CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
D ear Knotty Omega,
I found my pack a couple of years ago by chance. I was walking down the street with my family, caught a whiff of my true scent match, and the rest is history. However, I have one problem. My bestie, a beta, and her bonded alpha (and husband) are pretty desperate for pack life. I’ve told her they should sign up for packfinder.com, but she just scoffs and tells me ‘you never know what kind of weirdos you’ll find on there’. The thing is…recently, they keep kind of hinting at how perfect my pack would be for them? And like, saying that my alphas smell so good (which, obviously I think so. Scent match.) and how her alpha thinks I smell good and it really just kind of weirds me out. She might be open to sharing, but I definitely am not. I’m not interested in her alpha like that either. How to tell her nicely, politely, and in a way that won’t negatively affect our relationship, to back the hell off?
Signed,
Sharing is Not Caring
Dear Sharing is Not Caring,
Step number one: Invite yourself over and ask your friend if you can test drive her alpha.
Actually, don’t do that.
Your friend is likely seeing how idyllic your life is with your pack and is thinking that she wants to experience what you do. It can be hard to be a beta when traditional minds do not think they belong in packs. That does not excuse her behavior though.
It can be just as difficult to be an omega, and to constantly juggle the expectations of society while also trying to stay true to yourself.
Sit down with her and explain to her that packs are instinct, and that her and her alpha are simply not pack. For you, or for your alphas. There are plenty of pack mixer events for people to try and build their packs, or you could suggest that she build her pack herself, on member at a time.
Above all, tell her that you only want the best for her, and while your pack seems like a good choice at the moment, your alphas are actually flat-earthers. That should scare her off.
Signed,
The Knotty Omega
***
The sound of Hannah’s squeal has me pulling the phone away from my ear. “Oh my god, Cady, you got a tattoo?! And your alpha gave it to you?”
“Yeah, I told you, remember? He owns Industrial Ink.” I smile as I look down at my tattoo, the splashes of color behind the book and dragon making it seem so whimsical. It’s like I have a piece of Ollie wherever I go.
Everyone at work today wanted to see it too, and I’m glad my office is lax on their tattoo and piercing policies. I'm seriously considering asking Hannah to dye the ends of hair purple, like in an ombre effect.
The rest of the guys loved it as well, praising Ollie's artistry and how it makes me look "dangerous" and "sexy". I could only snort, but I sure as hell accepted the multiple orgasms that came after.
I’m lounging on the couch in the upstairs den, it’s the first time I’ve had the house to myself since I moved in. Well, except Titus, but he doesn’t count because he doesn’t interact with me anyway. Ollie’s working late, Simon has an overnight shift, and Mattie and Archie are on their weekly date. They tried to get me to come with them, but I declined, knowing they still need time for themselves.
“God, you are so damn lucky, Cay.” She doesn't sound angry or jealous, just wistful.
“Hey, you’ll find your pack, Hannah-Banana.” I tell her softly, using my old nickname for her.
She only snorts. “I don’t know. It feels almost impossible at this point. Maybe I’ll go on one of those pack finder websites.” They aren’t as safe as the OMS, but they also aren’t as expensive for the packs that register.
“Let me know if you do,” I tell her, before my phone beeps and I check my screen. “Oh, Wren’s calling. Should I patch her in?”
“Yeah, I could use a dose of her cuteness,” Hannah sighs.
“Hey, I’m cute.” I pout before giggling and pressing the button to merge the calls. “Wren! Hannah’s on the line too!”
“Hey ladies!” Wren chirps, “Brennan says hi too.”
“Hi Brennan,” Hannah and I call out.
“I hope I’m not interrupting an important call,” Wren says, sounding a little anxious.
“Not at all, babe,” Hannah reassures her. “I was just telling Cady how I might sign up for one of those pack finder websites.”
“If you do, I’ll volunteer Brennan to escort you so you’re not by yourself,” Wren says confidently.
Then we hear a voice in the background go, “Hey, what about me?”
Wren scoffs. “Ethan, you know I love you but when my friends need help hacking into their ex’s bank accounts, that’s when I’ll volunteer your services.”
Hannah and I snort. Ever since we had our girl’s night before I met my pack, we’ve had a pretty constant group chat going, but this is our first three-way phone call. I could get used to it.
“Anyway,” Wren says, drawing out the word. “I wanted to see if you guys wanted to hang out tonight? Girls night and all that.”
A girls night sounds divine. It’s been great getting to know my pack, but it would be wonderful to have some non-alpha pheromones around the house.
“Yeah, do you guys want to come here? I don’t think I should go out considering the whole apartment break-in thing.”
“Sure! Send us the address? How about in an hour?” Hannah asks and Wren sounds her agreement.
“Send me your orders for the Phuket Palace,” I grin, and hang up the phone.
Forty-five minutes later, I figure I should probably let my alphas know what I’m up to.
Titus doesn’t answer. Instead, I get the joy of him stomping into the upstairs den, where I’m gathering up snacks and blankets and wine for our girls night.
“Do you want to explain to me why you invited a random, strange alpha into our home with nobody else here?” Titus practically snarls, his roasted marshmallow scent smelling more burnt than anything.
