Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
OLIVIA
“This should be working,” I mutter to myself. Tension is heavy in the lab, as it always is when we encounter issues in the research.
I’ve been lost in the data for hours now, locked in on trying to find the problem. The solution is right in front of our faces. I know it is. The trouble is, it’s easy to make a mistake when you’re exhausted, and I am exhausted. I should probably take lunch, but I don’t want to lose my momentum.
“Dammit,” I grumble as I transpose a set of numbers while I’m copying the equation I can’t seem to stop thinking about. My gut is telling me this is where the issue is. Before I can flip my pencil over and erase the numbers, my mind stutters.
Wait . . . Urgency fills me as I pull up our preliminary work. The work we’ve since validated at least three dozen times.
“That’s not it. Come on . . .” I scroll through screen after screen until I find what I’m looking for. Copies of the handwritten notes. Sometimes on new projects, the best way to brainstorm the solution to a problem is to draft it on paper. There it is. “Oh my God.”
Now I know what has been bothering me. At some point, probably in transferring the notes from paper to file, two numbers were transposed.
Not the same numbers I messed up, but within this same equation.
They’re close enough in value that our current formulation works, but close enough isn’t accurate.
If we switch the numbers around to fall where they’re meant to, it could be the difference between a moderately favorable outcome and success.
“Come on, come on,” I say to my empty lab room as I furiously scribble down the numbers in their correct sequence and rework the equation.
Then I do it again two more times to be sure.
Surely this simple human error isn’t the variable that’s causing our failure, but .
. . everything else within the study has been validated.
Anything reliant on humans is subject to failure, and whoever transferred the notes made a mistake.
If I’m right, this could change everything. This could be the breakthrough we need to finally figure this out. Once I have everything documented, I walk to the phone on the desk, calling the lead biologist, Vicki.
She answers after two rings. “Olivia, have you taken lunch?”
“Not yet, but I have something. You need to come to my station.”
“I’ll be right there.”
I hang up and pace back and forth, going over the numbers in my head. This is the only problem I’ve found after days of searching. What if this isn’t the solution? What if this formulation is just wrong? Panic spikes in my chest right as Vicki walks in.
She takes in my wide-eyed expression with concern. “What’s happened?”
Straightening, I take a fortifying breath. This has to be the solution. “I may have some ideas about why our cure isn’t working as we think it should be.”
“Go on,” Vicki says.
I walk her through the error in our more preliminary calculations, the copies of the notes displayed on the tablet between us.
Together, we follow that thread through what it could mean for the formula.
It’s not a massive shift, but it’s enough of a variation that it’s worth testing and getting to preclinicals.
“This is great, Olivia. Really great.”
“Do you think this is it?”
Vicki nods. “I think this is a silly mistake that should have never been made. We could have been at preclinicals by now.” Sighing, she shakes her head and gives me a look. “Better late than never, though. Send your notes to Bob so he can review them.”
“Right away.” I grab the tablet, tapping away on the screen, but pause when I realize Vicki hasn’t left. She’s watching me. “Oh, sorry. Did you need something else?”
“I only wanted to tell you that I’m proud of you. We’ve all been working hard, but you’ve really stepped up.”
My throat tightens, warmth blooming in my chest. Praise isn’t something I’m used to receiving. “Thanks, Vicki.”
She grins. “Keep up the good work! Provided there are no other hiccups, we’ll be at preclinicals soon enough!”
Hope takes flight, and I’m giddy as I send Bob the updates. This is a major finding for McKinley Laboratories. It would be amazing if we were the first company to produce a treatment for omegas that actually reverses the feral side effects.
I can’t wait to tell the guys when I see them tonight.
“Don’t forget to tell those boys of yours about dinner next week.” Nigel reaches across the armrest and gives my hand a fatherly squeeze. “I want to meet the rest of them. I have to make sure they’re good enough for my girl.”
My chest floods with warmth. It means everything to me that Nigel and his pack want to have the guys over to get to know them, especially since I can’t exactly ask my actual dads for their blessing.
Not yet, at any rate. It’s been going so well with the pack.
Between work and our dates, I’ve been so busy I’m hardly home, which might be a good thing.
It’s the best way to avoid my mother and Carrie, the matchmaker.
What would they think of this development? Oh wait, let me guess. Mother would be disappointed. Exasperated. Honestly, Olivia. This is the pack you want? I can practically hear her degrading thoughts in my head. Good thing I’m not dating this pack for her approval. I’m following my heart.
Besides, Nigel’s approval means more.
“I won’t,” I promise him. “Can we bring anything?”
“Just yourselves. Now, you go have fun.”
I know I haven’t fought off the warmth in my face when Nigel chuckles.
Blushing is such an inconvenient biological response.
Yes, I’m embarrassed, but that doesn’t mean my body’s adrenaline release makes any sense.
How is alerting the people around you to your discomfort a logical self-preservation instinct?
I shake my head to clear it and climb out of the passenger seat. “Um, bye.”
His good-natured laughter follows me up the walkway, where a smiling Wilder waits for me at the open door.
“Hey, sweetness. I’ve missed you.”
As silly as it sounds, that declaration soothes the residual ache in my chest from when I arrived home from London.
Mother didn’t seem to care that I was gone, only that she had lost her prop.
It’s only been a few days since I last saw the pack, but truth be told, I felt like part of me was missing.
“I missed you too,” I reply, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.
Wilder glances behind him and grins, tugging the front door closed before taking a step toward me on the front porch. He stops close enough that his chest brushes against my breasts. He’s so tall, I have to crane my neck, my heart racing as his scent surrounds me.
Wilder slips his fingers into the hair at my nape, bends down, and inhales as he skims his nose along my cheek. “Fuck, you smell so good.”
