30. Maisie
maisie
Greer takes care of me the way he always does, holding me through my orgasm.
He’s my scent match, too. Thank God.
The Alpha who’s knotting me makes all the stress and worry go away. I feel limp in his arms, fully sated, and there’s no fear at this moment.
“Fuck, you smell so good,” I tell him, nearly inhaling his pine and juniper scent. It’s strong and comforting, just like the Alpha himself.
He pulls back and looks at me like he’s seen a ghost. “What?”
I stop sniffing him for a moment. Do I tell him now?
Do I say ‘hey Greer, my scent is back and you and Callum are my scent matches and I’m having a whole entire mental crisis over my life potentially changing completely. Oh, and I have serious feelings for Lain. It wouldn’t matter if he was my scent match, but not knowing is eating away at me?’
“My scent blockers stopped working,” I tell him lamely.
I mean, we’re knotted together if I drop the truth and have nowhere to run? The thought alone is giving me heartburn.
“What do you think?” Greer asks, and I think it might be the least confident I’ve heard him. He wants to know what I think of his scent, not knowing that he’s one of the best things I’ve ever smelled.
“So good. So so good,” I reply, running my fingers through his hair and kissing the side of his face.
This could be forever. No, it will be. I just need to see Lain, get off my deodorizers and come clean and tell them everything. Then I’ll need to sublet my apartment until I can cancel my lease, turn down the job at Pure Beauty, and figure out what the fuck my sister is doing.
“Then why does it seem like you’re freaking out?” he asks.
“It’s just new.” I shift against his knot, and he raises an auburn eyebrow at me. Instead of going further into detail, I rest my head against his chest and he rubs my back in that Greer way of his.
Greer’s a comfort that I haven’t felt in a long time. He’s steadfast and sure of his decisions. He’s the type of man I need in my life explicitly.
“I’m going to go off my deodorizers. I just need to see Lain first.”
“Really? How many are you on?”
“I use a topical and a pill. For the longest time I’ve only ever gone off them for my heat. It will be an adjustment, a huge one actually, letting people scent me.”
“It’s because you want to though, right? Not because Lain and I asked you to?”
“Yeah, I want to,” I tell him, taking the deepest inhale of his scent.
Fuck. In my mind, I always knew scent matches were a thing. You see it in movies all the time. The Omega finds their scent match, and it’s this cosmic thing, like you don’t see anyone else anymore, only the people you’re destined to be with.
The fact that I’ve been so drawn to Greer and Lain before getting my scent back tells me that scent matches go further than I could have ever fathomed.
I’m still knotted to Greer, and it’s the middle of the day. Birds are chirping outside and a glow filters through the room as Greer kisses my hair.
“So, are you going to tell me about Oban?”
“Hmm. What about it?” I say, feeling too good wrapped in my scent matches arms, his knot deep inside me.
This is the life, honestly.
“Was Callum rude to you or something? You looked upset when you walked into the foyer earlier.”
Greer is too fucking perceptive for his own good.
“No, he was actually nice, kind, even. He even smiled and laughed multiple times,” I tell him, leaving out the fact that he went down on me after I realized he was my scent match and then we both collectively freaked the fuck out.
“He was smiling?”
“Yes. Oh, and well, we ran into your ex and her pack.”
Greer stills underneath me, holding me tighter in his arms. Maybe I said it with a distasteful tone, because I don’t like the idea that there was a serious Omega before me, let alone someone like her.
Greer holds me tighter, like he knows I’m plotting that bitches murder…Wow, okay that was kind of aggressive, though accurate. Didn’t like her before, kinda want to punch her in the nose so she can never scent my Alphas again now.
No one told me finding your scent matches made you irrational—just what I needed.
It’s not even just that she was with my scent matches, that’s enough to send me into a spiral.
No, it’s because she also hurt them so deeply and has left a bad taste for scent matches in their mouth.
If I was dating someone before the guys, which is laughable, there’s no way I would just up and leave them like she did.
Scent matches aren’t everything, your heart can still be open to others.
At least I sure fucking hope so, because if Lain isn’t mine, then I might be devastated.