I try not to let his irritation rattle me, so I just raise a brow, continuing to strategically lay out blankets so I can spray them with scent canceller before the girls use them. I doubt Wren’s alphas would be happy about her coming home smelling like my pack. “You’re here, Titus, otherwise I wouldn’t have said he could come. Plus, he’s not a random alpha. He’s my friend’s alpha, who also happened to be my bodyguard when I was going through the OMS. You even met him at our first lunch.”
Titus shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter, I don’t know him—”
“He’s been background checked by the damn OMS, Titus, and deemed safe to guard unbonded omegas. Are you telling me that you would do a deeper background check before inviting anyone into your home?”
He lets out a frustrated noise, “No, but when it comes to my omega—”
“Am I your omega though?” I snap, throwing the blanket down on the couch as my anger bubbles out of me. “You don’t talk to me. You sure as hell don’t get to know me, or act like you even care outside of physical bodily harm, which is the bare minimum of a decent human being. Quit the hot and cold shit, Titus. It’s getting old.”
Before he can answer, the doorbell rings, and I push past him to go downstairs and let my friends inside.
***
Three hours later, we’re all fairly tipsy on wine and giggling like school girls when Mattie and Archie come home. Reggie ditched us an hour ago to go lay down somewhere and Titus and Brennan are downstairs in the kitchen, giving us space. For all the grumbling Titus did, once he found out that Brennan had been a sniper in the marines—expert marksman — he warmed up and they started talking about their days in the service.
“ Tesoro mio, ” Mattie murmurs, pressing a kiss to my hair as he passes by. “Have you ladies enjoyed yourselves?” he asks my friends.
“Yes, thank you,” Wren says quietly, suddenly shy.
“Holy hot Italian billionaire, batman!” Hannah gasps, “You’re Matteo De Lucca!” Then she smacks me with a pillow and hisses, “Why didn’t you tell me one of your scent matches was Matteo De Lucca?!”
“I am,” he gives a friendly smile, and my beta comes on my other side to press a kiss to my cheek.
“I did!” I defend myself. “I remember telling you all of their names…” Then it hits me. “Oh, I only said ‘Mattie’, didn’t I?”
“You were in Alpha Central’s top ten hottest alphas five years ago, right below James Patterson, the alpha who won the National Humanitarian Award last year!” Hannah gapes, then her cheeks grow pink as she’s quick to explain, “They have that magazine all over the waiting room of the salon I work at.”
I gawk at my head alpha. “You never told me you were in a magazine.” Notto mention so close in ranking to the alpha who helped pass the Omega Privacy Act. It takes a lot to be considered for the National Humanitarian Award.
Mattie gives a sheepish grin and Archie smirks at me. “He was so embarrassed. Ollie and I bought every copy we found and plastered the pages all over the house.”
Wren giggles at that, then seems to loosen up a little.
The front door opens and closes and the bounding steps tell me Ollie just got home. “Oh, Tinkerbell!” he calls out, landing at the top of the steps with a jump. “How’s my favorite little fairy?” He asks, coming over and pressing a hot, dirty, open mouth kiss to my lips.
“Oliver!” Mattie chides, making Ollie pull away while I chase his lips. “We have company.” He nods pointedly at my friends who are now giggling wildly and I throw a pillow at them.
Ollie only grins wider. “Good evening, ladies. I’m Oliver, but anyone less formal than Mattie calls me Ollie.” His eyes catch on Hannah's pink hair. "Hey. Do we have any cotton candy?"
“Ollie, this is Hannah and Wren.” I point to each friend as I say their names and he gives a lavish bow.
“A pleasure to meet you.” He winks at me before turning and talking over his shoulder, “I’m going to go wash all the scent of my ten hour work day off. I’ll catch you guys later.” Only a moment later, we hear him nearly shout, “Oh! There’s my cat son!”, making the three of us dissolve into giggles.
With that, Archie and Mattie say goodnight, and my friends give me disbelieving looks.
“So, you have the hottie italian billionaire,” Hannah ticks off one finger, “the yummy beta boyband lookalike,” she ticks off another finger, “the broody, obviously in love with you but too dense to say anything about it mountain of an alpha downstairs,” she ticks off her thumb, “and the smart, sexy doctor? Did I miss anyone?”
Snorting, I shake my head. “No, I think you about covered it. Except you’re way off on the Titus thing.”
Both she and Wren give me another look. “How Titus was with you earlier, that’s kind of like how my alpha Maverick was when I first met him. Poor guy was so torn between keeping me safe and pulling me over his lap and spanking me, he didn’t know what to do with himself.”
Shit. Spanking? Why the hell is that so hot? I’ve never thought about it before, but now that the image of Titus bending me over his knee and spanking my bare ass is in my mind, I can’t help but squirm a little.
This is dangerous territory. He’s given me so many mixed signals I can’t let myself think that way about him.
“Damn girl,” Hannah laughs, poking Wren. “Kinky.”
We devolve into a fit of giggles once again, and later, when I’m laying in bed, surrounded by Ollie, Mattie, and Archie, I can’t help the sinking feeling in my gut making me wish Titus was here too.