Chapter 16
16
RONAN
Briar tucks her legs beneath her body on the couch and hums as Jasper drops a hand to her knee.
I take a seat on her other side and lean as close as I can without hovering.
The windows are all open now, airing out the chemicals clogging the air even after turning off her vent system.
Her perfume lingers in the living room, but it’s easier to handle now, her needs sated.
I’ve never experienced that strong of a physical reaction to someone before, even the first time I was here, racing toward her on the grass.
Yeah, I knew it was possible with matches like ours, but to feel it in real time?
To have my body physically ache for someone so strongly that it shoved my mind into the back seat the way it did for Briar is wild.
Fucking out of this world.
I want to know more about scent matches.
Everything I learned at school was only the bare-minimum information needed to make sure we had some semblance of an idea of what could happen for us.
The instant attraction, sense of rightness, and desire for a mating mark.
Rejection of a match was touched on briefly, but beyond the knowledge that it can be a painful process, I don’t remember shit.
What I need to know is whether it’s possible for her to only mate half of a pack, and if that’s the way things go for us, what will happen to Landon and Dash?
“What do you do for work, love?” Jasper asks, his gentle voice managing to smash through my thoughts.
Briar’s hands fall to her lap, eyes glowing with excitement.
I make note of her reaction to that question.
“I’m a doula. My best friend and I run a birthing clinic.”
“A doula . . . that’s a birthing partner, right?” Jasper asks.
“Yes! Clover is an OB/GYN, so she handles the babies and all the medical whatnot, and I focus more on the moms and their experience. Childbirth can be as traumatic as it is beautiful, and the omegas we help often don’t have any form of support with them. That’s where I come in.”
“Incredible,” I muse, pressing my arm against hers.
“You like doing that?”
She sets her chin on her knee and looks at me, a tiny smile on her lips.
“I love it. And I should mention that if any of you want me to quit to stay at home, I won’t do it. I want to be clear about that now.”
Jasper’s mouth drops as I stiffen, adjusting my position until my spine is snapped straight.
“We’d never ask that of you, Briar. If you love what you do, then that’s that,” Jasper says.
“Really? You don’t want your omega to stay at home and pop out a million babies for you?” she asks quizzically.
I scoff. “No.”
“What Ronan means is that no, we don’t need you to do that. If babies were ever a possibility, we would figure it out, but you’d never have to quit your job. Seeing you happy is all I want. All we both want,” Jasper adds with a quick roll of his eyes in my direction.
She tongues her cheek, inspecting the both of us as if she’s trying to detect a lie in what we’ve said.
Or more like what Jasper’s said.
I’m not the best with words.
What feels like an hour later, she relaxes her stare, seemingly believing him.
“Alright, good. What do you two do for work?”
“We’re on the Rayton Riptides hockey team,” I say, stretching my arm along the couch behind her.
“Do you watch hockey, Petal?”
“Uh, you mean, like, the NHL team, the Rayton Riptides?” she squeaks.
Jasper laughs, squeezing her knee.
“Yes, the NHL team.”
“Truthfully, I don’t watch hockey, but my dads do. They’re not Riptide fans, unfortunately. I’ve heard more complaining about a Landon Montgomery and his special treatment than much else when it comes to that team. Are they right about him? I assume this all makes him your Landon?”
Jasper does a better job of hiding his amusement than I do.
A gruff laugh escapes me instantly, filling the apartment.
My throat aches from the power of it.
“Oh, fuck. He’d have a fit hearing that from you,” I manage to say.
She flushes. “That’s a yes, then?”
“Yes, he’s our Landon,” Jasper confirms.
I play with a strand of her hair where it’s draped behind her shoulder.
“The special treatment isn’t always true. That’s just the complaint everyone who hates the team uses instead of accepting that their favourite team isn’t as good as we are.”
“He’s the son of one of the greats. It puts a target on his back,” Jasper adds.
“I can understand that. Does the attention bother him?”
I pause for a beat, registering her question.
Jasper stares at her with a depth that I know borders on obsession.
I feel the same way.
She’s a miracle.
“I don’t think any one of us has asked him that in a long time,” he murmurs.
Briar frowns. “Well, someone should. I don’t have a lot of experience with famous parents or unholy expectations, but I assume it’s probably really suffocating.”
“Maybe we’ll keep it for you to talk to him about,” Jasper suggests.
She nips at her cheek, eyes dropping to where Jasper holds her knee.
“I don’t know if that’s really a first-meeting topic. He isn’t interested in having an omega, right?”