I let out a breathy sigh, loving the way my scent sweetens in response to his touch. “Wilder.” I’m not sure why I say it, or what I’m asking, only that I needed to say his name.
His mouth brushes against mine with featherlight touches as he speaks. “I could drown in your scent and die happy.”
I rise on my toes, pressing my lips to his, chasing the addictive pull of being in my alpha’s embrace.
They’re softer than I thought they’d be.
Full and perfect. My mouth opens with a sigh, and Wilder takes advantage.
He sweeps his tongue against mine, angling my head back with his grip on my hair.
My scent blooms around us, vanilla and honey mingling with caramel.
Together, we smell like the sweetest, most sinful dessert. God, do I want to be sinful.
When I moan into his mouth, Wilder’s chest rumbles with approval, but as he presses a knee between my thighs, grazing my aching center, the door opens.
“You will not make our omega come on the front porch where anyone can see.”
My eyes fly open and land on Hayes, who stands with his arms crossed over his chest and one eyebrow raised.
Then what he said finally registers. Wilder and I are standing on their front porch, in the middle of the day, in a populated neighborhood.
I’m moaning like an omega in heat, and families could be walking by with their kids on the way to the park.
“You’re such a fucking cockblock.” Wilder groans, breaking the kiss but not letting me go.
He wraps an arm around my waist and kisses me one last time before sandwiching me between his chest and his twin’s.
“Take a good long pull of her scent and tell me you don’t want to bend our beautiful genius over the porch railing and fill her needy pussy. ”
Hayes's eyes flash with desire and a warning. “She deserves better than that for her first time.” To me, he says, “Why don’t you come inside, vixen? Sawyer and Liam are almost ready to go. Do you need a snack before we leave?”
Providing for their omega is instinctual for an alpha. I’ve always wondered what it would feel like to be doted on rather than chastised. It’s . . . nice. More than nice. One simple question has me feeling like I’m filled with helium and about to float away.
“I’m okay. Thanks, though, big guy.”
A rumble vibrates through Hayes when I go up on my tiptoes and press a kiss to his lips. It’s chaste at first, but Hayes cups my face and deepens it, his lips claiming mine with the intensity I’m coming to associate with the gruff alpha. His thumbs sweep over my cheeks, marking me with his scent.
“Fuck,” he curses, pulling himself away.
“Yeah, it’s not so easy to control yourself, is it?” Wilder teases.
“Let’s get her inside.” Hayes shoots a warning look at his twin, wraps my hand in his, and tugs me through the door and into their home. “Are you thirsty?”
Sweet man.
“I’m fine. I promise.” Maybe a little tired.
My mind has been spinning whenever I’m alone.
Between trying to puzzle out whatever kink is keeping our research from success, and everything with the guys, I’ve been lying awake in bed way too late each night.
After Sawyer showed up at Henry’s, I’ve been trying to decide how to broach the subject of my relationship with his best friend.
I suppose that’s something Sawyer and the guys and I should discuss together.
“Hey, Liv.” Liam’s smile is blinding as he gets off the couch and walks toward me.
He tugs me away from Wilder and Hayes and wraps me in a tight hug.
His blueberry scent blends with Hayes’s and Wilder’s scents, and it takes all of my willpower not to climb the sexy beta and rub against him.
Between the four of them, I’m overloaded with pheromones and hormones on a regular basis.
It’s easier to control my outward reactions the longer I go without the scent control, but my biological reactions?
There’s no controlling those.
Liam groans, resting his forehead against mine as my scent thickens. “You’re killing me, Olivia.”
“I’m sorry,” I say. “I can’t control it. Omegas are physiologically programmed to react to compatible alphas and betas to encourage productive mating groups.”
Sawyer chuckles as he appears from somewhere in the house, bringing us all together. “If we don’t get out of here, we’ll be mating in a group, all right.”
When I pull back from Liam, a quick scan of Sawyer and the twins tells me he’s right. All of them are hard, their cocks straining against their jeans. I don’t have to look down at Liam to see if he’s hard. I can feel the length of him pressing against my hip.
“I can’t wait to see your dicks,” I whisper, more to myself than the pack.
One of the twins chokes. Hayes, I think.
Sawyer groans. “Baby, you gotta learn to keep some things to yourself. That’s an inside thought.”
“But why?”
“Because if you keep saying shit like that, we’ll never make it to our date, and we’re trying to do this right. You deserve to be courted, not simply fucked on the living room floor.”
“At least it would be easy to clean cum off the hardwoods,” I offer with a shrug.
“Time to go,” Hayes growls, prowling forward. When he gets close enough, he leans down, wrapping a large hand around the back of my denim-covered thighs. Before I can process what’s happening, I’m thrown over Hayes's shoulder, my long hair hanging like a curtain, and Hayes's tight ass in my face.
“Hayes! Put me down.” I pinch his butt. Or I try. His jeans are practically molded to him, and I can’t get a good grip.
“Behave,” he growls, then a snap rings out and my ass stings.
I gasp, heat flooding through me. “Did you . . . did you spank me?”
“Be good, and I won’t have to do it again.”
Curiosity gets the better of me. What can I say? It’s for research purposes. “What if I want you to do it again?”
“Fucking hell,” Hayes rumbles as he carries me into the garage, opens the passenger door of a black SUV, then sets me down gently before reaching over my body and buckling me in. His gaze bores into me, heat swirling within them, making him appear a bit dangerous. “Be good.”
“Yes, sir.”
The buckle creaks as his grip tightens before he pushes himself out of the car. The rest of the pack howls with laughter, and I wish I had my notebook so I could catalog Hayes’s reaction to being called sir. Sawyer did say it was a turn on for alphas…
I’ll have to try it again when I’m asking him to knot me.