Well. Fuck.
jac
Present
Lost in a daydream of one day finding my own pack, but that wasn’t in the cards for me. Beverly sneaks up behind me, scaring the ever-loving shit out of me as she drops her phone in front of me on the counter.
“Shit Bev! You’re going to send a girl to an early grave with the way you sneak around.” I try to be mad at the older Beta who stands next to me with a devilish grin, yet I can’t. She’s been more a mother to me in the last eleven months than my mother ever was in the twenty-eight years before.
I was an unbonded Omega who showed up in the small mountain town of Lake City with no connections. It was nearing midnight when I showed up at Ten Pins, leaving everything society deemed ‘the perfect life.’ Including the Alpha who was far from perfect.
Trent James was what every Omega mother wanted for their daughter—on the outside. He was suave, charming, and wealthy. The son of a tech mogul and next in line for becoming CEO, he had it made.
Too bad he was an utter douche who liked to get handsy and harsh after one too many whiskeys. Running from him, and the world of elite Alphaholes he was surrounded by, was the best, and most terrifying, move I’ve ever made.
I shake the memories off and direct my attention to Bev.
She’s about eight inches taller than me, her curly grey hair pulled into a neat bun on the top of her head.
While she’s older, she hardly looks her age.
I guess finding the love of your life young will do that.
From her stories, their love was one of fairy tales.
The way Bev loses herself when she talks about her husband is what I yearned for.
“I heard from a little birdie that there might be an eligible pack rolling into town today…” Bev teasingly elbows my side as she moves around me to clock in on the front desk computer.
I groan, dropping my head in my hands. She’s done nothing but talk up her son and his pack since finding out I was an unbonded Omega.
I kept that hidden as long as I could, but when my heat showed up shortly after arriving, there was no denying it.
Bev helped me get suppressants and scent blockers after hearing my history with Trent.
Ever since she’s gently mentioned Luke and his Alpha’s whenever she can, constantly reminding me that not all Alpha’s or packs are like Trent.
At first, the idea of another Alpha getting near me sent me into a full-blown panic, but as she talked about Luke and his pack, the panic subsided.
My life before coming here was full of luxury, never wanting or needing anything.
I was beyond lucky, but as time passed the realization sunk in that I was caged in that life.
It was the most evident after the night I ran.
Trent and I weren’t scent matches, and I thought that was what led us to where we ended up.
Now I know better. He was the perfect Alpha when in public, but once we were behind closed doors everythign changed.
“Bev, I want to meet them, I do…” I start.
“But you’re not ready. I know sweetie. You don’t have to be anything but friends.
You need more people to talk to than little ole’ me.
Besides, they’ll be here any minute.” She wraps her arms around my shoulders and plants a kiss to the top of my head with a soft giggle.
I make myself busy with spraying disinfectant in some returned rental shoes, ignoring the small part of my Omega that’s hoping maybe this pack will be mine.
Ugh, relax Omega hormones.
I’m putting the rental shoes away in the wall of shoe cubbies when the bell chimes over the entrance.
Bev squeals and bolts from behind the desk with a speed I’ve never seen from the Beta.
I turn around, slipping into the desk chair, obscuring myself behind the computer monitor in hopes I can discreetly observe the pack of eligible men as they walk into the alley.
Bev immediately heads to the shortest of the four men—who’s still at least six feet tall, making Bev look small.
He wraps her up in his arms, as I hear her chide him for being away so long.
From this distance, I can’t tell much about them except that they all are even taller than whom I’m guessing is Luke.
Probably-Luke looks up, and we make eye contact briefly before I move to act busy.
Cursing myself for getting caught watching the reunion, I look back at the computer to work on the social media schedule for the week.
Though I didn’t mean to, I actually did become engrossed in said schedule.
Someone clears their throat, catching my attention and I look up to see Bev’s scheming grin.
It seemed the group had moved much closer in my mental absence.
“Jac, this is my son, Luke. Luke, this is Jac.” She lays her hand on Luke’s bicep as he stands next to her. His towering frame was muscled to perfection.
“Ahh so you’re the girl who’s won over my mom and somehow snagged my barn apartment from me?” he says, grinning as he leans into his mom a little more.
“Bev have you been talking about me?” I ask, knowing damn well that she has.
“All good things dear, all good things.” She smirks as I give her a knowing look. Bev’s always only ever spoken highly of Luke and his pack so I can only imagine what she’s said about me.
She’s a runaway Omega with nothing but a dance degree working at a bowling alley. Don’t forget skittish around Alphas.
I chide myself for thinking it and turn my gaze to Luke.
He’s got the same smile as her, his sky-blue eyes are framed by the most full, natural lashes.
Fucking men and their long lashes. Luke’s unruly dark curls fall onto his forehead slightly as he holds his hand out in offering to me.
I reach across the counter, placing mine in his as I smile up at him.
Fuck he’s beautiful.
“Nice to meet you Jac. These are my packmates.” Luke says as he drops my hand, waving the three other men forward. Bev scoots around the counter closer to me as the Alpha scents sink into my space. Leather, campfire and some familiar citrus all swarm my senses.
The smells relax me so much that slick begins dripping between my legs, and I haven’t even looked away from the handsome Beta to see the Alpha’s overwhelming my Omega instincts.
They smell so fucking good. My Omega pheromones haven’t reacted like this since that night, but that isn’t possible.
One scent match is hard to find, let alone several. There’s just no way.
The first pack member steps forward, emerald green eyes framed by his deep brown hair, making him almost appear ethereal. I can’t look away. He's so breathtakingly beautiful, then he speaks, and my Omega is definitely screaming at me to mate this Alpha.
“Hi Sugar. I’m Monty.” His plush pink lips move as his deep baritone voice reverberates through me. My Omega is purring as he reaches for my hand, placing a short kiss to the skin.
My cinnamon perfume drifts around me, Monty’s pupils dilate as my scent hits his nose and a soft purr rumbles from him. His own campfire scent overwhelms me, making me want to crawl into his arms so he can coat me in it. Holy shit Jac, he’s just a man. A really damn fine man. No.
A really damn fine Alpha.
As Monty steps away, I am immediately sucked into deep mahogany brown eyes, a leather scent filling my nostrils as the new Alpha introduces himself.
“Heya Jac, I’m Taylor.” He winks as he gives me a little wave, and I wave back. All these men so far are tall and built, it has my Omega brain racing with filthy thoughts of what they could do to me…
The way they could just toss me around…
“And I’m Anderson, but I think you already know that, Jac.
” His voice is like a bucket of ice-cold water dousing my Omega hormones.
The citrus aroma should’ve given it away, but I let myself get distracted with horny thoughts and the other pack members scents.
My body betrays me and releases another burst of perfume, now is not the time to be turned on.
I look at the last Alpha, and I’m drawn in by the same ice blue eyes that have haunted my dreams. Panic sets in momentarily, before I realize it’s not the face of my ex-fiancé that I’m seeing.
No. It’s much worse.
It’s his younger brother. The one I know with certainty is my scent match, and the reason I ran away.
Well, fuck me.