“He doesn’t think we need one,” I say tightly.
“And Dash? He’s close to Landon?”
Jasper answers the question.
“Dash cares the most about the pack dynamic. He’s stubborn enough to put aside his desire to have an omega in the pack if it means Landon doesn’t leave.”
“And you think Landon would leave if I became pack?” she asks, her voice timid as her scent sours.
I trap a growl in my chest, thinking twice about what I should say next so I don’t scare her away with a declaration she isn’t ready to hear yet.
Jasper fills my silence, jumping in with his well-thought-out words.
“He wouldn’t leave. Landon is pack leader, and he loves us more than he’ll ever admit. He has his reasons for why he’s so reluctant to find an omega, but once he meets you . . .” He pauses, tipping the corner of his mouth up into a soft smile.
“He’ll change his mind. It will be impossible for him not to.”
“That’s if he recognizes me as a scent match,” Briar whispers.
I cup her shoulder, pulling her to lean against me.
She moulds into my side like she was always supposed to be there.
“He will, Petal.”
“How can you be sure? Dash?—”
Jasper shakes his head, tongue slipping along his bottom lip.
“Dash is wrong.”
The light chuckle that escapes her releases some of the tension in my muscles.
I let loose a huff and nod at Jasper.
“I wish it was that easy,” she says.
“It can be. Give us a chance to prove it to you,” I all but beg.
Jasper spreads his fingers on her knee, touching more of her leg.
“Come to the house and meet them properly. We can do this the right way and make the rest of the decisions from there.”
“Landon will be okay with that?”
No.
But there’s not a fucking chance I’m letting him ruin this for us all.
“Yes. He’ll be okay with it.”
Briar unfolds her legs and drops her feet to the floor.
She folds her hands in her lap, fingers tapping her knuckles.
While she’s looking down at them, I meet Jasper’s eyes, hoping he can read what I’m thinking.
Landon won’t agree to a meeting willingly.
Especially not at our home.
He runs an anxious hand through his hair and sighs softly.
I know immediately what he’s thinking.
We’re screwed.
“I’d be up to coming over. At least to see how things go,” Briar says, looking up from her hands.
Her eyes pass between Jasper and me, looking more shy than before.
“Like I said the other day to Ronan, this isn’t a done deal. I know scent matches are pretty set in stone, but I don’t want to only be with someone, especially a pack, because that’s what our biology says we should do. Having done what I do for work, I’ve seen the negative, painful side of a scent bond, and I refuse to feel pressured into anything. I want a choice.”
Jasper nods immediately, rubbing slow circles on her leg.
My chest pounds at her bravery and certainty.
My alpha purrs in approval, blood rushing to my groin.
“We completely understand. All I want is for you to know that we’re very interested in having you be our omega. The final decision will always be up to you,” Jasper promises.
“Told you the first time I saw you that I’d court you. I’m still going to do that,” I add.
Jasper crosses his ankles and smiles approvingly.
“How about we start with dinner on Saturday? Let’s say six?”
“I’d like that,” she murmurs.
“Until then, you should call your landlord and have him permanently turn off the scent blockers in your apartment. They can’t be good to inhale twenty-four seven,” I grumble.
“It’s easier than taking suppressants. I’d prefer not to have to start again. Especially not . . .” Now .
Jasper’s brows furrow.
“How long were you taking them before?”
“For a while. They made my heats more manageable, but my doctor warned me that prolonged use could cause more damage than they’d end up helping,” she explains.
Worry gnaws on my stomach.
“My sister’s on suppressants.”
“You have a sister?” Briar asks, intrigued.
“She’s eighteen.”
“Well, suppressants are normal for omegas in their most hormonal years. It’s the same thing as rut blockers for teenage alphas. I designated at fourteen, and without suppressants, I wouldn’t have been allowed within a foot of an alpha. Your sister should be just fine.”
I take her reassurance and bundle it deep, using it to calm the protectiveness that I can’t ever seem to shake.
“Thank you, Petal.”
“You’re welcome, big guy. And I will call my landlord. Maybe he can just turn them down a bit so it isn’t so overwhelming the next time you come over.”
The next time.
A rumble sputters to life in my chest, and Briar giggles, brushing her palm across it.
Jasper watches me with an open expression, letting me see the adoration that’s swelling inside of him.
This right here means more to him than anything else, past, present, and future.
Briar has given him the world, and they’ve only just met.
It’s all I’ve wanted for him, and I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure he gets to keep this forever.