Chapter 7 Keelan
KEELAN
Watching her drive off towards the lodge is taking every ounce of my willpower not to go and talk to her.
I know I came off like a creep but I didn’t trust myself to not pull a Parker and say the first thing that popped in my head.
Scent match. Her name tag said Thea, the same one he ran into over a week ago.
She’s our fucking scent match. No wonder he’s been off since then.
I feel like my entire world has shifted and I have no idea how to navigate this new direction.
She’s beautiful. So short, especially compared to me, it’s almost laughable.
Curves that I could spend days, no, the rest of my life exploring.
Her eyes are what struck me dumb, a light brown with bright green shining through around the iris.
And then her scent is so sweet but with a wood fire layer to it.
I get this overwhelming feeling to protect her but I also feel safe with her. Similar to what Parker said.
I need to talk to him. Wait, he’d want to tell the rest of the pack we found our scent match.
That would not go over well. At least not until they all meet and scent her for themselves.
Most of the pack has had to have met her by now.
Ticking off the names, Jake, Micah, and Liam are the only ones who haven’t.
When she ran into me her scent was extremely faint, buried under descenter.
But I caught it fully when she came out to leave.
I originally came to get measurements of the porch, banisters, railings, and spindles for the upcoming project.
I was really excited to be adding carvings to the woodwork on the cabins.
If it turns out well, I’ll roll it out to the others.
But I can’t think of any of that now. Deciding to talk to Parker, I put my tools away in the truck and head back to the pack house.
As much as I know he’ll want to talk to the pack, I won’t keep anything this big a secret from him.
Hopefully, I can convince him into keeping it from the pack though, at least for a little while.
Finally back at the pack house, I drop off my tools in my workshop and meander to Parker’s office at the other end of the house.
Micah and Eli have small home offices but nothing like Parker.
Besides me, he’s the only one who truly works from home and needs a dedicated space far from any distractions.
Hence his office being as far away from my workshop.
I knock on the door as I open it and walk in.
If he’s working he likely won’t hear me anyways.
We’re similar in that sense, when we focus, or I should say hyperfixate, on a project everything else in the world disappears.
Taking in the room, it’s typical cave-like vibe considering there’s no windows—his requirement—with blue strip lights lining the ceiling before they change to a purple hue, cycling through whatever color mood he’s in today.
He isn’t at his desk with its three, sometimes four monitors.
No, he’s on the large, oversized plush chair on the wall opposite his desk.
I used to wonder if he’d present as an omega with his need to feel cozy but that’s just Parker.
Designation stereotypes don’t define him and I love him for it.
I wish I could embrace that freedom more often.
He doesn’t view himself as the brave one of the two of us but he is.
Hell, he’s the one who found our omega without even realizing it.
There’s low music playing from his speakers as I approach him on the chair.
He has his eyes closed, his expression completely relaxed. Well, shit I’m going to ruin that mood.
“I know you’re there big brother,” he says teasingly.
He’s actually older than me by a few minutes.
But ever since we were kids when it became clear how physically big I was, he started calling me “big brother.” Originally it was definitely a jab in the way brothers are as kids; but as we grew up it’s turned into an inside joke.
I sit on the matching ottoman to his chair that essentially can turn it into a small bed when pushed together. He still has his eyes closed so I flick his nose, making him open his eyes and scowl at me. “Not nice. What do you want? I’m working.”
I scoff, “I can see that.” I don’t push because we all know by now he has his process for keeping sane working from home, especially when his job sometimes requires insanely long hours. We all get it and have been there occasionally with our own careers.
Sighing, I say, “I met her today.”
His eyes widen and he sits up so quickly, that I have to lean back so he doesn’t headbutt me. “You did? What happened? What did she say? Did you scent her?” I can’t help the laugh that bursts out. That’s the reaction I expected him to have.
He is less amused, huffing, “I need details Keelan. It’s not all in my head right?
There’s something special about her. Do you know how many times I have nearly done a total deep dive into her to get to know her the only way I can?
” I frown at that, he shouldn’t invade her privacy like that.
He knows this since he rushes out, “I haven’t so you can stop with the angry face.
But I want to know her just off that one interaction we had. That has to mean something.”
“Take a breath will you? How can I tell you anything when you don’t give me a minute to answer?”
Sheepishly he does as I say and I tell him about how I met her. “I did scent her,” I say, then pause. Once I tell him there is no going back. “I’m pretty sure she’s our scent match.”
His blond brows scrunch together in confusion.
“Scent matches aren’t real. Did you hit your head or something?
” Groaning, I wipe my hand over my face and appraise my brother.
He’s definitely serious. He’ll end up looking it up for himself so I show him what I spent twenty minutes looking for to confirm my suspicions before coming here.
Handing him my phone, I watch his expression shift from confusion to concentration and finally shock. Yeah, sounds about right.
“A scent match,” he whispers almost reverently. Looking back at me, I see all the emotions I’m feeling clearly written on his face.
Reaching out to squeeze his shoulder, I murmur, “Yeah we have a scent match.” Pure happiness spreads over his face which I can’t help but feel the same as well.
But just as quickly as that came, I see his doubts and insecurity filter in.
Yeah, we may be different in a lot of ways but in this we are the same. The real question is, will she want us?
“We can’t tell the rest of the pack yet.
” I hold up a hand to cut him off before he can say anything.
“We don’t know how everyone will react. My guess is she hasn’t met Jake, Micah, or Liam yet.
I also don’t know if Ben scented her or not.
I think if he did he would’ve told us. We should wait until she meets the rest of the pack on her own and if they are scent matched as well.
I have a feeling Eli might know something, since he was off the night he helped her move. I’ll talk to him about it.”
Parker doesn’t say anything for a while. He needs time to process so I give it to him and wait patiently. “Okay,” he says finally.
“That’s it? After all that information all you have to say is okay?” I expected to need to convince him more.
“Yeah, okay. We can’t screw this up. If she’s really our scent match we have to make sure the rest of the pack is too and if they aren’t, we need to make sure no one is left out of anything going forward.
Not this time,” he says sternly. A side I rarely see of my easygoing brother.
It makes me angry all over again thinking of the scars that bitch Amber left on him, and me.
I nod in agreement and go to get up, but he stops me as he says excitedly, “So are we going to try and plan some kind of meet cute for the rest of the pack?”
Gods spare me from my well-meaning brother. “No Parker we can’t manipulate them meeting. You know Micah would see through that and he will already have a hard time with this. Promise you won’t force any ‘meet cutes.’” Where does he get this stuff?
“Fine.” He pouts. “But I’m going to still try and get to know her myself. I’m not going to wait for the rest of the pack. We can get to know her as friends.”
I have no idea what his version of getting to know this omega would be but I won’t stand in his way.
He deserves to be happy with someone. We all do.
I’m not sure what I’ll do in the meantime.
I doubt I’ll see her much. If it wasn’t for the cabin project, I probably would have never run into her.
I had planned to take what I could back to my workshop and do the carvings there but there’s some work I can do on site before needing my workshop.
With my own ideas coming in, I just nod in agreement and leave Parker’s office, going back to my workshop to map out the next couple weeks of work on site at the cabin.