“You’d never be an inconvenience, Faye,” Cole insists, but I don’t believe him. I’m sure they all had better things to do than babysit an omega through early heat onset.
“Ignore Damon,” Laz huffs out. “He acts like a dick, but he’s actually a teddy bear when you get to know him.” He must notice my look of disbelief because he then says, “Well, maybe not a teddy bear, but he’s not a total asshole.”
“He’s right, though,” I say. “You don’t even know me, and I’ve caused you nothing but trouble.”
“We may not know you properly yet.” Cole bends forward, elbows on his knees. “But we’d like to.”
“Really?” At my question, all three of them nod enthusiastically. “But I’m a mess. I keep going into heat whenever I see you, and you smell…” I sigh. “You all smell too good. I can’t describe it. It’s like?—”
“You can’t control yourself?” Ren finishes for me. “Like you can smell us from a mile away?”
“That your body seems to act of its own accord when we’re around?” Cole adds.
“And you feel really fucking horny.” Laz wiggles his eyebrows. “Like, more than you’ve ever felt in your life.”
“How do you…” I shake my head. “Is that normal?”
“Why don’t you sit back down?” Cole motions to the couch. As soon as I’m seated, I let him take my hand. When his fingers entwine with mine, my hammering heart slows. “We were talking while you were asleep. Ren has a theory, which I think may be right.”
“A theory?”
“We think you’re our scent match, Faye,” Ren says. “Our omega.”
“But…” My head is spinning. “We can’t be, can we? Scent matches are so rare.”
What are the chances of me meeting the alphas, who are my personal scent crack, within my first few weeks of starting SVU?
“I didn’t believe it at first. In fact, I didn’t even think scent matches truly existed,” Ren confesses. “Until we met you.”
“We?” I’ve only known Cole for mere hours, and every time I’ve met Laz, I’ve either screamed in his face or cried. “You all think so?”
“Hell yes,” Laz replies without missing a beat, his tone reverberating with unwavering confidence.
“We’d like to get to know you better. If you’ll let us?” Cole squeezes my hand. “No strings, no catch. Whatever this connection is that we’re all feeling, we’d like to try to understand it.”
My thoughts are whirring a thousand miles per hour. Almost as fast as my life is changing. I’ve gone from sleeping in a tiny bedroom above Blooming Brew to becoming a Stella to narrowly stopping my heat with the sexiest alphas I’ve ever seen who now claim we’re scent matches?
“I need to go.” This is all too much. “I… I… I need…”
“You need time to think.” Cole nods in understanding. “That’s okay. We’ll be here whenever you want to talk. There’s no rush. We’re not going anywhere. We’ve been waiting years to find our omega.”
“Thank you for … everything.” I jump up from the sofa, thinking I may die of embarrassment when I see the slick patch I’ve left behind. “I’m s-sorry for the mess.”
“You have nothing to worry about.” Laz laughs. “That’s liquid fucking gold, Faye. We’ll be fighting over who gets to clean that up when you’re gone.”
He’s gotta be joking, right?
“A car is waiting for you outside.” Cole stands to join me. He’s 6’4” and makes me feel tiny by comparison. “Our driver, Frank, will take you back to Stella House.”
“It’s okay, I can walk,” I say. “You’ve done enough for me already.”
“You are not walking home,” Cole insists. Hisdon’t even question melook makes me think twice about arguing. “It’s too dangerous.”
Laz licks his lips. “Especially when you smell like melted honeycomb and ice cream.”
“Cole’s right,” Ren says softly. “You’ll be safe with Frank.”
“I’ve already put all your things in the trunk,” Cole adds.
