The smile I give her is weak, but I let the words sink in more than I should. More than anything, I wish that were the truth. I’d give anything to be safe and secure in a bond rather than constantly looking over my shoulder for a frigid heat that’s guaranteed to come.
With the schoolday over and my doctor’s appointment out of the way, I head back to the lifeless couch that has become my home. Overwhelmed doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel right now. Everything lingers over me like a cloud, and I wish a downpour would start already, but it’s not. It’s just big and gray and bursting at the seams with pressure. There’s only so much more it can absorb before it’s thrown into a full-blown thunderstorm.
There’s something different about the apartment when I get there. I can’t tell what it is, but I feel it the second I close the front door. It’s like there’s a mist in the air, causing the hair on the back of my neck to stand up.
And I know exactly why when I step into the living room.
The spontaneous burst of green apple makes me pause. It bleeds life into the dreary room and spreads through every inch of my body with each inhale. My hand finds the panel of the doorway, using it to hold myself up as soon as I notice Cindy sitting on the couch. When she turns to look at me, she smiles. “Hey. Someone stopped by looking for you.”
The way she says it sounds past tense, like the person has already left, but there’s no way this scent can be leftover from his visit. It’s too potent, lingering in the space like smoke. And just as I expect, I turn to see him standing to the side. His spine is straight, and he stands with a casual calmness that somehow makes sense for the serious alpha.
Sam’s eyes catch mine, and he nods in greeting, his hands casually in his pockets. The sleeves of his dress shirt are folded to his elbows, and a quick inhale escapes me because his forearms are every bit as glorious as I’ve imagined. Strong. Corded.
“Hi,” I squeak out, unintentionally breathy.
The smallest crack in his armor appears when the curve of his lip tips up. “Hi,” he responds. “I’m sorry for just turning uphere. I got the address from Rory because I wanted to talk to you again about our offer.”
I slide my eyes over to Cindy, who is attentively listening to our conversation. When she realizes I’m looking at her, I give her a pointed look, but she doesn’t catch my hint. Whether or not it’s on purpose, it annoys me that she’s forcing me to ask her directly to leave the room, but then Sam does it for me.
“I’d really like to talk to Opal alone,” he tells her, which has her mouth gaping open. He points toward the doorway. “Could you…?”
Cindy’s cheeks flush with red so fast that I’m almost embarrassed myself. She gets up, flustered. “Of course! I’m sorry, my bad.” And then she’s out the door.
I would probably find her fumbling to be amusing, but then I’m brought back to reality when a dose of Sam’s scent rolls back over me.
Holy fuck. Sam is in my space. He’shere. And his scent is so decadent that I’m having a hard time concentrating. A slight sweat builds across my forehead, and I realize that I might need to take a second dose of my pain medication in a little bit.
“I’m sorry, why did you come here again?” I realize just how out of place he looks in his dress shoes and white button-up. The room is so cluttered with my stuff, and the light flickers slightly from the faulty bulb. It’s almost embarrassing, having him see the mess that my life has become up close and personal.
Sam sighs and tilts his head. “Opal.”
My stomach flutters at the softness in his tone. “What?”
He gives me a look like I know it’s obvious. “Come stay with us.”
The words are everything I want to hear, a romantic hallucination, but I shake my head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. You’re a new pack?—”
“But we’re not bonded,” he reminds me, which should ease my anxiety but it doesn’t. It means I don’t have a valid excuse. It means I have to find a new one, a valid one, and the only one I havehasto remain in the vault.
“No, you’re not.” Though, I wonder why. They seem like they have a solid foundation, a love for each other that’s prevalent in scent matches. “But I still don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“Why?” he asks, like he sincerely wants to know.
BecauseI’m your scent match. Because you already have an omega and you’re already busy enough. Because I don’t know if I can live near you and Kit without everything becoming twisted, and I need to keep my head on straight because I have a rare disorder that makes me go into heat prematurely. Because I don’t know if you’ll let me stay if you find out. And that would kill me…
But I don’t get to respond, because Sam steps forward, determined.
“I promise you, Kit isn’t the type of person to offer something without thinking it through. If he doesn’t like something, he is very vocal about it,” he says with a small smile, like he’s letting me in on a secret. The foreign look has me taking a step closer, desperate to see more of the lightness he has to offer.
“This place seems crowded. Your omega is probably feeling unsettled. I want to help anyway I can.” He looks around at all the clutter and mess, his hand flexing at his side. He meets my eyes again, ironclad persistence reflecting in his green irises. “You deserve more than this. Let us give you a place to land.”
My resolve is dwindling fast. I look around the room, at my stuff that doesn’t have a home. Despite all my fears and reservations, my omega is screaming at me to accept. It would be amazing to have my own space again, somewhere I can relax without any worry that someone will trespass on my space. He isn’t wrong about my omega feeling unsettled, and the stressfrom it has caused more flare-ups from my condition. It fills me with so much shame when I suddenly have cramps or a fever, and all I want to do is sleep it off, but Cindy’s roommates need the TV for a Mario Party tournament.
I’m so tired of being out of my comfort zone. I’m so tired of the uncertainty. So, I decide to take the bull by the horns, even if it’s with shaky fingers.
I turn back to Sam and feel my shoulders deflate. He’s calm, poised, and so kind that he feels safe. He’s a spectacular alpha, and to be around him constantly would be torture.
But so would staying here.
