Chapter 21
TWENTY-ONE
HOLLY
“Holly, over here!”
Aspen’s cheerful voice cuts through the cozy hum of The Mountain Mug, Heat Mountain’s only coffee shop.
I spot her waving enthusiastically from a corner table next to the large picture window that overlooks Main Street.
The café is busy—full of a surprising number of people for a town this small—but somehow she’s snagged the best spot in the house.
I weave between tables, nodding awkwardly at the curious faces that turn to watch me. Word travels fast in small towns, and I’m sure my sudden relocation to the alphas’ house is the juiciest gossip Heat Mountain has seen in months.
“I ordered you a cinnamon spice latte,” Aspen says as I slide into the seat across from her. “Hope that’s okay. You strike me as someone who needs a little more sugar in their life.”
“Thanks.” I wrap my cold hands around the warm ceramic mug, grateful for both the gesture and her accuracy. “How did you know?”
She grins, her now purple-tipped hair falling across one eye. “Pharmacy tech by day, people-reader by night. It’s my superpower.”
I take a sip of the latte, which is surprisingly good—rich and creamy with just the right amount of sweetness. “This is amazing.”
“Right? Marnie uses beans from this little roaster in Seattle. Costs a fortune to ship them here, but totally worth it.” Aspen leans forward, her eyes sparkling with curiosity. “So, how’s life in the infamous bachelor pad?”
I nearly choke on my drink. “That didn’t take long.”
“Small town,” she says with a shrug. “Mrs. Whitesong mentioned your relocation to her daughter, who told her husband, who works with my cousin, who texted me immediately.” She takes a sip of her own drink—something frozen and topped with whipped cream despite the freezing temperatures outside.
“For what it’s worth, I think it’s kind of badass to try taking on all three of them. ”
“It’s not what you think,” I say quickly. “My cabin lost power, and the roads were impassable. It’s just temporary.”
“Mmhmm,” she murmurs, clearly unconvinced. “Three of the hottest alphas in town just happened to rescue the new doctor from a snowstorm. Totally normal.”
I roll my eyes, but there’s something about Aspen’s teasing that feels comfortable, familiar.
It reminds me of how Josephine and I used to talk, back before she betrayed our perpetual single-hood by getting married and pregnant.
Josie’s sister, Trinity, has also become one of my closer friends, but she’s another omega who has found her pack and has to let other relationships take a back seat.
I’ve never met anyone as willing to take on a problem and solve it as she is.
They support me unconditionally, and I still didn’t feel safe telling them the whole truth about myself.
It strikes me suddenly how isolated I’ve been, not just here in Heat Mountain, but for years. Always holding back, always careful not to reveal too much, always the odd one out. Even with my closest friends, there was always this wall between us—this secret I couldn’t share.
“Hey, you okay?” Aspen’s voice pulls me back to the present. “You went somewhere else for a minute there.”
I blink, refocusing on her concerned face. “Sorry, just thinking about home.”
“Missing the big city?”
“Missing my friends, mostly.” I trace the rim of my mug with my finger. “It’s been...a while since I’ve had a conversation like this. Just coffee and chat, you know?”
Aspen’s expression softens. “Well, consider this the first of many. I make an excellent friend—ask anyone. I’m loyal, I always have snacks, and I only share the really good gossip.” She rushes to add, “unless I’ve been sworn to secrecy, of course.”
I laugh, feeling something loosen in my chest. Maybe it’s the warmth of the café, or the comforting weight of the mug in my hands, or just Aspen’s easy acceptance, but suddenly I want to tell her. I want to tell someone.
“Can you keep a secret?” The words are out before I can second-guess myself. “I mean a really life and death level secret?”
Aspen leans in, her eyes widening with interest. “Like it’s my job. What’s up?”
I glance around, making sure no one is within earshot, then lower my voice. “I’m not actually a beta.”
“I KNEW IT!” she exclaims, loud enough that several heads turn our way.
“Shh!” I hiss, mortified. “Jesus, Aspen!”
“Sorry, sorry,” she whispers, leaning in closer. “But I totally called it. You’re an omega, right?”
I nod, still glancing nervously at the other patrons, but they’ve already returned to their conversations.
