Chapter 11
Talia
The morning light caught the three business cards scattered across my kitchen counter. Jace’s park service card, edges soft from being carried in his wallet. Hollis’s elegant bookstore card with its pine tree logo. Cassian’s pristine corporate card, heavyweight paper that whispered expensive.
Three different men who’d somehow appeared in my life over the past few weeks. Three alphas who’d each found reasons to spend time with me.
I sipped my coffee and tried to sort through what I was feeling.
Jace was an old friend reconnecting over cooking lessons.
Hollis was a bookstore owner who’d created an entire reading section based on our conversation.
Cassian had spent an hour helping me understand renovation costs when he could have been doing anything else.
Perfectly reasonable interactions. Friendly, professional, helpful.
So why did looking at their cards together make my stomach flutter with something that felt suspiciously like hope?
My phone buzzed with texts from all three of them.
Jace had found wild mushrooms on his patrol route and wanted to know if I’d like to forage together.
Hollis had set aside a new poetry collection he thought I’d appreciate.
Cassian was offering to review my permit applications before I submitted them.
Three messages. Three different ways of maintaining connection. And I wanted to say yes to all of them, which felt like wanting too much.
I set my phone down and stared at my coffee like it might contain answers to questions I wasn’t sure I was allowed to ask.
A knock at my door interrupted my spiraling thoughts.
Through the window, I spotted a woman I vaguely recognized from around town standing on my porch with a covered dish in her hands.
Blonde, warm smile, the kind of easy confidence that suggested she knew exactly who she was and had made peace with it.
“Hi there,” she said when I opened the door. “I’m Kit. Kit Maddox-West-Thornton, from down the street. I know we haven’t officially met yet, but Micah made way too many cinnamon rolls this morning and thought you might want some before our daughter Charlie eats them all.”
“Oh.” I blinked at her, processing the hyphenated last name. Maddox-West-Thornton. That was a pack name. Multiple alphas. Three of them, if I remembered the town gossip correctly. “That’s really kind of you. I’m Talia.”
“I know.” Her smile widened with genuine warmth. “Small town and all. Word gets around, especially when someone new arrives and starts planning the kind of restaurant this place desperately needs. Can I come in? Or is this a bad time?”
“No, please.” I stepped aside, suddenly grateful for the interruption to my circular thoughts. “Would you like some coffee?”
“I’d love some.” She stepped inside with the casual ease of someone comfortable in her own skin, setting the dish on my counter. Her gaze caught on the three business cards arranged there, and something flickered across her face. Recognition, maybe. Amusement. “Making friends already, I see.”
Heat crept up my neck as I poured her a mug. “Just people I’ve met around town.”
“Mmhmm.” Kit settled onto one of my kitchen stools, accepting the coffee with a knowing look. “Jace Maddox, Hollis Green, and Cassian Black. That’s quite a trio.”
I busied myself uncovering the cinnamon rolls, which smelled incredible and gave me an excuse not to meet her eyes. “They’re just business cards.”
“Three of them. All from alphas. All sitting on your counter like they’re important enough to keep visible.” Her tone was warm, curious rather than judgmental. “How are you settling in? Really?”
The question caught me off guard with its directness. “Fine. Good. The town’s been welcoming.”
“Has it?” Kit pulled apart a cinnamon roll thoughtfully, and I noticed the way she moved with complete unselfconsciousness. “Three alphas going out of their way to spend time with you. That’s more than just welcoming.”
I finally looked at her directly, trying to figure out why this conversation, which should have felt invasive, somehow didn’t. Maybe it was the warmth in her eyes, the complete lack of judgment. Or maybe it was just that she seemed genuinely interested rather than nosy.
“I don’t know what to make of it,” I admitted, surprising myself with the honesty.
“Jace and I knew each other as kids, so maybe he’s just being friendly.
Hollis created an entire book section based on one conversation we had about healing, which could be good customer service or could be something more.
And Cassian spent an hour helping me understand contractor quotes when he barely knows me. ”
“And you’re trying to figure out if they’re interested or if you’re reading too much into normal kindness.” Kit’s observation was gentle, understanding. “Been there. It’s confusing as hell.”
