I glanced over at her. Her eyes were soft and so was her smile.
“Sorry,”I mumbled.
“What’s going on? I mean, it’s obvious this is about an omega,with Easton and Lars showing up smelling likethat.” She snorted. “Nothing else can rock an alpha to their core.”
I picked at a thread on my shirt. “Olive.” Just speaking her name did something to me—lit up my chest with emotion.
“So, what’s the problem?” Frida had always been a no-nonsense alpha. She was the head of her pack and had always been assertive, a real leader. There was something about her energy that made it impossible to lie. With just a single look, she’d gotten us to confess to so much mischief as kids.
“I can’t…” I cleared my throat before continuing. “They want us to be a pack.” I gestured to where Lars and Easton were hanging out with everyone else in the backyard.
“And why can’t you?”
“Do you know the research says there’s up to a twenty-five percent chance that an alpha will die if their bonded omega dies?” I asked. That figure had been rolling around in my head since I read a recent article in the Journal of Designation Sciences.
“Huh,” Frida said. “I would’ve thought it was higher.”
I whipped my head to face her. “What?” I spluttered. “How are you so calm about that?”
She sighed and took my hand in hers, giving it a squeeze. “I know you’re in pain, Finn. We loved Carina and Fredrik. It’s been hard without them. But you were with Fredrik those last few weeks—hewantedto be with his omega, Finn. He couldn’t stand a life without her.”
She was right, but her words filled me with anger. “But isn’t that wrong? Toxic? To give so much of yourself to another person like that?”
“I think the word you’re looking for isterrifying. I met Isla and Harper my first week in college, and my alpha knew they were mine right away. I was so scared. I’d just ended a shitty high school relationship. With a man.”
I snorted at that. “Are you serious?”
“Unfortunately,” she responded dryly. “I was so ready to go to college and just be free—free to make my own choices and hook upwith whoever I wanted. And there I was, a few days in with an alpha and omega I wanted to claim.”
“Did you resist it?”
Now it was Frida’s turn to scoff. “I think I lasted a couple of days before I moved in. Isla brought Jo home a few days later after they’d met in class and announced we were all a pack. Sometimes, the universe has other plans for us.”
“You make it sound like it’s destiny. Inevitable, or something.”
She shrugged. “Maybe it is. I know there’s all this research on scent compatibility, but it sounds so clinical. All I know is that these three women are mine, my world. And I wouldn’t want to live without them.”
I pulled my hand out of hers, my anger re-awakened. “You would leave your kids all alone just because your bonded died?” I snarled.
Frida wasn’t put off by my anger. She moved closer and cupped my face. “Finn, honey, Fredrik didn’t leave you. He died. He had lived a long, full life, and his body gave out.”
“But he knew it was coming,” I spit out. “You just said he could sense it.”
“He probably could. But honey, he didn’t leave you alone. He left you with yourfamily. Those two over there are your family. You’re not alone. Not if you don’t want to be.” She patted my cheek and stood up. “Grief can make us hide within ourselves, but Fredrik was never one to run away from suffering or pain orlove.”
She headed into the backyard. The string lights illuminated the way her omega reached out her arms to her alpha.
20
OLIVE
The guys were workinginside the lighthouse, and I was hiding away in my nest.
I’d peeked out my window this morning to see the three of them arrive. They were so unfairly hot in their work clothes. My mind wandered to how strong and calloused Lars and Easton’s hands had felt against my skin.
I fidgeted with my sweater—Easton’s sweater—feeling self-conscious. What did they really see in me? They could have any omega they wanted.
And then there was Finn.