Maybe that’s how she felt and I’m judging her too harshly?
Either way, I don’t care because she broke Callum’s heart, so I hate her regardless.
“And Callum didn’t get into an altercation with them?”
“Uhh…no.”
“You’re not being very forthcoming with information, are you?”
Maybe it’s a good idea to introduce the idea of me and Callum now. I mean, the second I’m off my deodorizers, they’re going to know, anyway.
“So I might have kissed him and acted like his Omega so that it wouldn’t be awkward for him to be around them.”
I’m not sure what I expected him to say or do, but cracking up laughing wasn’t it.
“Oh, Maisie. You’re perfect,” he says, kissing the top of my head.
I’m far from it, but it sure feels nice to have men who think I am.
“I can’t wait to scent you for the first time. I know it’s going to be amazing,” Greer says and my breath hitches.
He has no idea just how amazing it’s going to be, not even a little bit.
I’ve nearly bitten down my thumbnail to the skin, waiting for Lain to pull up to Greer’s. I’m sitting at a window seat, drinking water and picking at the cheese plate Callum made me.
I didn’t even order it; he took it upon himself to bring it to me. He didn’t say a single word when he dropped it off. He just stared at me with confusion, like he was trying to figure out what he wanted to say.
Obviously things between us are a little awkward right now. He was there for me when I needed him without hesitation, but he needs reassurance from me and I need clarity about this whole situation.
The bell of the restaurant dings and it’s Alan.
“My love. I’ve got to say, it’s gotten a whole lot prettier around here since you and your sister moved in.”
I blink at him. “We haven’t moved.”
Alan waves me off. “Please, the way you two already have all these lads by the balls, you belong to Scotland now.”
The old man isn’t wrong, but it’s still scary as hell isn’t it?
What will I do for work when I move here?
It’s a small town, and sure, there’s a decent bit of tourism during the peak seasons.
I’ve worked in commercial beauty marketing my whole adult life and I’ll have to figure out how to adjust along with living with men, having multiple partners, and not having the comforts of my home with me.
I’m spiraling again and I hate it.
Lain is the missing piece. But no matter if he’s my scent match or not, he’s mine.
I’m staying.
I just need confirmation that everyone is on the same page and I want us all to work through this together as a pack. I have my individual relationship with each of the men, but something this big, we need to discuss it together.
When his van pulls up, my ass is out of its seat like it’s on fire as I rush outside. Of course, he has nice guests who keep chatting and handing him tips and I’m doing my very best to not tell them to hurry the fuck up and let me see my man or else I’ll have a mental breakdown.
After all the tourists are off the bus, Fergus is the first to greet me. Damn, I even love the dog.
Wait, love?
But as Lain walks down the steps of his van, the happiest grin in the world to see me, I know I’m in love. Maybe not with Callum yet, but the scent match is already tethering us in a profound way.
“It’s my girl,” he says happily, and when he gets close enough, it hits me like a freight train.
Tobacco and vanilla.
Lain is my scent match, and the realization has me nearly falling to my knees. Luckily, he picks me up for a gigantic hug.
“You can’t go back to Chicago, just a weekend away was enough to break me.”
“I know,” I say into his neck and he becomes perpetually still.
“What?”
“Tomorrow. Can we talk about it tomorrow?” I plead with him. Everything will be easier when they can scent me back, when they know what this really is.
We’re a fated pack.
I squeeze Lain so tight he has a hard time craning his neck to look at my face.
“Is everything okay?” he asks as he puts me down, but I keep my hands on him.
“Everything is good. I promise.” I lick my lips, contemplating jumping him right now and fucking him in his van. “Can all of you meet me at your house tomorrow night?”
“All of us?”
“You, Greer, and Callum,” I reply and if I thought his grin was big before, now it’s comically huge.
“See. I knew it. The grumpy little fucker just needed to spend time with you. Too charming for your own damn good. What about tonight? You just got back?” His smile falls with the question.
“I’ll explain everything tomorrow. Just…all three of you at your house tomorrow at eight, okay?” I’m taking a step away from him. If I don’t get away from his scent soon I may just go completely feral.
