13. Chapter 13
Ivy
The compatibility reports arrived later that week.
I wouldn't have known, except that Arabella shrieked like a banshee down the hallway when they arrived.
She practically snatched both envelopes off the kitchen counter the second she walked in, tearing into hers before she'd even sat down. I watched from across the island while stirring a cup of tea, trying very hard not to pay attention. I’d seen them arrive, but I had no interest in reading about my own profile.
"Oh, my god." She flipped through the pages rapidly. “Here it is. I can’t wait!” She said, opening her report before looking at me. “Don’t you want to see yours?” She asked in a sly tone, and I shook my head.
“I told you before, I don’t really care. I’m not going to submit mine to the matching database.” I said. She looked at her paperwork.
“Well, we have a copy of Pack Vale’s profiles right here.
They are a high-quality pack. I can use them as a baseline and see where my qualities stack up.
It says here that they scored high on intelligence, ambition, and safety.
And according to their profile needs, the best potential omega match for them needs to be emotionally stabilizing, collaborative, and creative.
Basically, me in a nutshell.” She said in a singsong voice.
Arabella read through her profile while I sipped my tea, rolling my eyes. But as the seconds passed by, she did something she almost never did - be quiet. The room felt almost still as her words died off. Arabella flipped back to the first page, then the second. Her excitement was fading visibly.
“So, are the results not what you expected?” I asked, wondering why she was suddenly so quiet.
But she didn’t answer. Instead, she picked up the other envelope, opening my own Bond profile.
I didn’t want to see it. I knew it would likely show my scent gland issue, along with any other abnormalities I wasn’t even aware of yet.
I watched as Arabella’s eyes scanned my paperwork, and she flipped through the pages.
Then, she looked back at hers. Then back to mine.
Finally, she looked at the profiles Pack Vale had given us.
I started to get worried. What had she seen in mine?
I knew whatever was wrong with mine, I’d never hear the end of it.
“What is it?” I asked, leaning over the table to look.
“Nothing.” She said sharply, snatching up all the paper.
“It’s fine. I know you didn’t even want to do this, so I’ll just shred yours.
I don’t think they are even that accurate.
Their method is sloppy, barely tells you anything.
” She said, then stood up and walked out abruptly.
I let out a breath, thankful that she at least hadn’t lorded her results over mine.
But she was wrong - Pack Vale wasn’t sloppy.
She probably didn’t understand a single bit of the science behind the process.
But now that she wasn’t as excited about it, she might drop it.
But despite what she said, I knew she wouldn't destroy mine - she’d probably use it to make fun of me at some later time when she wanted to feel powerful.
At least now she would stop harping on the whole thing.
And finally, I could get some peace - I could just pretend I was a great omega, no paperwork or a profile needed.
I couldn't bring myself to care very much, anyway. I had other things on my mind. Specifically, the text message sitting on my phone.
Elias had asked about my day, sending me little science memes that made me laugh.
I had another reason to be excited - I found my scarf in the lab after he had visited, and it smelled of his black tea and cotton scent.
I wasn’t sure if it was intentional, but it felt like it was. He’d scent-marked my clothes.
It made me feel warm deep in my core - I hadn’t realized I’d get so turned on by a scent. And not only that, but Pack Vale had done something so unexpectedly thoughtful that I still smiled every time I thought about it.
After hearing me talk constantly about how hard it was to find rare vintage lab equipment, they had quietly arranged for several pieces of the equipment from an auction site to be sent to my lab.
Not to help with any marketing or collaboration effort, but for me specifically.
Because I had made an offhand comment about it.
It couldn’t have been cheap, but they had shrugged it off the last time they were here for a meeting.
“It’s not even an issue,” Hunter said when I mentioned it, then looked at me with those deep blue eyes, the corner of his lips lifted.
I didn’t see him smile like that often - it made me blush like a fool until Arabella had floated over, standing in front of me as she showed him the latest photos for their campaign.
Ronan had simply raised his eyebrows at me and mimed zipping his lips.
He’d kept his promise of not outing me when I told him the staff made the sandwiches Arabella had claimed to make.
I don’t know why I told him that - maybe I just wanted one person to know that she took credit for things that weren’t hers.
Truthfully, I loved having them come over - when they were here, I finally felt like no one would bother me. And no matter how bad Arabella and Clara were to me, they were forced to turn it down when Pack Vale was here. It was like every time I was around the pack, I felt more at ease.
And I could tell my body wanted to perfume around them, which was another oddity.
My scent glands were dysfunctional - I almost never perfumed.
But every time I was near Elias, Ronan, or Hunter, I felt them tingle despite my suppressants.
I knew that I’d never hear the end of it if I let out so much as the tiniest hint of perfume with an unbonded pack in our house, so I made sure to layer the descenter around my body even more than usual when they were here.
And every time I was around them, I felt more normal.
Like my opinion was actually important, and that it was possible that a pack could actually want me.
Especially when they ordered me the vintage equipment - as far as I knew, they hadn’t bought Arabella any gift.
If they had, she would have paraded it around the house for days.
But gifts to an omega weren’t a small deal. It was the precursor to courtship.
I’d never received a gift from a pack before, and I sure wasn’t going to tell anyone in my family about it.
They’d be livid that someone besides Arabella was getting attention.
Part of me hoped that she’d get matched with a pack right away, so that I could finally have her out of my hair.
That would be a dream - then I could talk to Pack Vale more, even when the campaign was over.
I had never felt this way about any pack, ever - and I hoped beyond hope that there might be a chance that I could be someone’s choice, too.