Chapter 19 Wyatt, Boone, Levi, Wade, Cooper #4
"Congratulations! You've been scent-matched with a female Omega from Seattle, Washington! More information will arrive in your email within twenty-four hours. In the meantime, please enjoy these gifts and Omega reference materials. You’re one of our first valued clients to receive periodic encouragement baskets throughout our revolutionary matchmaking process. Given that, we’d value your answers to the survey we emailed last week.
Again, congratulations on finding your one-in-a-million pack match!
The Eros Institute wishes you a lifetime of happiness! "
A garbled sound escaped me. Half laugh, half sob. I dropped the overfilled basket, waves of emotion crashing down on me as Eros’s gift simultaneously crashed to the hardwood floors.
After all this time… after almost giving up hope…
We had a match.
An Omega. Our Omega.
I repeated every detail in my mind, memorizing the little I now knew.
A woman. And she’s in Seattle.
It was the tiniest morsel, hardly enough to whet the appetite, but it was all I needed to regain every ounce of hope I’d lost over these long, brutal months.
My eyes closed, head tilting back as pure joy flooded through me to replace worry, doubt, and self-hatred.
When I opened my eyes, I looked down at the basket.
It rested on its side, the outer plastic keeping the contents mostly in place.
There was a pamphlet: “Ten steps for making your Omega feel at home.” A book next to it claimed to teach “Everything you need to know about your Omega’s heat cycle.
” I spotted a bottle of something called Heat Relief and a package of mint tea.
The reality of it hit me anew.
A female Omega from Seattle.
I wondered what she looked like. Was she tall or petite? Blonde or brunette? Curvy or thin? Did she have a career in the city that she'd be leaving behind? What was her name?
Questions tumbled through my mind faster than I could process them. Would she like Wyoming? Would she be intimidated by five Alphas? Would she enjoy my cooking? Would she—
The urgent need to share this news with the others suddenly interrupted my spiraling thoughts. I should have raced out of the house already. I should be tracking my pack brothers down to give them the news. They needed to know.
Pushing into my yellow rain boots, because they were the closest pair of shoes, I burst through the front door and out onto the porch. My eyes scanned the property frantically. I saw no one at first. Where were those assholes? I was going to burst if I didn't tell them right now!
"Wyatt!" I bellowed, voice carrying across the yard. "Wade! Levi! Boone!"
No answer. The ranch was unusually quiet.
I took off at a run towards the stables. The life-changing note was still clutched in my hand, wrinkling from my tight grip.
"Guys! Someone! Anyone!”
The rumble of a vehicle made me stumble to a stop.
I turned, seeing one of our trucks slowly coming down the driveway.
Wyatt. Taking his time. Going slow as molasses.
I ran back the way I’d come, moving so fast that I got to the truck just as Wyatt parked.
I slammed the note against the driver’s window as he cut the engine. He peered at it, gaze bloodshot.
“Why the hell are you keeping me from getting out of the truck?” he finally asked, clearly annoyed, clearly hungover, clearly not understand the monumental meaning of the slip of paper.
I dropped my hand from the glass, yanked the truck’s door open, and I thrust the note at him.
Words tumbled out faster than I could organize them.
"It's happening. It's real. She's real. Our Omega.
They found her. In Seattle. Female. The basket came.
Different this time. Omega things. She's real, Wyatt. She's fucking real!"
He said nothing at first, taking the card and reading it carefully, his expression neutral.
Finally, he got out of the truck, pushing past me in a daze.
I followed behind, confused at his reaction.
But then he stumbled a little to the right.
A little to the left.
And fell to his knees.
I rushed forward but didn’t touch him. This was Wyatt. Wyatt never broke down.
“She’s real,” he whispered. “Goddammit, she’s real.”
I watched my pack brother as he leaned over and pressed one palm flat against Sagebrush’s land. He pressed the precious note to his heart with his other hand. Finally, heartbreaking sobs of relief began shaking his large body.
From out of nowhere, Wade appeared, dropping to the ground next to his twin and wrapping an arm around him. Wyatt instinctively leaned into his brother’s body. I hadn’t seen them like this since they were kids. I had to hug myself to fight back my own need to cry.
Levi arrived next, walking slowly and wincing a bit.
I glanced down, seeing he was barefoot. I slipped off the galoshes and stepped aside.
He stepped into them. We didn’t say anything.
It was Boone that brought Wyatt back from the brink.
He whirred up in the UTV, a cloud of worry around him, and he’d said, ‘who do I need to kill?’
“No one,” Wyatt replied before I could, his voice raspy.
“What the hell happened then?” Boone pressed, getting out of the utility vehicle.
After Wade helped him stand, Wyatt wordlessly handed the crumpled note to his twin. Wade read it out loud. I watched as my other pack brothers absorbed the news. I watched as months and months of worry washed away.
Hope was the most beautiful thing in the world.
Hope had brought us to this moment.