Chapter Thirty-Four – Mercedes
I stay in Darius’s bed until all three guys leave for work. Both Nic and Warren find me in his room, laying naked in his bed, and neither of them comment on it. They simply come to me to kiss me goodbye and tell me to have a good day. It’s… oddly normal, and I don’t know what to make of it.
And then, as I lay there in the silence of the house, it hits me. It really, truly hits me.
I slept with them. I did the one thing I didn’t want to do. I opened up to them, and they accepted me and my past, all without an ounce of trepidation, and then they proved me to that I belong to them, and I played the mewling omega like it was the role I was born to play.
It was, I suppose. I am an omega. I just thought… I always thought I’d end up alone, that running from this city and Jay was my only option. Not once did I ever think I’d have help. I mean, that’s just too optimistic for someone like me to hope for.
A part of me wonders if I’ll regret being with them, but as the day goes on and I get up, shower, and get dressed, regret is the last thing I feel. If anything, I’m happy. Happier than I’ve ever been. Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever been happy in my life, so this is a first for me.
It’s strange, too. I feel lighter, like the weight on my shoulders has been lifted, and I can breathe in deeply without having to worry about the secrets I’ve been hiding. They saw me for who I am and they accepted me, wanted me, told me I was theirs—and I loved it.
God, I think I’m more than crushing on these guys.
And Darius is my scent match? I never heard of such a thing, but when he was telling me last night that he knew from the moment he saw me, something clicked in my mind. I liked the way Nic and Warren smelled, yes, but something about Darius’s mere presence has always done something more to me. Scent matches seem like they’re a thing of fairytales, but how else can I explain why I feel so drawn to the alpha who was nothing but mean to me at first?
I make my way down to the kitchen, and when I do, I discover it’s lunch time, and Laurie is there, making a sandwich. She tosses me a glance over her shoulder and gives me a grin. “Good morning, sleepy head! I was just about to bring you up some lunch. Sit, sit. Let me fuss over you.”
“I can—”
“No, dear, it’s all right. Really. Sit down.”
I make my way to the table and sit, fiddling with my hands on my lap. Still feels weird to me to have someone make a fuss over me; I’m just not used to it. I watch as Laurie makes what looks to me a chicken sandwich. Before long, I have a large plate of some kind of cheesy chips and a sandwich with an extra amount of meat on it.
“Since you didn’t eat breakfast,” she explains as she sits down across from me, smiling ear to ear. “You had a late night.”
I just put a chip in my mouth when she said that, and thank goodness I’m still in the process of chewing it, because if I was swallowing, I definitely would choke. The late night comment, there’s only one thing it could mean: she and Daniel heard us. “Oh, God.” My cheeks flush in embarrassment, and I can’t meet her eyes. “I’m so sorry.”
“Oh, no, don’t be! That’s not… I didn’t mean anything by it. If anything, I’m glad you and my sons are getting closer.”
Still blushing furiously, I mutter, “I’ll make sure we wash the sheets before we go.” How embarrassing. I can’t believe in the heat of the moment I didn’t even remember we weren’t alone in the house, that the guys’ parents were just down the hall. If I could crawl under a rock, I totally would. Hiding is the only way to mask how humiliated I feel.
“Don’t concern yourself with any of that,” she says, waving off my embarrassment like it’s nothing. “Really, it’s fine. The four of you have blossomed while you’ve been here, and I can’t be more thrilled. I’m so glad you all took a chance on each other.”
Finally, I’m able to look at her. I take a bite of the sandwich before I ask, “Have you heard of scent matches?”
“Of course, dear. Why?”
“Are they really a thing? It’s not something made-up?”
The look Laurie gives me right then tells me enough. “They are indeed a thing. Very rare, from what I hear. They were probably more common back in the day, but with how spread out humanity is now, you don’t really hear about them happening too often anymore.”
“We never learned about them at Solus, so I thought… I guess a part of me thought they can’t be real.”
She tilts her head. “Why do you ask?”
“Darius,” I say his name, feeling a warmth immediately bloom in my lower gut at his mere mention. How pathetic is that? “Last night Darius told me we’re each other’s scent match.”
Laurie sucks in a hard breath and claps her hands, and then she holds her hands over her heart and beams at me from across the table. “Oh, my. That’s—that’s just wonderful news. I’m so happy for you both. I… wait a minute.” Her hands fall to her lap, and she purses her lips in thought. “He just now said something? I can understand you being clueless, but Darius should’ve known better—”
I bite the inside of my cheek. “He was fighting it.”