The poor Alpha is so confused by what I’m asking, but I just can’t be around them and hold this secret any longer. I need to get off my deodorizers and then they’ll understand.
“Maisie, are you sure everything is fine?”
“Yes,” I say, backing further away to escape his scent that’s so potent it’s enough to trip up my brain and make me lose my thoughts or my pants. It’s already happened twice with Callum and Greer.
It isn’t easy trying to pull away from him, especially when he looks like he wants me so badly right now. That look, however, is what gives me the courage I need to back away.
“At least let me walk you home,” Lain tries to compromise and I shake my head.
“Tomorrow night, me, your pack. It’s a date.”
That seems to excite him enough that he doesn’t ask me to stay again, even if he is completely confused by my behavior.
Almost half the walk to the Heather Beag, I consider turning back around, but I can’t be around them all and continue to hold onto this secret.
So instead of spending time with my three scent-matched Alphas who don’t have a single clue about how significant this all is, I do what I do best—research.
I look up information about going off my deodorizers so abruptly and what potential risks are involved. None of it is enough to deter me, but there are some worrying side effects.
After that I look up everything there is to know about scent matches.
Scientifically, it doesn’t seem like they can pinpoint the how or whys of it all, but there are a lot of personal accounts and studies done for scent-matched packs.
Most of the Omegas report the same things as I’m feeling, the main thing being an intense pull to their mates.
There are a few articles written where the Omega was on scent blockers and or deodorizers and were drawn to their scent matches before ever having scented each other—just like us.
On the other side of things, there’s some resentment online about scent matches, how people feel like they don’t have control over their life, which is relatable as fuck.
There are always the what ifs. I saw it firsthand with my mother. When she first met my dad, he was a dream, and then he up and left her with two kids without a second thought to pursue something else. People can seem like one thing at first, but it takes time to show their true colors.
But I’m taking a gamble on this pack, even if it is the scariest thing I’ve ever done. I don’t take my pill or lather up with deodorizers and I just have to wait for everything to wear off.
When I walk into our room at the B&B, Birdie is tossing shit around, her scent back on full display and I just stare at her.
“Birdie?”
She turns to face me, but then goes back to piling shit on her bed.
“Birdie, what are you doing?”
“I don’t know!” She doesn’t say it at me angrily, just that she’s frustrated with her own behavior.
“Are you looking for something?”
“The opposite, I found it and I-I-I,” she stutters before tears fall from her eyes.
“Hey. Hey,” I say, walking around and squeezing her tight.
Part of me wants to tell her everything, but I’m not sure if that’s fair to the guys. They should be the first ones to know that they’re my scent matches.
Honestly, the way Birdie is acting leads me to believe we’re both in the same boat and we’re just trying not to sink. So instead of discussing the elephant in the room—scent matches—I drop a secondary bomb that I hope will give her some sort of comfort.
“I’m thinking about staying.”
She pauses, breaks away from our hug and looks at me like she’s never seen me before.
“You’re not taking the job in London or going back to Chicago?”
I shake my head, my own eyes welling with tears and oh my God, I promise to never bundle up my emotions ever again with the way they’ve been seeping out of me this whole damn trip.
“I think here is home.”
Her dark brows furrow. “You’re never impulsive,” she says.
“I know and maybe you are a little bit, but that doesn’t define you, Birdie. You know, I’ve been jealous of you for a long time.”
Her lips part in shock and she again stares at me like I’ve been body snatched.
“The way you’re so free, and willing to dive head first into an adventure, and how generous you are with your heart.”
“Probably too generous,” Birdie says with a sniff.
“Just because you’ve fallen hard and fast in the past doesn’t mean that the same thing will happen again.”
“What about you? You’re not just staying to make me feel better, are you?”
“I’m definitely not that evolved, Birdie."
We laugh and look at each other for a long moment.
“This place is our fate, isn’t it?” Birdie asks.
“Yeah, I think it is.”
We don’t share more than that, but the truth is right between the lines for both of us. We’ve found our scent matches and we’ve found our home.