Judging by the look on their faces, I could already tell that the next six weeks were going to be a total shitshow.
CHAPTER 7
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Iwaved to Eloise asshe and her alphas stepped onto the elevator. I’d promised her several times that I would call and check in every day and that I wouldn’t do anything stupid. Well, anything stupider than normal.
She was still convinced that I needed to come to stay with them at their house(ahem, mansion)in Sausalito, where I would, in her opinion, definitely be safe. Eloise was even more worried now that I’d told her about my past—most of it, anyway. She didn’t need the nitty-gritty details and I wasn’t going to offer them.
But I was on the same page as her hovering, overprotective alphas: There was no way in hell that I was going to put Eloise or her baby in danger. No way, no how. So I’d pushed them to head back home with the promise that I was in perfectly capable hands.
At least, I really hoped I was in perfectly capable hands.
I chanced a peek over at Matteo, who’d been grinning like a maniac ever since he’d realized that we'd been each other’s mystery heat partners. There was a giddy feeling in the pit of my stomach or, more aptly, my lady bits. He was as handsome as the imaginary alpha that I’d conjured up in my mind over the past year. He had shaggy, dark hair that was unkempt as if he’d rolled out of bed to come here which, now that I thought about it, he probably had. After all, he was probably still as exhausted as I was after seventy-two hours of very little sleep due to my heat.
His face was on the longer side with high cheekbones, a long nose, and a sharp jaw that was covered in dark stubble that had felt so wonderful brushing across my bare skin last night. To top it off, he had a pair of dark eyes that were cheerful, but intense as we sized each other up once again. Now that I was seeing him fully, it was easy to understand why I’d been so curious about my mystery heat partner and had requested him for a second time. It was definitely out of the ordinary for an omega to purposefully request the same alpha, but it wasn’t against the rules as long as the alpha was also amenable to it. The heat manager had given me a strange look when I’d put the paperwork in. It had definitely been worth it.
Matteo’s hand brushed mine as we stepped into the elevator to go up to my floor, the barest contact sent little tingles up my arm and through my body. I knew that if I wasn’t careful I was going to cause my heat to spike one last time. It didn’t happen often, but judging by the way he was making me feel, I wouldn’t be surprised if it did and I threw him to the ground of the elevator in front of three other people.
Luckily, or I suppose unluckily, Theo stepped in between us and broke the physical contact, glaring at Matteo, “Hands to yourself until we can figure all of this out.”
Matteo didn’t look upset by his packmate’s action, instead, he just pouted at the taller man, “Boo. Theo, you’re no fun.”
“Theo is our resident Matteo-tamer.” Aria whispered into my ear, “if Theo didn’t reign him in, Matteo would be all over the place and there would definitely be bigger messes for us to clean up.”
I watched the two men in question whisper-argue back and forth and, despite the fact that they were arguing, they still maintained an affection that could only be built with time. The argument finally ended with Matteo bopping Theo on the nose before turning to stare at the numbers above the elevator doors as we ascended the rest of the way to my floor.
I inhaled their scents deeply, the combination of the four was like Xanax to my fried nerves. Elegant rose, sharp spearmint, pumpkin spice, and the faintest scent of eucalyptus fills my nose and I nearly leaned into Theo to inhale his spearmint scent more deeply. I just managed to stop myself with a firm,down Tibby, to myself.
Thankfully, the elevator pinged and we stepped off onto the floor where my apartment was. The hall was completely empty except for the little blonde girl coming down the hall, she carried a pink blanket and had a backpack slung across her thin shoulders.
“Hi Cherry,” I greeted her with the warmest smile I could muster. Cherry was one of my only soft spots in the academy now that Eloise had left. I was usually pretty stand-offish with the other omegas, but when she came to the academy after perfuming at only eight years old, I couldn’t help but take care of her.
Most omegas perfumed once puberty set in between the ages of ten and fifteen, and, even then, most perfumed on the latter half of that scale. There were no other omegas that were Cherry’s age and the academy had put her on the adult floor, probably hoping that the older omegas would take care of her. Unfortunately, the older omegas were usually all busy going on courting dates or presenting themselves for matches and didn’t have time for the little girl. So much for omegas having heightened parental instincts towards children.