The sigh she sighs right then is earth-shattering and full of annoyance. “That one. I need to have a word with him when he gets home, because that is unacceptable—”
“It’s okay,” I say, leaping to his defense. “I mean, I didn’t even know they were a thing before. All I knew was he smelled really good, but he was kind of a jerk, so I tried to stay away from him.”
“When it comes to scent matches, staying away is impossible. You’re hardwired to want the other. It’s mother nature’s way of connecting alphas and omegas.” She pauses, her warm smile returning. “It’s a good thing. It is. If you don’t want me smacking any sense into Darius, I won’t. He might still be my son, but he’s your alpha now.”
I don’t know what to say to that, so I take another bite of the sandwich. After all that sex, I really am ravenous. I wolf down the food and all the chips like it’s nothing, and then I guzzle down the pop she brought me. When I’m done, I go to grab the plate and the empty pop can, but Laurie stops me.
Laurie shakes her head and says, “I’ll handle that later. Come on, dear, there’s something I want to show you.” She gestures for me to follow her, so I do. Up the stairs we go, to the third floor of the house. Their house is smaller, and the third floor is basically a finished attic space.
Smells a little stale, like dust and cobwebs, and it causes me to wrinkle my nose as I take in the space. Full of boxes, some old furniture; I can’t help but wonder what the point is in keeping all this stuff. If you’re not using it, why not just throw it out or give it to someone who can put it to good use?
Laurie goes to a stack of plastic bins, opening them up one by one and rummaging through them. I stand near her, not knowing why we’re up here and simultaneously hoping we’ll be done soon so I can fill my lungs with air that’s been circulated in the last twenty years.
“This is the one,” Laurie says, reattaching the lid to the bin. “Can you grab the other side? It’s a little heavy. We’re going to bring it downstairs to the living room.”
“Sure.” I walk around the stack of bins and grab the other side of the one on top—and just like she said, it’s heavy. No way she or I could lift it by ourselves. If one of the guys was here, they’d be able to do it easy-peasy.
We head down the stairs; Laurie is the one who goes first, leading the way. We go slow, so as to not trip and hurt ourselves. Thankfully, by now, my ankle feels better, so it’s not an issue for me. We end up in the living room, setting the bin down near the coffee table. She motions for me to sit down on the couch, so that’s what I do, and I watch as she opens the bin and pulls something out.
“I wanted to show you some of these,” she says, giving me a smile as she comes to sit next to me.
“What is it?” I ask as she holds the binder-looking thing between us. When she flips open the cover, I instantly get my answer: photo albums. These are all pictures of the guys, of this family, and judging by the age of the two boys in the first picture, it’s from quite a while ago.
As in, twenty years or so.
“I wanted to show you when you first came, but Nic said to give you some time.” She studies me while I stare down at the first picture. “Well? Has it been enough time? Can I show you some pictures of your alphas when they were little boys? There are some embarrassing ones in here, if that sways your answer.” She chuckles at that.
I literally cannot say “I want to see” fast enough for her to understand how badly I want to see pictures of the guys when they were small, before they presented as alphas and became the manly specimens they are today.
“Great,” she says. “This is a birthday album. These first few are on Nic’s fifth birthday.” She points to a young boy, grinning ear to ear: Nic. His brown hair is so long it covers his eyes, and he’s on the ground, in the midst of a mound of presents. “You can see Darius and Pax in the background.”
Oh, I do. Darius and Pax are on the couch, watching their youngest brother with puckered mouths. They look so similar, it’s difficult to tell who’s who; the only thing that points me in the direction of Darius is the fact that Pax is a few years older than him—and he already presented as an alpha by then, if I have to guess, based on the muscles he has in the picture.
“Pax was fifteen at the time, Darius twelve. Darius always took after his older brother, even when they were kids.” She turns the page and reveals more photos from the same birthday party.
“Why is there such an age difference between them?” I ask, genuinely curious. Having basically two teenagers and a five-year-old must’ve been miserable. Their needs, their care requirements… teenagers can get into some shit.
Then again, everyone can get into shit.
“I always wanted three. After Pax and Darius came out, Daniel wanted to wait a while before we tried again, make sure we could handle the two before we added another into the mix.” She laughs softly and adds, “When we trying for Nic, I really wanted a daughter. Don’t tell him this, but I think that’s why he’s so in tune with his emotions. He’s quite sensitive, for an alpha. Fate said no daughters for me, but gave me the next best thing.”