Something in my chest loosened at her casual acknowledgment. “How did you figure it out? With your pack, I mean?”
She took a sip of coffee, considering. “Honestly? I spent way too long convincing myself they were just being nice. That three incredibly attractive men couldn’t possibly all be interested in a scared and slightly broken omega trying to hold her life together.
Took them literally spelling it out before I believed it. ”
“But you must have felt something. Known somehow.”
“Oh, I felt plenty.” Kit’s smile turned rueful. “Terrified, mostly. I’d just gotten out of a bad situation, moved to a new town. The idea of being interested in anyone, let alone three people simultaneously, felt impossible.”
I pulled apart my own cinnamon roll, the cardamom hitting my tongue with perfect subtlety. “What changed?”
“They really saw me, you know? They could see that I needed help and they gave it without strings, without an ulterior motive, and somewhere along the way I started to accept that maybe I needed it. Then as soon as my eyes were open, it was like… bam! I realised I might be a person that actually wanted things as well.” She met my eyes steadily.
“Turned out the answer was all three of them, which felt ridiculous and greedy and completely overwhelming.”
“How did you get past that? The feeling of wanting too much?”
“By realizing it wasn’t too much if they all wanted it too.
” Kit leaned forward slightly, her expression earnest. “That’s the thing about pack dynamics in this community.
They’re normal. Accepted. Celebrated, even.
Multiple alphas choosing an omega together isn’t some scandalous arrangement here, it’s just how some families form. ”
I thought about the three business cards, the three different men they represented. “But how do you even begin that conversation? ‘Hi, I’m interested in all three of you, hope that’s not weird?’”
Kit laughed, warm and genuine. “Something like that, yeah. Though in my case, they figured it out before I did. I was trying so hard to choose between them, and they basically sat me down and said ‘we’ve talked about this, and we’re all interested, so stop torturing yourself.’”
“They talked to each other first?” The idea made my stomach flip in ways I couldn’t quite name.
“Yeah. They were all close before I came to town so it was impossible for them not realise what was happening. So they decided to have an honest conversation about it rather than compete.” Kit’s smile turned fond.
“Saved me from a lot of unnecessary angst, though it was terrifying when they brought it up.”
I stared at those three business cards, trying to imagine Jace and Hollis and Cassian having that conversation. “But these three don’t know about each other. I don’t think, anyway.”
“Maybe not yet. Or maybe they do and they’re being respectful of your timeline before saying anything.
” Kit shrugged. “Point is, however it happens, someone eventually has to be honest. In my case it was my guys. In yours, it might need to be you. But that’s way down the line.
Right now, you’re just trying to figure out if you want to get to know them better. ”
“I do,” I said quietly. “Want to get to know them better, I mean. All of them. They’re each interesting in completely different ways, and I keep thinking about them when I shouldn’t be.”
“Why shouldn’t you be?”
“Because I just got here. Because I’m supposed to be focusing on my business.
Because I spent the last year recovering from a relationship that nearly destroyed me.
” The reasons tumbled out easier than I expected.
“Because being interested in three people simultaneously feels greedy and complicated and like I’m setting myself up for disaster. ”
“Or,” Kit said gently, “you’re recognizing genuine connections when you feel them and not forcing yourself to choose arbitrarily between them. At least not yet, when you barely know any of them.”
The observation settled something anxious in my chest. “So I can just spend time with all three without it meaning something specific?”
“Of course you can. You’re not committing to anything by getting to know people.
” Kit took another bite of cinnamon roll.
“Best advice I can give you? Take it slow. Get to know each of them individually. Figure out what you’re actually feeling before you worry about what it all means.
A real alpha will work to his omega’s timeline, not push for more than you’re comfortable with. ”
“Even if my timeline is ‘I’m not ready to think about anything serious and just want to see if these friendships could be something more’?”
“Especially then.” Kit’s voice carried absolute certainty. “The right people will meet you where you are. And if any of them push for more than you’re ready for? Then they’re not the right people, no matter how attractive or helpful or interesting they seem.”
I took a bite of cinnamon roll, letting the flavors ground me while I processed her words. “You make it sound simple.”
“It’s not simple. It’s terrifying and complicated and requires more honesty than you’d think possible.” Kit’s frankness was refreshing. “But it starts with being honest with yourself about what you want, even if that’s just ‘I want to see where this goes without pressure.’”
Through my kitchen window, I could see her house down the street, where three alphas and one omega were raising two children together in what seemed like comfortable chaos. Evidence that this kind of family could work, could thrive, could be exactly as normal as Kit insisted it was.
But they’d gotten there somehow. Through honesty and risk and probably a lot of difficult conversations.
“Thank you,” I said, meaning it completely. “For the cinnamon rolls and the advice and for not making me feel ridiculous for being confused about all this.”
“We’ve all been there.” Kit stood, finishing her coffee.
She pulled her phone out of her pocket before passing it to me.
“Here’s my number if you want to talk more.
And seriously, don’t overthink it. Spend time with them, see how you feel, be honest about where you are. The rest will figure itself out.”
I transferred her details into my phones and then passed it back with a smile. “Maybe next time we can chat with wine?”
“I like the sound of that.” Kit reached forward and hugged me. “And if you want to feed me too, I’m not opposed to being your tasting guinea pig for the new bistro. I hear through the grapevine that you make a killer risotto.”
I shook my head in surprise knowing that information could only have come from one place. “Small towns,” I sighed.
“Gotta love em.” Kit laughed as she headed to the door and I saw her out, realising that I’d just made a friend and felt more settled in one place than I ever had before.
After Kit left, I sat with my coffee and those three business cards and Kit’s words echoing in my head. A real alpha will work to his omega’s timeline.
My phone sat next to the cards, those three messages still waiting for responses. Three invitations to spend more time together, each one offering something I genuinely wanted.
What did I want? Setting aside all the excuses of it might be complicated or impractical or too much too soon, what did I really want?
I wanted to forage for mushrooms with Jace, to see his ranger knowledge in action and learn how to read the forest the way he did.
I wanted to talk about poetry with Hollis, to understand how someone created a sanctuary so effortlessly.
I wanted to understand how Cassian’s mind worked, how he could look at contractor quotes and immediately see what I’d missed.
I wanted to know if the flutter in my stomach when I thought about them was reciprocated, or if I was reading significance into ordinary friendships.
And maybe, possibly, if Kit was right about pack dynamics being normal here, I wanted to explore whether three very different connections might actually work together instead of competing.
First, I needed to respond to three texts and see where things went naturally. No pressure, no expectations, just honest interest in getting to know three people who’d each sparked something in me that I’d thought Vincent had killed.
I picked up my phone and started typing.
To Jace: Foraging sounds perfect. I’ve been wanting to learn more about local edibles. Saturday morning work for you?
To Hollis: I’d love to see the Oliver collection. Will you be at the store this afternoon?
To Cassian: A second set of eyes on the permits would be amazing. Are you free for coffee this week?
I hit send on all three before I could second-guess myself, then sat back and waited to see what happened next.
The morning felt suddenly full of possibility instead of anxiety. Maybe Kit was right. Maybe the right people would meet me where I was, without pressure or expectations beyond genuine interest in spending time together.
And maybe, just maybe, I was allowed to want to get to know all three of them without forcing myself to choose between them before I’d even figured out what any of this meant.
My phone buzzed almost immediately with Jace’s response. Saturday’s perfect. There’s a spot near Hollow Creek that should have hen of the woods this time of year. Meet at the ranger station at 8?
Then Hollis. I’ll be here until 6. Come by whenever you’re ready. I’ll put the kettle on.
Finally, Cassian. Thursday afternoon work for you? There’s a coffee shop in Millbrook that’s nice and private and we should have plenty of room for reviewing the documents.
Three different responses, three different styles, three opportunities to figure out what I was feeling and what they might be feeling in return.
I texted back confirmations to all three, then stood up to start my day with something that felt suspiciously like hope warming my chest.
Whatever this was, whatever it might become, I was finally ready to find out.