“Oh no, you’re not going to use me as an excuse to avoid your scent match,” the woman chides, proving she was listening in on our conversation. “There’s no way you think I’m on the side of avoiding fate. I mean, really. After everything I’ve told you?” She hip checks the much younger Beta and shakes her head, muttering under her breath. “Always running from fate, these women. Maybe one day I’ll get an employee that I don’t have to knock on the side of the head.”
Clara huffs loudly and steps away from the counter. “Fine. Let me make your coffee, and we can talk.” She points at a small two-person table in the corner of the cafe. “Wait for me over there.”
She doesn’t have to tell me twice.
FIFTEEN
FIVE DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS
Wakingup wrapped around Felix was the most amazing thing I have ever experienced. I have never felt so safe, so comfortable, as I did in that moment.
But the moment had to break.
I knew it would, but a selfish part of me wanted to extend it as long as I could. But I was working the early shift at the coffee shop, and I couldn’t let Sylvia down.
I slipped out of the nest while he was still asleep, and it may have been the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I must have lingered in the doorway for ten minutes, just watching him sleep.
Will he be upset or relieved that I am not there when he wakes?
I was still riding the high from finally getting to be with him until Gabriel showed up at the front of the line.
On the surface, scent matching with Gabriel should have been the push I needed to take my friendship with Felix to the next level.
We are both drawn to Felix, and I know Felix wantsGabriel. Would he be willing to give us a shot, knowing that I am matched to the Alpha he wants?
But a part of me fears that confessing my feelings to Felix could destroy everything, and I refuse to risk losing him with the hope that he shares my feelings. And there is no way, if he knew I was scent matched to Gabriel, he would pursue anything with the Alpha, so I’d lose him and he’d lose Gabriel, and literally no one would be happy.
Which is why I don’t want to have this conversation with Gabriel, and I would’ve been happy to blow him off and ignore him if my boss weren’t such a meddler.
I pour steamed milk onto the sweetened espresso and carry the two cups I just brewed over to the corner table, sitting down and sliding one to Gabriel.
“I don’t have long.”
He leans forward, resting his elbows on the table as he cradles the warm cup. “I want to know you, Clara.”
“You don’t want me. You just think I smell good.”
I’m being obtuse, I know that. I’ve heard about scent matches my entire life. It’s in our music, on our televisions, in our books. There is even a section of biology taught in school about the science behind scent matches.
The consensus is that our pheromones are attracted to each other because they have identified the best match for us on a chemical level. Gabriel is supposed to be one of the very few people who are literally made for me. It’s estimated that everyone has fewer than ten scent matches in the entire world. Given that there are over eight billion people in the world, the likelihood of meeting one is slim.
The whole thing can seem a lot like magic when you think about it.
Or, as Sylvia says, fate.
However, being a scent match doesn’t guaranteeeverything will work out. It doesn’t mean they’re good people. I’ve seen the news stories about Omegas being abused by their scent matches, because human nature does not override biology.
Some people are just cunts.
Not to say that I think Gabriel is one of those people. Everything that Felix has told me suggests he is a good, stand-up Alpha. He’s handsome, has a successful career, and yeah, he smells delicious.
The sweet, creamy peppermint scent of his pheromones overwhelms every other smell in the cafe, which is a feat.
Anyone would be lucky to be on the receiving end of Gabriel’s attention. It’s just not supposed to be me.
I love Felix enough to step back and let him pursue things with Gabriel, because I’ve seen the look on his face when he talks about his boss. I think there could be something special between the two of them.
“It’s not because you smell good. How can you liken something so special to a candle?”
