So, even though my first instinct is to tell him to keep his mouth shut, I find myself saying, “Okay. Yeah, you can tell theothers. I don’t even know what I’d say to them, so maybe it’s better if you do it.”
Is this me taking the chicken’s way out? I don’t know. It’s not something I’m comfortable with talking about, even now, all these years later. You’d think it’d be something I’m used to, something I’ve come to accept about myself—just a fact of life when it comes to me—but in order for something like that to happen, I’d have to have had a good role model for such a thing.
And my aunt? Obviously not a good role model when it comes to standing out. She always treated me as something to be fixed, and that something was deeply wrong with me because of my inability to smell.
Maybe if I would’ve had a loving guardian after the accident, things would be different. Maybe I’d be different. Maybe I’d be better.
Asher gives me a gentle smile that fills me with butterflies, a calm, gentle smile that backs up everything he told me previously. “You don’t have to worry about them. I know it’s scary, but it’s a good thing for everyone to know—like you and Rourke being scent matches. It makes things…”
“Harder?”
“Easier.” That smile of his doesn’t fade as he goes on, “I thought, when I first met the guy at gunpoint, he was going to take you from me. I definitely didn’t think this is how it’d go, but honestly? I wouldn’t have it any other way. I know we haven’t even gotten through your heat yet, but I’m confident we can, and after… well, I think after all of our lives will look a lot different, provided you don’t want to kick us to the curb by then.”
I want to ask him how he could ever think I’d kick any of them to the curb, but I stop myself. He’s so genuine it’s almost sappy and cheesy, but at the same time it’s nice. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
After my heat, they don’t want to go anywhere. They want to court me. They… they want me. A part of me doesn’t believe they’ll still want me after they know my secret, but Asher’s still here, still basically declaring his intentions with me, so why should I believe my scent match would be any different?
And Mason… I think we connect on a different level. I think we understand each other, or at least the pain inside us recognizes a familiar face in the other.
Asher leaves the room after that, and I watch him go, feeling some sort of way. I imagine what life would be like after. Assuming I get my inheritance, we’d be set. Heck, even if I didn’t have a dime to my name, Asher and Mason would be able to take care of me. I don’t know Rourke’s situation, but together, we could make a decent life.
A decent pack.
A good match.
Man, if anyone would have come up to me at my last stint at the Omega Garden and told me this is where I’d be shortly after, I’d have laughed right in their face—and probably punched them. Stepped my heel on their foot or something. Kneed them in the groin if they were a guy. Either way, I didn’t think I’d ever be where I am now, in a house with three alphas who are more than willing to compromise and take care of me.
I mean, it can’t be easy for an über to come along, find his scent match, and then decide it’s okay to share her. If that über was already in a pack, I’d understand it a bit more, but Rourke is a lone wolf. Not your typical lone wolf, sure; most lone alphas you hear about are mean and rude, maybe even cruel. He’s not like that. Dare I say, he’s the opposite.
My thoughts are a whirlwind as I eat the food Asher brought me. For the first time in what might be ever, I actually feel good. I feel okay. Lighter, as strange as it is.
Maybe I can do this.
Chapter Twenty-One – Mason
I sit on the couch, picking at the plate I made for myself while I wait for my brother to come back. The TV across from me is on, though I’m not really watching the show that plays. Rourke sits a good ten feet away, on the ground, his plate on his lap and his drink nearby. He sits near one of the floor-length windows overlooking the backyard, resting his shoulder on the window frame.
He’s her scent match.
That thought echoes in my mind over and over. I can’t get over it. I just can’t. I need some time. I know things move fast when these things happen, but I don’t know that I’m prepared for things to movethatfast.
The thing is, I don’t hate the guy. He’s another über, so you’d think we’d be at each other’s throats, like we were when we first met, but the guy’s actually not bad. He’s much more level-headed than me, I’d be the first to admit. I can see how he’s so high up in the ranks at the company he works for.
It feels like an eternity passes, but in reality it’s probably more like a few minutes before my brother joins us with his own plate and his own drink. He takes a spot on a cushion beside me, and I ask, “Well? How’d your talk go?”
Rourke gets up and moves closer, bringing his plate to the coffee table in front of us and sitting at its corner, facing us. He takes an even sip from his cup as he waits for my brother’s reply. The way he sits, how he acts; you’d think he’s been here just as many times growing up as Asher and me.
Asher’s eyes linger on me for a few seconds, but then he says, “It was… good. She’s not upset over what happened, even though she has every right to be.” As he says this, he doesn’t sound thrilled. No, the opposite, in fact.
He comes across as sad, which makes me think there’s more to it than he’s saying.
“What?” I ask in a huff, dread creeping along my spine. I don’t like not knowing things. Finding out Rourke is Jess’s scent match was enough of a surprise for me; I do not need any more surprises today.
But apparently I’m going to get one.
My brother sighs heavily. “I think she’s still pretty messed up over it. Who could blame her? Her parents died, then she went through hell to survive. Her life hasn’t been easy since, and I think she still blames herself for all of it. Maybe not the accident, but…”
Rourke chimes in, “None of us can know what it was like to go through what she did. She’s stronger than she gives herself credit for.” His statement is nothing but fact, and I nod my head along with him in agreement.
