Chapter Seven
Mandy
Iwake to Axel’s fading scent and the sound of a new message chiming on my mobile. The sun is warm on my face, a ray falling right across my bed from a gap between the curtains. I disentangle myself from my sheets as I roll over and reach for my nightstand, where I always keep my phone.
It’s not until I’ve sat up straight with my phone in hand, ready to unlock my screen, that I realize I don’t know how I ended up in my bed. I probably fell asleep while Axel read to me, and he must have carried me here.
I’m not sure whether to feel embarrassed by that or put it down in my notebook as a date idea for a future romance novel. It was the best freaking date I’ve ever been on—even though we didn’t actually go anywhere.
In the end, we ordered pizza and wine, and Axel read to me late into the night.
A flush of heat runs through me at the memory.
It had taken everything in me not to pounce on him and take back my words about taking it slow.
Somehow, I held myself together. It was hairy, though.
An omega has needs that aren’t easy to contain when her scent-matched alpha is right there.
Unlocking my phone screen, I take a second to glance at the messages sitting there. There’s one from Vae at about ten o’clock last night asking how the date had gone. The eggplant, knot and squirting water emojis make me laugh out loud.
Of course, my bestie wants to know all about the knot. She’s a touch reclusive with people she doesn’t know, but the two of us share everything.
Gods, I haven't been knotted outside a heat. Ever.
I’ve never found an alpha I wanted to see for longer than a date or two.
Not since high school. And I’ve always used heat services to make sure I’m not alone.
The same pack has helped me through the last few, but there wasn’t a connection beyond the physical.
They went exclusive with their omega last month and broke off our arrangement.
Which is fine, but has made me a little stressed.
It seems I might not need to worry. After the time we spent together last night, I’m confident Axel will be here when my next heat hits. Maybe his packmate Chase will join us too. I can’t help but wonder what he’s like and whether he and I will get along. Will we be scent-matched too?
A scent match with multiple members of the same pack isn’t as uncommon as you would think. It’s rarer than a single scent match, that’s for sure. But it happens.
The romantic in me likes to think of it as fate working hard to bring packs together who will produce the happiest omegas. But it’s probably more to do with the biology side of things and producing healthy, strong offspring.
The other messages are from Axel. The first was very early in the morning, letting me know he had to leave for practice, and that he’d enjoyed our night together and wanted to see me again soon. Next up was from a few minutes ago telling me to check my front door; there’s a surprise waiting for me.
Scrambling out of bed, I grab my purple knit blanket and throw it over my shoulders. It smells of Axel’s campfire scent, and I bring it to my nose and inhale deeply. I’ll never get enough of it.
I wander through my apartment, noting that the lounge has been tidied, and the empty pizza box, plates, and glasses of wine nowhere to be seen. As I pass the kitchen, I notice the dishwasher has finished a recent cycle.
So, Axel cleans up after himself. The thought brings a smile to my face.
I’m enjoying learning new things about him and how he moves about his daily life.
So far, each new thing I learn makes me feel like we’re well suited.
Like the fact that we’re a scent-match isn’t the only thing that would bring us together.
Like maybe if we both had anosmia like Posie in the novel we were reading last night, we’d still be perfect for each other.
Opening my door, I glance up and down the hallway before my eyes land on a paper bag on the floor. I pick it up and bring it inside, placing it carefully on my bench when I hear something sloshing around.
Has he had breakfast delivered to me?
Oh. My. God.
I tear the bag open and take a peek inside, curious about what he would have ordered for me.
The first thing I spot is the cup tray. There are two drinks sitting inside the cardboard. Pulling it out of the bag carefully, I place them on the bench. There’s a hot coffee and an iced coffee, both of them my favorite orders.
This alpha has butterflies fluttering a storm in my stomach with how attentive and considerate he is. Even though he had to get up and go to hockey practice, he still made sure my morning was sorted.
Smiling to myself, I reach back into the bag and pull out the takeaway box. The smell of bacon hits me, and my stomach growls almost as if on cue. I open the lid to find a BLT sandwich made on sourdough bread inside. Another point to Axel.
My phone dings with a new message.
Axel
Enjoy your breakfast, Mally. I’ve got you a seat for the game tomorrow. Will you come?