“Nic is sweet,” I say.
“He is,” she agrees.
We go through the album. She shows me pictures of Darius’s birthday that year, along with Pax’s, though we mainly skim over those since Pax isn’t our focus. The next album is a trip to the zoo when Nic is seven. This one has Warren, who grins like a maniac in most of the pictures, the same semi-psychotic look he wears now.
“Warren got held back in school, so he was in the same grade as Nic. They became fast friends. The two were pretty much inseparable from then on.” Her voice quiets as she glances at me. “Did Warren tell you about his family?”
I nod once, my tone grim when I say, “He did.”
“He was over all the time, and the kids never hung out at his house. I should’ve known something was going on,” she says with a slight frown. “I just thought, at the time, he was a weird kid. If I would’ve known the extent of things at home for him, I would’ve had Daniel do something.”
“Warren said Nic called on his father a few times, but nothing was ever done. Nothing could be done unless his mom reported it herself.”
Laurie nods. “Yes, it’s unfortunate. Still, maybe Daniel could’ve scared his father straight, or gotten some sense into her before…” She swallows hard. “Before she died, before that dick of an alpha killed her.”
I’m taken aback at her use of language even though it suits the situation.
“I’m sorry,” she says quickly. “I just… I hate that it happened. I hate that we’re bombarded with burly, strong and sensitive alphas and not shown the truth in the movies or TV shows. Sometimes alphas are just bad people.”
“They run society, so of course they don’t want to acknowledge that.”
“You’re right.” She gently closes the photo album on her lap and leans forward to set it on the coffee table, along with others we went through before. She grabs my hand and squeezes it. “Nic, Darius, and Warren are some of the good ones. That’s not to say they won’t mess up every now and then, but we’re all human. We all mess up sometimes. I want you to know, though, that you didn’t just get Nic, Darius, and Warren. You have me too, now. I might not be an omega, so I might not be able to relate to some things, but if you ever need to talk or come over and vent about the boys, I will always be here for you.”
Laurie’s smile makes my chest constrict. “I told you I always wanted a daughter—and now I have one.” She lets go of my hand to move some of my hair off my shoulder with such a tenderness to it, I’m flabbergasted. “Maybe it’s not official yet, but you’re as good as blood now. You’re one of us, an Alabaster, my daughter.”
I’d be a liar if I say I didn’t spend years of my childhood wondering why my life had to suck, why my parents had to die and leave me alone—I spent more nights than I care to admit laying there, wide awake, trying to picture what my life would be like if it was normal. But, being nearly twenty-one now, thoughts like that haven’t dominated my mind in a long, long time. Jay and his terror took their place once we got old enough.
Still, my eyes grow watery from her words, and I try to blink the extra mistiness away, but all it does is force a tear down my cheek.
“Oh, honey,” she whispers, pulling me in for a hug. She wraps one arm around my upper back and the other around my front, to my shoulder, and she leans her cheek against the top of my head. “It’s all right. Everything’s going to be fine.”
My first instinct is to pull away; physical comfort like this is not something I’m used to, especially from another woman. If I had a mom, maybe that would be different. Then again, if I had a mom, I might not be here to begin with. It takes everything in me to resist the urge of pulling away from her and let her hug me like I imagine a mother would hug their child.
It’s… strangely nice, knowing I can always go to her if I need something. I’ve never had that before. Yet another reason why I can’t imagine running away from this pack.
We remain like that for a while, and when I’m calm and no longer letting my emotions leak from the corners of my eyes, Laurie finally lets me go with a gentle rub on the back. We resume going through the photo albums, and she makes sure to point out some embarrassing ones, including pictures of both Nic and Darius in bubble baths when they were toddlers.
And boy, were they adorable when they were young.
Seeing their youthful smiles and the obvious good times they had, year after year, makes me a strange sort of wistful. Not only do I wish I had a childhood like that, with two loving parents who threw birthday parties and took me to the zoo or the ice skating rink or whatnot, but it also makes me wonder how the guys would be with a kid of their own. I never wanted kids, the thought never appealed to me, so it’s also quite shocking to me that my mind voluntarily goes there on its own.
These men are making me think about things I swore to myself I never wanted. They’re changing me. Right now, I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing.