"Yes."
I could feel everyone’s anticipation as I opened the final page. It had to be the scent from the gala. It had to be. The name appeared on the screen, and my jaw dropped.
Arabella Carrington.
I sat back, my head spinning. “It’s her,” I said, the scent from the gala filling my memories. “It’s her! It’s been her the entire time!” I stood up, half of me wanting to rush down to Arabella’s family home and scoop her up this instant. “I knew it. We feel it every time we’re over there!” I said, turning to my pack. “It’s even better than we imagined. Ninety-eight percent!”
My mind was latched onto her now. Of course she was our match. It made perfect sense. We just hadn’t realized it, even with her right in front of us. Arabella was exactly the type of omega who everyone thought would be perfect for a pack like ours. She was socially intelligent, ambitious, charismatic, and highly adaptable. She knew how to navigate powerful circles effortlessly. She knew how to get attention easily, and would be great by our side.
“But…” Elias said, stepping back. I felt his trepidation crack through the excitement he was feeling through the bond.
“What is it? We found her! And we have confirmation!” I said, my heart full with joy. She was perfect. This omega was perfect.
“I mean, it does make sense. It’s just… It’s strange.” Elias said, with a slight crease between his brows. “We should have felt that she was our match just by being around her. We’ve been aroundArabella for weeks now, and to be honest, I would have bet every dollar that I had that our match was-” He stopped himself, but I knew what he meant.
“Ivy,” Ronan said, and I felt a surge of guilt for the poor, quiet omega who Elias had seemed to fall for. Ronan was strangely attached to her as well. As for myself, despite the proof in front of me, I’d felt the pull toward her. I even considered she might be the one for us, but now with our match confirmation, I knew that it wasn’t possible.
“We should have seen it sooner," I said. “We focused on Ivy, but it was Arabella the whole time.”
"Maybe," Elias replied. Ronan remained unusually quiet, and I looked back at them.
"What do you mean?" I asked, perplexed. “This is the best match we’ve ever seen! This means no matter what, the longer we spend with Arabella, the better it will be! She’s the one for us.”
Ronan folded his tatted arms, a frown on his face. "I don't know." He muttered.
"What don't you know?" Elias asked, intrigued.
Ronan shrugged. "If she's our match, why didn't any of us feel it sooner?" He looked at the screen. “You would think that even without a scent or a matchmaking algorithm, we would just know. Why are we more inclined toward her sister?” He said the unspoken question aloud. I couldn’t argue with that - we’d allagreed both women were exceptional. But Ivy seemed to have a draw that I couldn’t explain.
The question hung in the room, but I shook my head. “I think there might be confusion on our parts.” Elias looked at me questioningly. “Look,” I said, pointing at the screen. “Our labs don’t lie. Arabella is our match. And if they submitted their profiles, which they clearly did, Ivy didn’t even come within matching range of us.” I said, all of it starting to make sense in my head. “When we are over there, we’re getting the signals from our bodies that Arabella is our mate. But with Ivy around, it might be that our feelings get mixed signals.”
Elias scratched the scruff on his chin. “I mean, it could be transference. Ivy is small, and needs support. It might be that those aspects of her are magnified when we’re around Arabella, and that’s why we’re pulling toward Ivy.” He guessed.
"That has to be it. And Ivy’s a great girl. But Arabella… she has to be the one at the gala. Remember? Ivy left early; she barely stayed until dessert. Arabella was there until her family left. It was her we scented.” I said, all of it coming together. It all made sense. Every time we were around those two, we felt at peace. Our pack was getting along better than ever. All we needed now was to make things official.
“Elias…” I said, feeling the pain and regret of what we had to do. “We have to let the idea of Ivy go.”
I felt the shock and pain through his bond. And Ronan sent a sharp pang of discontent down his. I shook my head. “It’s notfair to her. If we court Arabella, it will only hurt Ivy the closer we are to her. Those two are family. Our match is Arabella. Ivy would never work out long term.” I saw Elias struggle with the fact. Then, finally, he relented.
“You’re right. Ivy is an amazing girl. But Arabella, her scent… That doesn’t lie.” He admitted.
"The data doesn't lie," I confirmed. That was the entire foundation our company had been built on. Our data was based on years of research, clinical testing, and thousands of successful matches. We trusted the science because we'd spent years proving it worked.
“I know we thought Ivy might be a possibility, but we would have been wasting our time. It was Arabella who we smelled, and we need to support her now. Her profile shows that she’s been through something major.” I said, re-reading the report. “I can’t believe it. I’d never have guessed - she hides it well. And our attention to Ivy when she was our mate this whole time might have unintentionally caused her harm.” I said, thinking back to all those times when we were together. Arabella had been over the top in her desire to show what a good omega she was - maybe she recognized us as hers from the beginning.
“You’re right,” Elias said, regret in his voice. “The good thing is that we finally found our match. Now we can focus on making her the happiest omega in the world.” Ronan nodded, his eyes fiery as he looked at the screen.
“And God help anyone that hurt her.” He said, his voice low.
The atmosphere in the room shifted after that. With the truth in front of us, we discussed how this would change things. I started throwing out suggestions on how to tell her family and what we would do for our courtship. As a pack, we agreed that taking it slow would be best.
“For an omega with such high trauma markers, we’ll have to earn her trust and show that we will support her no matter what. “Elias said. “I’ll look up the best practices for courtship involving past trauma. We can move slowly and let her decide.”
Ronan nodded. “I just can’t believe we found her. I’m already dreaming of that perfume again.” He said. “I wonder if Arabella’s already read the email letting her know we matched.” As the discussion continued around me, my gaze drifted toward the compatibility report one final time.
Arabella.
I knew in my heart that that tiny, barely there scent at the gala was our match. Now I had proof. And yet, there was a small, strange unease that lingered in the back of my mind. I pushed it away, determined not to let my own thoughts ruin the most perfect moment of my life. The match we’d been waiting for was finally clear.