Mally? Short for Marshmallow, maybe? Kind of cute.
Mandy
Thank you, Axel. The BLT has my stomach growling! I’ll be there!
Axel
Can’t wait to see you. Have a great day writing about hockey butts xx.
A giggle escapes me as I read his last message and put my phone back into my pocket.
I’m still wearing the clothes I changed into last night, and while I know I should probably shower and change, I really don’t want to.
Axel’s scent lingers on both my clothing and blanket, and I’m not quite ready to say goodbye to it yet.
Placing the iced coffee in the fridge for later, I serve my BLT on a plate and take both it and the hot coffee to my nest. My laptop boots up as I eat my sandwich, my mind whirling with emotions and feelings I haven’t felt in the longest time.
The library is quiet tonight. Most of the students studying have packed up and left for the day. The last bus leaves at 4.00 p.m. but Austin will drive me home—if he ever actually gets here.
I busy myself getting my notes out of my schoolbag and arranging them on the table for our session. Austin’s father pays me to tutor him. He’s struggling in English, and without the extra help, he’d be flunking out. As it is, he’s only just scraping a passing mark.
English isn’t for everyone. But Austin is expected to get good grades in every class if he wants to maintain his position on the hockey team.
I’d tutor him for free, though. No questions asked. I know exactly zero about hockey and have never been to a game—though I plan to soon—but I know Austin, and I enjoy being around him. Like the way he looks at me with those dark brown eyes that feel like never-ending windows to his soul.
“Sorry! I’m sorry, Mandy. Kieran was fucking around on the ice, and Coach punished us all with extra drills,” Austin says as he rushes toward my table, dropping his bag to the floor. His blonde hair is damp and swept to the side, and he smells freshly showered.
“No worries,” I say, smiling up at him as he rummages in his bag and pulls out the book we’re currently studying in class. “If I didn’t know you were chronically late by now, then I’d be pretty ignorant.”
Austin leans down and kisses me softly. It’s a quick kiss—the librarian would lose her ever-loving shit if it were anything more—but it still sends a shiver running all the way down my spine.
Probably because it’s so new. We’ve only been dating a couple of weeks but, and call me na?ve if you will, I think I could stay with him for a lifetime.
Austin C. Hampton is the most talented defenseman on our school’s team. And he just happens to be my boyfriend. Who would have thought the literature nerd and the jock would end up together? Not me, that’s for sure. I still sometimes have to pinch myself to believe it’s real.
Austin takes a seat beside me, placing one hand on my thigh, the other revealing a small bunch of lilacs in the other.
“Before we discuss Shakespeare’s use of tragic heroes with fatal flaws, I have something to ask you.”
My breath catches in my lungs as my heart races with anticipation. I think I know what this is. And I’ve been dying for it to happen.
“Mandy Catherine Paine. Will you do the honor of being my date to prom?”
“Yes,” I squeal, leaping from my seat and into his lap so fast that the chair topples over and we go sprawling to the floor.
Austin doesn’t miss a beat. His arm wraps around my waist where I’m lying on top of him, and he presses his lips to mine for a kiss much less sweet than a few minutes earlier.
My skin flushes with heat and I sink into him, wishing the moment would never end.
“Ahem,” a throat clears. I tear myself away from Austin and look up to find the librarian staring down at us, her arms crossed and a severe frown on her face. “You know the rules. Get your things and get out.”
I blink rapidly, trying to push away the memory of my first true love.
As sweet as it was, it brings me nothing but pain now.
Austin never took me to prom. Instead, he ghosted me.
I waited for him to pick me up for hours, and he never showed.
When I finally got angry enough to go on my own, he wasn’t there.
He never answered the phone, and all his parents would say was that he’d been offered a position at an elite hockey training school. Their eyes were always full of anger—never sympathy.
I haven’t heard from Austin since, and the heartbreak hasn’t gotten any easier to live with.
Closure might be my friend, but Austin is a ghost. He doesn’t exist online. Has no social media presence.
He’s faded away, leaving only an unhealed wound behind. The past is the past though, and I need to leave the hurt behind and try not to let it affect my relationship with Axel.
He could very well be the person who stitches the pieces of my heart back together.