing with my new pack.
If I was going to answer, I would have said things were going great. In less than twenty-four hours, I’d had an orgy of sorts by the pool and been knotted later that night by a grumpy alpha.
Things hadn’t started well, and I would say they still weren’t going well. I was so unsure of what I wanted and didn’t want to let my hormones drive my decision to stay.
I still had time to figure things out before my heat hit. Even though it would be mild because of my suppressants, it would still lead me into wanting real knots instead of fake ones on dildos.
After scrolling through social media and noticing Kara hadn’t posted anything since she made a post about her excitement for match day, I checked to see where the hell my boxes of stuff were.
I was excited to finally have more than just my suitcase, and last time I had checked, they had been on schedule to be delivered that afternoon.
“Hey, sweetheart.” A deep voice made me jump and I nearly dropped my phone. “Sorry, we didn’t mean to frighten you. We just saw you sitting over here all alone and wanted to see if you would like to go grab something to eat.”
Three alphas that were similar in size to my pack were coming closer in the little sitting area I was in. They stopped a reasonable distance away but were close enough that, if I’d wanted, I could have smelled their scents.
“Um…” I tried to look around them, but they were blocking my line of sight. “I’m here with a pack.”
“We know, but we noticed they haven’t marked you and you haven’t marked them. A pretty omega like you shouldn’t be sitting all alone and vulnerable.” He wasn’t wrong, but I didn’t need to hear it from three massive alphas that could easily overpower me.
I slid my feet off the table. “I think I’ll pass.”
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Miguel?” Rylan was between me and them in an instant, a fierce growl coming from him as he panted from running. “We told you five minutes ago that she’s ours.”
Rio joined him, erecting a wall in front of me so the three unwelcome alphas couldn’t see me. “You know the rules. Don’t approach an omega you have no business approaching.”
“You brought an unclaimed omega into a place filled with testosterone-filled alphas. You’re lucky we’re the ones that came over here. Do better before you lose a sweet omega like her.”
“Leave.” Rylan’s growl was so loud I was sure the whole facility was looking over at us.
The three alphas laughed, and Rio and Rylan turned around. The men were walking away, but one of them looked back and winked at me.
I didn’t know whether to be creeped out, thankful they seemed to care, or angry that I was so fragile I had to be babysat.
“Are you okay? What did they say? Did they try to touch you? I’ll kill them.” Rylan was squatting next to me and looking me over.
“Jesus. They were just trying to get me to go out with them. I had it handled. It’s not like we were in a dark alley and they cornered me.” I batted his hand away as he reached for my face.
The hurt in his eyes made a sick feeling well up in my stomach, and I reached for him to apologize, but he was already getting to his feet.
“It takes less than ten seconds to bite and claim an omega.” Rylan crossed his arms. “You were supposed to stay on the bench.”
“Yeah, well, being out in the middle of the fray was not my cup of tea.” I stood, sliding my phone into my crossbody purse. “Is practice over? I’m ready to go.”
I was surprised Rylan was acting so possessive. Out of the four of them, he was the most laid back, but right then, he looked ready to send heads flying.
Even if one of those alphas had bitten and claimed me, I certainly wasn’t claiming them back. It would have been an infected bite for a week before healing after the claim loop wasn’t complete.
“Beck!” Brian’s angry yell made us all look toward the field.
Beck was marching toward us, his eyes full of fury. It made me glad he hadn’t been the one to come over and send the three alphas away.
“Kane, you were supposed to keep him distracted.” Rio sighed and put himself in front of me. “Beck, calm the fuck down. You’re scaring her.”
I snorted. “He doesn’t scare me.”
“Let’s go. We’re leaving.” Beck practically barreled through Rio and grabbed my hand, pulling me toward the locker room. “You can just shut your eyes in the locker room.”
“What are you doing? Practice isn’t over!” Brian was fuming as he met us halfway across the field.
“It is now. We are more than prepared for our playoff. We’ll see you at the game.” Beck was still pulling me, and I just went along with it because it was actually kind of funny to see him so pissed off that other alphas had given me attention.
“You still have another practice.” Brian jogged in front of us and was practically running backwards with how fast Beck was walking.
Beck stopped, and I bumped into him. “We’ll practice on our own. Over-practicing is a thing.”
“As your coach and manager-”
“You’re fired.” Beck let go of my hand and stepped close enough to punch Brian in the face. “Effective immediately.”
Brian looked like he had been punched. “You can’t fire me! We have a contract!”
The last thing I wanted to cause was for them to be sued. I grabbed Beck’s hand and squeezed it. “I’m ready to go.”
Beck nodded and, with a huff, continued to lead me into the men’s locker room. “Shut your eyes.”
“I’ve seen dicks before.” There didn’t seem to be anyone in the locker room anyway. “I don’t need a babysitter. I can wait outside the door.”
“Over my dead body.” He led me along to the far side of the locker room where there were four large locker stalls. “Rio and Rylan, go shower.”
Kane laughed and sat down on a bench in front of a locker area with his name. “You are something else, man. We can’t just fire Brian without just cause.”
“There’s plenty of cause. He fucked up Omega Match and is gaslighting us. I’m not an idiot.” Beck let go of my hand and opened his locker as Rio and Rylan went to go shower. “I just wish we could use that as a reason without creating a shit storm for ourselves.”
“You know I’m standing right here.” I crossed my arms. Hearing him speak so negatively about what had happened with Omega Match stung. “If you’re going to refer to you knotting me last night as a fuck up, then at least do it behind my back.”
“What?” Kane jumped to his feet, his eyes wide as he looked between the two of us. “You fucking knotted her?”
Beck shrugged. “It’s not a big deal.”
That stung.
Kane spun him around by the shoulder and shoved him into the small section of wall between lockers.
“It is a fucking big deal! You of all of us got to knot her first and you’re brushing it off like it was meaningless.
Wise up and stop acting like you don’t give two shits about her when you were just now ready to kill other alphas for talking to her. ”
My stomach felt full of butterflies, and I couldn’t decide if I wanted to run or kiss Kane for telling Beck he was being an idiot.
Beck shrugged Kane off and straightened his sweat-soaked shirt. He stared at Kane for a minute that seemed much longer and then looked at me. “I’m sorry.”
What was he sorry for? Fucking me the night before or acting like an asshole?
He walked toward the showers without elaborating, and I sat down with a huff. “He’s something else. Why did he even agree to do the match thing if he was going to be so horrendous?”
Kane sat down next to me and took my hand, rubbing his thumb over the top of it. The small touch had no business being so comforting. “I think he’s always wanted an omega as part of our pack, he just… he’s complicated.”
Someone needed to tell me what the hell that meant because I was getting tired of his past being alluded to and no one saying anything about it. I knew it wasn’t their place to tell me, but there were only so many chances the man was going to get.