“Surprise! We got you a boat,” Easton said, his voice muffled in my drenched hair.
My laugh was watery as our hug pile broke apart, my alphas still keeping their hands on me.
“You’re idiots,” I choked out.
Finn turned me to face him, a stern expression on his face. “Youshouldn’t be here,” he growled, leaning down so we were eye-to-eye. “What were you thinking, putting yourself in danger like this?”
I sputtered, momentarily at a loss for words. “What wasIthinking? What wereyouthinking? I’m not the one who needed to be rescued!”
“She’s got a point,” Leo said.
“That she does,” Lars responded with a smile. “Our omega isn’t one to sit by quietly.” He tried to pull me into a hug, but then I remembered I was angry with him. The rage and jealousy and devastation I’d felt in the coffee shop all flooded back to me and I moved back, giving Lars my shoulder.
A flash of hurt crossed his face, and I almost crumbled. Luckily, my omega was better at holding on to grudges.
“Sweetheart? What’s wrong?”
“Oh, what’s wrong?” I snapped, tapping my chin. “Let me think, let me think. What could it be? Oh! I know! Maybe it’s because I just found out the guy who said he wasmyalpha is actually pining after another omega!” My voice was a shrill scream above the crashing waves.
“Oh shit,” Michael said behind me.
Lars’s jaw dropped, and it made me even more furious. Easton’s hands settled on my shoulders and gave me a squeeze. “Baby, I think?—”
I turned my dagger-filled expression on him, and he stopped talking immediately. But he didn’t step away from me, which I was glad for. I needed my guys’ touches to convince me they were really safe.
“Sweetheart. Olive,” Lars said, holding his hands up as he took a step towards me. “Can you explain what you’re talking about?”
Raindrops dripped down the front of his face, soaking his hair and beard.
“I heard you scented an omega years ago and have wanted her ever since. Butthank godyou’resettlingwith me.”
“Damn,” Leo said. “This is better than that reality show,Go Scent Yourself.”
“I’m more of aRut Islandkind of guy,” Michael responded.
I was expecting Lars to stammer out some sort of useless explanation, but instead, a grin spread across his face. Rage flared in me. He thought this was funny? That was it—I had to kill him.
I shrieked and launched myself at him, pounding my fists against his chest. “How dare you fucking smile?”
Lars wrapped his huge arms around me and lifted me off the ground, trapping my fists against his chest.
“You’re right, I shouldn’t smile.” His voice was deep and low, and his chest started vibrating with a purr.
“No, this isn’t fair,” I muttered as my entire body went lax in his hold. “You can’t use your alpha witchcraft on me.”
“I’ll use whatever tools are available to me if it will make you listen.”
“I don’t want to listen to you,” I snarled. I would stay strong. He wouldn’t win me over with his stupid alpha purr. And I was definitely not rubbing my cheek against his neck to scent mark him.
Lars ignored me and kept talking. “Six years ago, I was walking down Main Street when I scented something. It was the best thing I’d ever smelled in my life, and my alpha knew immediately that it was an omega and that she was ours. I’d never put much stock into scent compatibility, but at that moment, it felt like the entire world had shifted.”
I closed my eyes tight. It felt like my actual heart was breaking inside my chest. How could I ever compete with this mystery omega?
“I never found her,” he said. “I realized she must have just been passing through town. I tried to forget her, tried dating other omegas, but it never felt right. Until a few weeks ago, I scented her again.”
My muscles froze.
“Throughout the years, I’d convinced myself that I must have been exaggerating what the scent did to me. But I hadn’t because when I scented her again on Main Street, I knew she’d returned to town to be mine. Ours.”