“I knew something was off when you came into the pharmacy.” Aspen continues, her voice thankfully much quieter now. “I looked up endocrine disorders after you left, and I couldn’t find anything that would make a beta need heat suppressants.”
My stomach drops. “Did you tell anyone?”
“Of course not,” she says, looking offended at the suggestion. “I don’t gossip about medical stuff. That’s sacred. I thought about asking Jackson, but Googling it was easier. He likes to tease me when I ask dumb questions about the medication.”
Relief washes over me. “Thank you.”
“So why the secret identity?” Aspen asks, stirring her frozen concoction. “I mean, I get that some people are weird about designations, but it’s not like it’s the 1950s anymore.”
I take another sip of my latte, gathering my thoughts.
“It’s complicated. In medicine, especially emergency medicine, there’s still a lot of.
..prejudice. Omegas are seen as too emotional, too unstable for the demanding schedule.
The heat cycles alone would disqualify me from most residency programs because of the scheduling conflict. ”
“But that’s discrimination,” Aspen protests. “Can’t you sue or something?”
“Exceptions are made to discrimination law when appropriate accommodations are impossible. Kind of like how the military doesn’t have to let women become Navy Seals, or whatever.
All the medical board has to say is that my designation prevents me from performing the core requirements of the job.
” I shake my head, sounding way more neutral about it than I actually feel.
“You think normal alphas can be arrogant? You haven’t seen the ones with embossed degrees that prove to the world how very important they are.
The god complex is real.” I think of Noah and that what I thought of as arrogance at the beginning was just his intuition telling him to keep me at a distance.
Seeing how things have turned out, I can’t really blame him for assuming I’d be a problem.
“There are some exceptions, but nowhere near enough.”
“That is so messed up.”
“It is what it is.” I shrug, trying to appear more nonchalant than I feel.
“Once I’m fully trained, things will be different.
I won’t need anyone’s permission to practice.
I can set up my own practice, make my own rules.
I also really want to do volunteer work overseas, places that are too desperate for trained doctors to worry about designations. ”
Aspen looks skeptical. “And in the meantime?”
“In the meantime, I take my medication and do my job.” I straighten my shoulders, the familiar determination settling back into place. “It’s worked out so far, and I’m in spitting distance of being done with my training.”
“Except now you’re living with three alphas,” Aspen points out.
“That’s going to make keeping your secret a lot harder, especially in a town this size.
People are already taking bets on how long it will be before you’re all packed up officially.
The consensus is that you’re pretty enough to make it work, even for a beta. ”
I groan, dropping my head into my hands. “Does everyone really know about that?”
“Pretty much.” Aspen doesn’t even try to soften the blow.
“Small town, remember? People have been speculating about who Noah, Grayson and Kai would end up with since they were teenagers. Plus, you’re new and pretty, and they’re.
..” she waves her hand vaguely, “…them. There was no way people in this town wouldn’t immediately take notice. ”
I feel heat creeping up my neck and take a long sip of my latte to hide my embarrassment. This is exactly what I was afraid of—becoming the subject of town gossip, having my professional reputation overshadowed by speculation about my personal life.
Aspen suddenly points over my shoulder. “That probably doesn’t help if you’re trying to lay low.”
I turn to follow her gaze and nearly spill my drink. Across the street, standing on the corner outside the hardware store, is Grayson. He’s trying—and failing spectacularly—to appear casual, his tall frame and masked face making him about as inconspicuous as a grizzly bear at a tea party.
“Is he... following me?” I ask, my voice rising slightly in disbelief.
Aspen’s eyebrows shoot up. “You didn’t know? He follows you whenever you’re in town. Been doing it pretty much since you got here.”
“What?” I whip my head back to stare at her. “And you’re just mentioning this now?”
“I thought you knew!” Aspen defends herself. “He’s not exactly subtle about it.”
I turn back to look at Grayson, who is now pretending to be deeply interested in a display of snow shovels. A mix of emotions swirls through me—confusion, irritation, and something else I’m not ready to name.
“Should I be concerned?” I ask, keeping my voice low.
Aspen shakes her head. “Grayson’s harmless.” She pauses, reconsidering. “Well, not harmless, exactly. But he would never let any harm come to you. Trust me, I know a crush when I see one.”
“A crush?” I repeat incredulously. “He barely speaks to me.”
Outside of my heat, when he used his fist like a knot…
Nope, we’re not thinking about that right now.
“That’s just Grayson,” Aspen says with a knowing smile. “He’s not big on words. More of an actions guy.”
“You’re telling me.”
She shoots me a look of confusion. “Huh?”
“Uh…nevermind.”
I watch as Grayson shifts his weight from one foot to the other, his eyes scanning the street but inevitably returning to the coffee shop window where we sit. There’s something both unsettling and oddly comforting about his vigilance.
“Have they...” I begin, then stop, unsure how to phrase my question without sounding like I’m fishing for information. “I mean, do Kai, Grayson, and Noah date a lot? In town, I mean.”
Aspen’s jaw drops, her eyes widening in genuine shock. “Does that mean you don’t know?”
“Know what?” I ask, suddenly wary.
Aspen sets down her drink and leans forward, her expression turning serious. “About Jamie.”
“Jamie?” The name means nothing to me.
“She was the last omega to catch the interest of all three of them. This was about five years ago, I think. But she was patently uninterested in being with a pack.” Aspen hesitates, as if carefully choosing her next words.
“She dated all of them individually for a little while, but like…at the same time. Like she was sampling ice cream flavors before buying a cone, or something,” she scoffs, her opinion on that abundantly clear.
“Jamie ended up choosing Noah, and they were exclusive for a while.. Until…” she trails off, glancing around the cafe as if to ensure no one is listening.
A cold feeling settles in my stomach. Something tells me that Jamie didn’t take a job out-of-state or decide end things amicably. “Until what?”
“Jamie and Noah were on a hike—she was a real outdoorsy type too, apparently—and there was an accident. She fell down a ravine and broke like half the bones in her body. Noah managed to get down to her and carried her back down the mountain, but by the time he got back in cell phone range she had already bled out and died.” Aspen’s eyes are sad now.
“Noah couldn’t save her, even with all his training.
He blames himself… packed up and moved away from town right after.
He only came back to Heat Mountain a few months ago. ”
I open my mouth and then close it again, an emotion yawning inside me that I don’t want to name. “That’s awful.”
“It was,” Aspen agrees. “The whole town felt it. Noah was...different after. Harder. Colder. If he’s dated anyone since, it’s been so far on the down low that even my gossip network hasn’t picked up on it.”
“I had no idea,” I say quietly.
“Most people don’t talk about it anymore,” Aspen says. “It’s kind of an unwritten rule. But I thought you should know, especially if you’re living with him.”
Suddenly, so many things make sense—Noah’s reluctance to engage in any way not strictly professional and his emotional distance.
He lost someone he cared about, someone he couldn’t save despite his medical expertise.
And now he’s bonded against his will to another omega who loves climbing mountains in her free time.
No wonder he’s been avoiding me.
But that still doesn’t answer the real question that has been pinging through my head since my heat ended. “You said that Noah hasn’t dated. What about Grayson and Kai?”
“I’ve heard of a bit here and there, but nothing serious.”
I spit the words out before I lose my nerve. “So as far as you know, they aren’t packed anymore?”
She considers that for a second. “I mean, they live together and they’re clearly still as close as alphas can get without killing each other, but I don’t really know.
They haven’t been with anyone as a pack since before Jamie.
I have no idea if they’re still interested in that anymore. You’d have to ask them.”
If I had the nerve to just ask, then I wouldn’t be here spilling my guts to someone I barely know.
Though Aspen doesn’t actually feel like someone I barely know. Everyone in this town just has an air of familiarity about them, as if they’re all eager to make me feel like I belong.
I reach for Aspen’s hand and squeeze it, hoping the gesture isn’t overstepping. “Thank you. I really needed to talk to someone about all this.”
Aspen yanks me forward into a hug, the faint sweet almond scent of her enveloping me. “That’s what friends are for, girl.”
Friends. The word feels good. A comfortable buffer against the chaos I’ve introduced into my life.