“No, that’s fine,” I tell him, even though being in a house full of drunk alphas sounds like hell, considering how close I am to my heat.
“Are you sure? If we skip it, we can go home and make a couch fort. Then we can have pretzels and playTears of the Kingdom,” he tries to convince me as a teasing smile takes over his face. The picture he paints is tempting, because that sounds like my absolute perfect night, but I stay strong.
“That sounds wonderful, but I want to go. I’d feel better if we stay together as a unit tonight,” I say, not knowing how to describe the instinct in me.
Kit understands immediately. “I’m sure they’ll want that, too. We’ll go to the party, but we won’t stay long. I’ll make sure both Sam and Thatcher leave early with us.”
I smile at him, thanking him without words as I kiss his cheek. His prideful grin makes me giggle, and we turn back to watch the game and listen to our friends talk absentmindedly.
It’s only been a few minutes when Rory’s hand goes to mine. I let her take it, though, wondering if she just misses her alpha or if something happened nearby that I missed, but then she whispers to me.
“Opal.”When I look at her face, it’s ashen as she stares at me in fear. I can’t figure out exactly what it is until she mouths, “Your scent.”
I scrunch my brows.My scent?The second it processes,there’s a new aroma in the air. It flows out, meeting me like an old friend, and I suddenly tense in my seat. My long-awaited lychee scent tousles into the air. It’s practically doing back-flips so everyone knows that it’s finally back out to play. Fear and relief mix into one. On one hand, I’m so incredibly happy to smell myself again. To let my omega nature out, proud and bright in its fruitiness.
Then, there’s a loud inhale coming from my right, and I turn to see Kit staring at me, his eyes wide as they trail over my face.
“You’re… you’re my—” He takes another deep whiff of my scent that’s now pooling around us, finally happy to breathe from the confines I had stuffed it in. My body stills, not able to do anything but watch for his reaction as a shiver rolls over him and his eyes flutter closed. The reaction causes me to squeeze my legs together, affected by the desire displayed in his actions.
When he opens his eyes back up, he looks amazed. “Holy fuck,” he whispers before pulling my lips to his. The second they touch, a tiny moan escapes, but I’m not sure who it came from. The kiss blurs into absolute bliss as he holds my face close, cherishing the exhilaration of it while he deepens it even further. I feel on top of cloud nine. There’s nothing that could be better than this.
We pull apart when something crashes behind us. Still coming to our senses and realizing we’re in a crowded arena, we turn to see Sam and Jett returning from the concession stands. The plastic containers of nachos are scattered around their feet, chips and cheese everywhere after falling from Sam’s hands.
“No! The nachos!” Ciro says dramatically, completely unaware of the situation since his beta can’t smell anyone. Stacia shushes him as everyone falls silent.
Sam looks unconcerned about the spilled chips because his dilated gaze is directly on me. I freeze, knowing he can sensewhat I am, knowing that I’ve been keeping it from him for months. Guilt riddles every part of me, my scent reflecting my panic in every emitted pheromone.
Gosh, why did it have to behere? Why couldn’t it wait just a few more hours?
Sam’s neck turns slightly, like he’s trying to control his anger. There’s an animalistic characteristic to it that I can’t put my finger on, and I immediately whine at the sight of it, standing up and moving away from him. I trip over Rory’s legs but catch myself, feeling nervous and anxious as my scent continues to spill out way more than the average omega. My upcoming heat cycle is making it stronger, and that in itself is causing me to panic.
Oh god. He’s angry that I kissed his omega. He’s angry that I’m his scent match. He’s angry that I’ve infiltrated their pack with lies and deceit.
“I—I’m sorry,” I say, moving around my friend’s legs to get out of the row. “I didn’t mean to…”
My body moves on autopilot, my fight-or-flight response choosing to flee rather than deal with the angry alpha on the other side of the row. When I pass Stacia, her brow furrows. “Opal, don’t go, everything is okay!”
“You need to breathe,” Rory adds, her tone gentle, but I can’t feel anything other than my lungs convulsing in my chest. The hyperventilating comes on stronger as I finally pass Ciro’s seat and make it into a clearing where I can run away faster. My hearing starts to go in and out as the anxiety climbs through my limbs, not able to hear or understand any of the protests that I’m leaving behind.
“Opal!” I hear behind me as I get further away. The baritone sounds like my omega, frantically trying to call after me, but I can’t stop. I have to get somewhere safe. I have to protectmyself and my omega, because onlyIcan do that, and I should have been cautious of this from the start.
I don’t know why I thought this would work out. This secret that I’ve been keeping for so long that I can’t even remember why it started anymore, it comes spilling out at the most inconvenient time, and now everything feels heavy.
When I get into the hallway and move to leave the building, I realize that I don’t have anywhere to go. I threw all my eggs into one basket, and I just watched it crash and burn right in front of me.
FORTY-FOUR
Playing: “we can’t be friends” by Ariana Grande
Opal disappears around the corner,and everything turns to shit.
I turn back to Sam, who is trying his best to keep himself from going into rut. I’ve never seen it happen so quickly before, but his pupils are dilated, and his green apple scent is the same dark aura that I remember so well; tart, sour, and harsh in the best way. Seeing my alpha in rut is one of my favorite things, but Sam hates when it happens in public. He grunts and clenches his muscles as he tries to stay in his body, pointing in the direction that our scent match disappeared.
“She can’t go off by herself,” he says through the pain. He slaps himself, trying to find his center. “We have to find her.”
“I will find her,” I tell him. “But you need to go sit in the car.Pleasestop fighting it, you need to let your alpha take the reins.”
“I don’t want anyone to see me losecontrol—” Heshakes his head violently before letting out a growl so deep I feel it in my bones.
