23. Kallis
Kallis
Since there are no games today, I’m taking scans of half the team. Which means I will eventually have to interact with Orso, Mathan, and Artie, no matter how far down the list I put them. However, only one of the three alphas that plague my thoughts is due in today.
My office is empty, though I’m even more aware that it’s my nest now that I know he’s coming.
It’s been six days since Aspen made her suggestion regarding them, and our conversation has been weighing heavily on my mind.
Someone clears their throat behind me, but the wash of freshly cut grass tells me he’s arrived before he even speaks.
“We have to stop running into each other like this,” Artie says, cocking his head as I turn to face him, making me waver already.
“You’re the one who’s late,” I reply. I pick my tablet up from my desk, as if holding it against my chest is enough to prevent my heart rate from rising.
“Well, I was just preparing a little something for you. Like a gift, so you’ll cheer for us during the game tomorrow.” The purr in his voice is far too dangerous.
Especially combined with his seemingly innocent smile, his loose flower power shirt, surfer shorts showing his muscles, and the way his messy hair is just asking for me to stroke it. I’m quite sure he’s aware of how harmless he looks, so I shouldn’t let my guard down.
“I always cheer for you,” I say, far too honestly. Though I enjoy the way Artie flushes at my admission. I was talking about the Golden Bears overall, but the three naturally garner more of my support.
“Sit,” I tell him, pointing the tip of my digital pen to the chair.
“You don’t even want to know what the gift is?”
“I’m not interested. All I need are the scans, and then you can go.”
His dejected look is hard to watch, but I don’t want to give him any cause to act up. After the last time he was here, on the bed that sits to my right, no less, it has become difficult to focus on anything else. And I can’t see his presence helping my ability to continue my research.
But Artie still slips his hand into his pocket, rustling around before he pulls out one of the familiar yellow bars, except there’s something much different about it.
Red ribbons crisscross over it, and a gold star-shaped tag hangs from one end.
But that isn’t what causes me to suck in a breath, my knuckles pale against my tablet as my heart leaps into my throat.
“What are you doing?” I ask, warning fills my voice as he steps toward me, holding out the bar like it’s a bone for a dog.
The scent swirling from the Goldie, no bigger than his palm, is enough to rattle me and send heat curling through my core.
“You know, I always wondered if you’d react to only me, or if you needed all three of us together. I wanted to test it, so I just made one with my scent.”
“You’re acting like I’m going to roll over for you.”
“No, it’s not like that. I seriously just want to give you a gift. You…” He clears his throat; the confidence he’d displayed so far is faltering. “You kind of implied your heat is coming, so I thought it might help,” he mumbles.
My lips part as I struggle for a reply. Because, yes, gathering their scents is exactly what I want to do, but what is the etiquette behind an alpha offering an unmated omega an item specifically for her heat? It’s not exactly territory I’ve traversed before.
“I have ones from Mathan that Orso’s scented as well, if you want those, too?” More rustling produces four more bars wrapped together in a bundle. “I just kept my own separate because I wanted it to be special,” he says sheepishly.
“Why do you think that moments before a brain scan is the best time to offer them up? Surely it could wait?”
“I just sensed that now was the perfect moment for us. Like my heart was pulling me to you,” he replies with a wiry grin that makes me feel like there’s something more going on.
I take a slow breath, though it’s definitely a mistake now that Artie is in my nest.
Romance has never been an interest of mine, so I don’t know if I’m supposed to be touched by the gesture.
We have to keep the schedule tight for the day, and I can’t afford to be more than five minutes late to the rink, so I can confirm the arrangements with the opposition’s medical team for tomorrow’s home game.
“Understood. Place the Goldies on my desk and sit down.” My omega senses have become far more reactive since our time with them last week. From the way my body aches just by being close to him, I know it would be a bad idea to go near those thickly scented bars.
He bites his lip at my order, which I suspect he’s about to ignore.
Artie lifts the bars, and I unconsciously track them as he waves them in front of him again.
“Are you sure you don’t want to scent them before we start? Just once?” he asks expectantly. It turns out I’m weak to his hopeful look.
