Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
Alexander
Ibite back a growl when Crew lays his half-eaten sandwich on his plate and pushes it away.
As much as I want to point out he hasn’t had enough to eat, I know it’s not my place—no matter how much my instincts scream at me. We only met mere hours ago, and even if we’re scent matches, that doesn’t give me any right to tell him what he should or shouldn’t do.
I’ve never been one of those alphas who feels the need to flex and show just how alpha they are. I am who I am, and I don’t need to prove that to anyone. I have my alpha instincts completely under control—until I don’t.
One hint of his peach and bourbon scent changed that.
Now, I feel like that eighteen-year-old kid who had just designated as an alpha—on the edge of a rut and filled with raging hormones threatening to take over rational thought.
I’m not going to lie, that’s a definite disadvantage of finding our scent-matched omega—not that I would change it for anything in the world.
But is that true?
Because I think I’d give just about anything for Kiara to be here with us.
We’re not her scent matches. No amount of wishing on our parts has made that any truer, but we still thought she would end up part of our pack.
I love Mason and Davis. The three of us have been friends since we were kids, and as teens, we became more than that. Our friendship grew into a bond that’s unbreakable, but we always knew something was missing. Unlike many packs, we never thought it was an omega.
No, we knew it was Kiara who was missing. She was what would make our pack complete.
Now, we know it was both she and Crew we were waiting for.
When I realized who he was to us, I was ecstatic, and I couldn’t understand why everyone was so upset. At least until I realized it was because Kiara was upset. Then Crew explained that her greatest fear had come true, leaving us all reeling after watching her walk—no, run—away from us.
“I feel like I need to make this perfectly clear,” Crew says quietly, his eyes on the counter as he refuses to meet our eyes. “Scent matches or not—without Kiara, there can be nothing between us.”
A growl escapes Mason, but he quickly cuts it off. “We want Kiara as part of our pack.”
“So you keep saying.” Crew sighs, the sound filled with obvious worry. “But she doesn’t believe that. I can tell her that until I’m blue in the face, but it’s going to be on the three of you to prove it to her. If she doesn’t choose you, then neither will I. Do you understand?”
“We do,” I assure him, ignoring the anger and pain raging inside of me as my alpha fights against the idea of never having the omega in front of me—my omega.
“All we’ve ever wanted was for Kiara to be happy. We want that to be with us, but we would never try to take you from her. You need to understand that.”
Crew’s eyes finally lift from the counter as he stares at Davis. Eventually, he nods. “Okay. I believe you.”
Relief courses through me at his words. Something tells me that if our answer had been anything except that, we wouldn’t stand a chance with him.
“When Kiara comes home—whether that’s by choice or me having to go out and find her—I will be telling her in no uncertain terms that she’s always been my top priority and that won’t be changing any time soon.
” He pushes away from the island and stands, facing the three of us as he straightens his shoulders.
“I may be an omega, but I won’t be ruled by some instinct born from a scent match.
She will be the one to decide how we move forward. ”
I incline my head, a smile tugging at the corner of my mouth that I attempt to hide. “I understand, omega. You worry about your relationship with Kiara, while we figure out how we’ll move forward to show both you and Kiara that we’re serious about you.”
He considers me for a moment before nodding. “You do that. I will tell her that the three of you expressed your interest in both of us, but the rest is up to you.”
Without a backward glance, he walks out of the kitchen and up the stairs.
The three of us remain silent as we continue to eat our sandwiches. I’m sure Davis and Mason are just as lost in their thoughts as I am.
If we haven’t been able to convince Kiara that we want her by now, do we really have a chance?
As teens, I don’t think she ever took me and Davis seriously when we’d ask her to go out with her.
She would just blow us off and tell us to stop screwing with her.
I don’t think she knew about the three of us during high school, but we’ve never hidden it once we officially formed our pack.
We proudly wear each other’s bites. I wonder if our bond is what caused her to not take us seriously.
Then another thought hits me.
What would it be like to see Crew and Kiara wearing our bites?
Fuck.
My cock throbs as it presses against my pants, and I clear my throat as I adjust myself.
“Do I even want to know where your head is for you to be getting hard right now?” Davis asks with a chuckle.
I flip him off. “Just thinking about Crew and Kiara wearing our bite marks.”
Both my lovers hiss before Davis throws his head back with a laugh. “That would do it, and while that’s the goal—how the hell are we supposed to get to that point with them?”
“She never thought Davis and I were serious when we asked her out. I think it’s because she knew the three of us would be a pack. Even if she was interested in us, Mason never showed any interest in her—”
“How was I supposed to?” he hisses, eyes narrowing as they zero in on me. “She’s my stepsister. I didn’t think it was appropriate.”
I hold up my hands in surrender. “I know, Mace. That wasn’t a criticism. I was just thinking out loud about what her thought process could be.”
He glares at me for another moment before gesturing for me to continue.
“If she thought there was no chance with Mason when we were going to be a pack, then she’d think anything between us couldn’t be serious.”
“And our girl doesn’t do casual,” Davis continues.
“She’s practically been with Crew since they were born.
She never dated anyone here. He was always hers, and she was always his.
Crew designating as an omega would’ve thrown her—made her insecure about her future with a pack.
All anyone ever talks about is how much omegas need alphas and vice versa. ”
Mason places his elbows on the counter and rests his chin against his raised hands as he considers us.
“And all Kiara has talked about since Akira bonded with our parental pack is how much she wants to be a part of a pack herself. But the cities are becoming less about packs and more about couples. Pack life is becoming a thing of the past there, and she’s just spent the last seven years living in a major city.
She’s probably had it pounded into her that she’s not enough for Crew, and that she should find a nice beta to settle down with. ”
“Like her parents did. Fuck.” I don’t know how I didn’t realize this. “But she spent four years in Champagne Falls where packs are the norm. Do we even know if she still wants to be part of a pack? What if she only wants to be with Crew?”
We fall silent as that realization hits us.
I don’t want that. I want them to be part of our pack—the five of us together.
But what I want doesn’t matter.
“Then we let them be together.” Davis says it like it’s just that easy, and in one way, I guess it is. As a beta himself, he doesn’t have the same raging instincts to deal with as Mason and I do.
He’s also right.
I nod slowly, my hand coming up to rub at the pain in my chest. “If she and Crew don’t want to be part of a pack, then we back off. Their happiness is what matters.”
Mason jerks a nod but doesn’t speak.
“But if she still wants to be part of a pack?” I ask, not wanting to get my hopes up but knowing we need to discuss this possibility as well.
Davis grunts. “Then we make our interest in her clear. Not just that we want her because she comes with Crew, but because we want her for herself. And Mason? This is going to be doubly important coming from you.”
“Right. I’ll… I’ll figure it out. We’ll figure it out. I don’t want to lose them.”
“None of us do, but they come first.” I feel the need to reiterate that our feelings aren’t the important ones.
Isn’t that what it means to care about someone? Putting their feelings first?
Will it crush us if they decide they don’t want to be part of our pack? Absolutely, but we’d make it through it because we have each other.
“I know that,” Mason practically snarls, and I just lift my eyebrows until he frowns. “Fuck. I’m sorry. I’m still trying to get this bullshit under control. I’ll keep working on it.”
Davis leans over and links his fingers with Mason’s before doing the same to me. “We’ll figure this out together, yeah?”
Mason and I nod our agreement, and all I can do is hope we can figure it out.
If Crew and Kiara decide not to join our pack, we’ll continue our lives, but we’ll always know that something is missing.
I hope it doesn’t come to that.