30. Chapter 30
Hunter
The necklace sparkled in the black box, a rare and valuable piece that I knew would make any omega the star of the room.
I had spent all day selecting it, rejecting piece after piece before finally settling on a delicate gold chain with a sapphire pendant that matched Arabella's eyes almost perfectly.
It was elegant - exactly the sort of gift I would have chosen for a future mate.
I wanted her to feel secure and wanted, and also I just loved to spoil people that I cared about.
Arabella's reaction was everything I should have wanted. The moment she opened the velvet box, her eyes widened, and she let out a gasp, her hand fluttering toward her chest as she looked at me.
"Oh my God, Hunter." She looked thrilled as she lifted the pendant into the light.
"It's so beautiful. I can’t wait to wear it!” She squealed. A small sense of satisfaction stirred within me. At least I'd gotten that part right.
"You like it?" I asked, and she beamed.
"I love it. Don’t you know how jealous every other omega will be when they see me in this?
" Her question was harmless, but it immediately made my mind flash back to that moment in the restaurant where Ivy had her outburst. Her jealousy was so strong that when I simply touched Arabella, she quaked so hard that she knocked her glass over. I’d been so angry at her outburst that I demanded an apology from her - yet doing so pained me more than I could ever admit.
Partially because Arabella didn’t exactly help matters. She seemed to become extra handsy whenever Ivy was around. Naturally, omegas were territorial. But Arabella should have known that she was egging on Ivy’s obviously unstable mental state by doing that.
And now, she all but admitted that she enjoyed other people’s jealousy.
I sat uncomfortably with the information, but at the same time, Arabella wasn’t perfect.
She was, however, perfect for our pack. And that’s what would make all the difference.
Over time, we would be complete - a perfect pack, a perfect match.
The answer was there; we just needed time to see it.
Arabella murmured compliments, holding the necklace up to inspect it.
"You have incredible taste." She said. When she turned and gathered her hair over one shoulder so I could fasten it around her neck, I expected the moment to feel more intimate than it did.
Seeing her bare, unclaimed neck should have been the sort of thing that made my instinct to claim her flare up.
Instead, I felt strangely detached from it all.
The feeling only became worse when Arabella immediately reached for her phone.
"The lighting in here is incredible," she said excitedly.
I paused. "The lighting?" I asked, looking around.
"For pictures," Arabella said, already opening her camera app. "My followers are going to be obsessed with this necklace."
For the next minute, she angled herself toward various mirrors and light sources while discussing whether the pendant would perform better in a dedicated post or a story.
I listened politely, occasionally offering responses when appropriate, but my attention kept drifting.
The fact that I could even feel bored around her bothered me.
I always thought the perfect omega for us would keep me constantly looking for her, wanting to know what she thought, and excited to talk to her.
Kind of how it felt when we thought that Ivy might be for us.
I shook the idea from my head. That would have been a disaster.
Ivy clearly had problems and would need to address them before she got into any type of relationship.
My pack’s initial infatuation with her was a mistake.
The real thing, long-lasting and true, was right in front of me.
And yet, Arabella still couldn’t keep my attention.
Normally, I could focus on anything. I had built my company from the ground up, and it took incredible dedication.
I’d been through endless investor meetings and sat through negotiations that lasted entire days.
Patience and attention were strengths of mine.
Yet somehow I couldn't maintain a genuine interest in a conversation with the woman who was my perfect match.
Eventually, Arabella lowered her phone and smiled.
"Do you think I should feature this at the launch party?" The question pulled me back into the conversation.
"Which launch party?" I asked, racking my brain. She’d received many more opportunities for brand deals since we’d gone public, and invited our pack to so many that I couldn't keep track.
She laughed. "The launch of the new athletic wear company next month. I’m their ambassador."
Of course. The launch party. The one she'd mentioned more than once already. I rubbed the back of my neck.
"Right. Yes, you should bring it. Show it off.” I said, leaning in to kiss her on the forehead.
I focused, trying once again to bridge the distance I kept feeling between us.
"What are you most excited about?" I asked, trying to get some type of real response from her. She didn’t even look up at me before answering.
"The exposure. This could be huge for my personal brand." She said, and I nodded, wondering if I’d ever get to smell that intoxicating scent of hers.
“Arabella,” I said, breaking her from her phone addiction.
“Yes?” She asked, looking up at me with those big blue eyes.
“Do you feel comfortable enough with our pack yet to let us smell your perfume?” I asked, dropping all pretenses.
She looked surprised, then glanced away.
I reached out, threading my fingers through her hand.
It had been so long since I smelled it, and the alpha part of me was aching to get another hit.
That part of me knew exactly what to do.
Claim the omega. I looked at her, practically pleading.
“It was so incredible, but I could barely smell it at the gala. I’d love to smell it again.
” I said, hoping she felt secure enough to share her scent.
We’d been courting for almost two months now.
“Ah, well.” She said, biting her lip. “Yes, I’ll let you smell my perfume - when the time is right.” She said with a nod.
“Alright,” I answered, sitting back. She wasn’t ready yet.
Maybe there was some trauma associated with it, but either way, I wouldn’t push.
I knew someday when we bonded, and she had her heats, we’d smell each other’s scent for days.
She could make the whole house smell like her, and I’d be in blissful heaven.
We’d build a future with her, one step at a time.
It was just difficult to imagine that future when I couldn’t know the deepest parts of her. She was already back to talking about sponsorship opportunities and future media appearances. The enthusiasm in her voice was real enough, but I found myself struggling to connect with it.
I wanted to know who she was beneath all of that, what made her happy when nobody was watching, and what kept her awake at night.
Instead, every conversation seemed to circle back toward appearances, publicity, and her social media.
The worst part was that she wasn't doing anything wrong.
She was trying so hard to show us the image of a perfect omega.
So why did it feel like we were standing on opposite sides of a wall?
The question dragged old memories to the surface.
Growing up, I had watched my parents spend nearly twenty years forcing a relationship that should never have happened.
They had looked compatible in every measurable way.
From the outside, they seemed perfect. But inside our home, they were miserable.
By the time I was old enough to understand what was happening, I realized that basic compatibility wasn't enough.
People needed to be true matches, not just random people with a few things in common.
Watching my parents slowly destroy themselves had shaped more of my life than I liked admitting.
It was one of the reasons Vale Labs existed at all.
I never wanted another family trapped in a bond that wasn't truly right.
People deserved certainty, and for years, I believed we were building a product that would help give people the certainty they needed.
But now, I was starting to grow antsy. I was beginning to distrust my own knowledge.
Arabella was our perfect match, yet every time I left one of our dates, I felt exactly the same as when I'd arrived - uncertain.
The realization was horrible, because it meant one of two things - either the technology was wrong, or I was so damaged by my own upbringing that I couldn’t connect with the one person who would truly bring our pack together.
The first possibility was unacceptable. Years of research, thousands of successful matches, and everything I'd built rested on the assumption that our system worked. I had dedicated too much of my life to that belief to abandon it now.
Which left the other option - something was wrong with me. And from the way I couldn't stop thinking of that small, lab-obsessed omega instead of the amazing one in front of me, I was starting to suspect that I was the one who was damaged.