“No. I need to take my measurements, so stop distracting me and sit,” I say with a light growl, my glare growing deeper.
If it were Orso, he would respond in kind, and Mathan wouldn’t push me to this point, but Artie perks up. His grin grows, his eyes sparkle, and excitement and arousal flush his scent.
How is my frustration a turn-on?
Is this what Aspen meant when she asked me to let go? Does she want me to reach out for those oat bars and see where it may take me?
I’ve already scheduled time off for my heat in December, but a single whiff of the Goldies has a familiar tightness pulsing in my core. It’s enough to bring me close to lunging for them so I can display them next to my succulents like I planned with my initial robbery.
Thankfully, he does what I ask, dropping the bars on my desk with a poignant thud before throwing himself into the chair. I can’t lie; he’s cute when he huffs.
“You already said you know more about omegas than the others do,” I say, trying to distract myself as I move to fix the scanner in place by lowering it over his head.
His scent covers me, and I instantly relax because the large white egg-shaped helmet attached to a hinge also hides his face.
“Is that why you’re offering them to me?
Do you think I’ll fall for this trick?” I ask as I click the chin strap in place before I focus on the screen beside us, entering the requirements and bringing up his scans from nine months ago on my tablet.
“Orso and Mathan don’t want to bond with an omega the way I do,” Artie replies, muffled by the helmet, both answering and avoiding my question at the same time.
A small dash of pain stings my chest. I know he’s not specifically talking about me, but Aspen told me to listen to myself, and that piece of hurt is a sign that shows me how I really feel about them as alphas.
“Why are you telling me that when you’re the one who’s most invested in me?” I ask, as the machine buzzes and lights up.
“Orso knows I like omegas; he just doesn’t pay attention to how I act around them. He doesn’t like it. So I’m always careful to make sure I don’t hurt him. Friends, but not too friendly, you know?” he says with an edge to his voice I don’t understand. “Mathan just wants us both to be happy.”
So why do his words hold such a dismissive tone?
“Then why search for an omega at all if you know it will hurt him?” I ask after a pensive silence. The machine has captured ten images, and I found a clear one among them. I should have told him to be quiet, but I was too interested in what he had to say.
“Because he’s never been with an omega before, or a woman. I don’t just do it for me; I want him to unleash his alpha side and experience sleeping with an omega just to see how he feels. Especially if they are in heat.”
“And what if he already knows what he wants? Aren’t you inhibiting him by assuming he’s missing out?” Like the omegas I worked with who insisted my life would be better if I found an alpha and ignored me when I said I was happy as I was.
“It’s kind of hard to explain to someone who isn’t interested in alphas,” he chuckles.
“I can’t believe there are people out there who don’t get excited the moment they learn that there is someone out there in the world who’s just for them.
Isn’t that wild? I’ve watched all my brothers and sisters find their mates and pack up since I was a kid.
So obviously I’m gonna want that for myself! ”
I press my lips together to stem my rush of irritation, because it feels like the same argument we’ve had before. I undo the chin strap and pull the helmet off, meeting his bright-eyed grin.
“I’m not something to collect, Artie. Whether you are my match or not, we are both still people with individual lives. Who’s to say they will be in accordance with each other? I have no intention of changing any of the plans I have worked my whole life toward because of you.”
“But our match means that it’ll all work out! No matter what happens, we’re meant for each other, Bee. We were born to be together, all the way down to our DNA.”
I’m not interested in the biology of a scent match, so I only have a layman’s understanding of it, but I highly doubt that the DNA of two people born an entire country apart could have colluded to produce the match. I would have to do more thorough research later.
“I am my own person, Artie. I want to exist for myself.”
I can’t tell if he understands because his gaze turns to the Goldies on my desk as he stands and swipes them up.
“Why don’t you just take the bar? I want to see your raw reaction to me, without Mathan and Orso getting in the way.”
“So that’s why you’re doing this now? Because you don’t want your mates to interfere?” I ask. I’m cautious as I place the tablet on the table next to the scanner.