Page 33 of Knot Now Knot Ever

“Ah, I see you’ve found my success stories,” a man spoke in a deep, rumbling voice.

The moment I laid eyes on the man who’d joined us, I instantly knew he was Perry Noble, the current head of the Scent Matchers organization. The man was older than I expected, but then again, the organization had been around for nearly a hundred years. Walter Noble, the founder of this organization, had died leaving everything in his only son’s hands to take over.

Perry looked to be somewhere in his sixties with gray hair and wrinkles around his eyes and mouth that deepened when he smiled as he was now. He was dressed in slacks and a pullover sweater with a button-down shirt underneath, the classic look of a man born into money. It had me curious about Duncan, though. He seemed rather young, but who was I to judge with the age gap between Fawn and most of our pack?

“Please sit. I would love the chance to chat with a pack who has been blessed with such a special gift,” Perry said, choosing one of the armchairs to sit in.

I watched both of my Omegas, trying to decide which might need my support. Fawn, however, took matters into his own hands and grabbed Lyra’s hand, tugging her down next to him. There couldn’t be two more opposite people than Lyra and Fawn, yet they fit together perfectly, the living embodiment of yin and yang. Eli took the other armchair near Lyra, and I settled on the couch near Fawn. If either of us needed to step in and intervene, we’d be in the best position to make that happen quickly.

Before hearing Eli’s story about his sister, I never had a reason to question the actions of the Scent Matchers. Their purpose was to help create packs and match Omegas to Alphas that might never have been able to find each other. Not once had I stopped to think about the power they wielded or how it could alter the course of a person’s life. Did I think they were all corrupt and out to ruin people’s lives? No. However, anytime you give people power, there is a temptation to misuse that power. Eli was doing the right thing by forcing that woman to take accountability for what happened and ensuring the matter was brought to the organization’s attention.

Duncan returned with the pink frothy drink Fawn had requested, delighting my Omega to no end. Instead of leaving Duncan perched on the armrest of his Alpha’s chair, Perry immediately curled an arm around the man’s hips and smiled lovingly. “Thank you for taking care of my guests, Dunny,” Perry praised.

The cold nature of the Beta vanished as he preened under his Alpha’s words. “I am always happy to be of help.”

Perry hummed his approval and kissed the man’s neck before returning his attention to us. “You’ll have to forgive us… Duncan and I only recently bonded. Normally, I wouldn’t have an in-person meeting until the bonding glow was over, but I couldn’t put off this conversation. You and the rest of your pack deserve the time off to devote your attention to each other, which I assure will happen.”

Hearing how sincere Perry was and seeing the effect he had on his Beta helped me relax. We’d all feared the worst at being summoned on such short notice, but I was beginning to think we had nothing to fear from the Scent Matchers.

“Thank you, Mr. Noble. It’s reassuring to hear that,” I admitted. “We’ve all been a little surprised by the situation and worried no one would believe our pack truly has two Omegas.”

“Please call me Perry. This meeting isn’t intended to be overly formal,” Perry explained. “Your pack is the first in my time running the organization to have been blessed with two Omegas. My father always made a point of meeting with any pack that had been so doubly gifted. He believed there was a reason such anomalies happened and wanted to meet the Omegas who were at the center of the matter.”

It sounded to me like Walter Noble was a hopeless romantic, and it seemed his son followed in those footsteps.

“What would you like to know?” Fawn asked as he set his now-empty cup on the coffee table.

He then curled up against Lyra as if he thought he was the size of a house cat. Lyra seemed to welcome the contact and rested her head against his already laying on her shoulder, while absently stroking a hand up and down his back. Seeing them together made my heart swell with love and pride. Lyra had no idea how far Fawn had come in learning to understand that physical affection could happen without it involving sex. The moment any of us would just want to snuggle with our adorable Omega, he’d assume we only wanted to fuck him. With time, patience, and many conversations, we’d broken through that conditioning.

“If I may, I’d like to ask Lyra a question,” Perry said, and I appreciated he didn’t demand answers from my new skittish Omega.

“Me?” she questioned.

Perry nodded. “Yes, you see, I went into our database to check if there was a reason we didn’t know before now that you were a match to these men. Eli wasn’t permitted to partake in our services due to health reasons, but there was no trace of you ever being entered into our database. So my question is, did you register after your designation was revealed?”

Lyra dropped her gaze, and every Alpha instinct screamed at me that she didn’t feel safe right now. I wanted to get up and offer her my support, but I wasn’t sure it would be welcome. Today was the most time we’d spent together in person, and I felt like I’d pushed her enough already. My gaze shifted to Eli, curious to see what he would do, having a stronger bond with Lyra.

Unsurprisingly, his full attention was focused on her, and his fingers seemed to twitch as he fought the need to go to her. Was there a reason he held back? Did she not respond well to touch in stressful moments? If that were the case, it would explain why she reacted the way she did when I got upset. Then, as if it was too much for Eli, he shoved himself out of his seat and walked behind the couch to rest his hands on Lyra’s shoulders. He bent down and whispered something in her ear that seemed to surprise her and snap her attention to me. Now I was real fucking curious to know what he said to her, but this wasn’t the time or place. Instead, I gave her a reassuring smile and nod of encouragement, which seemed to be the response she was looking for.

“No, Mr. Perry, I was never added to the database,” Lyra answered, returning her attention to him. “Due to personal reasons, I didn’t feel that being part of your system would be best for me. It was only by chance that I met Eli and discovered, through him, the rest of the pack I was also matched with.”

Perry jerked upright, eyes wide. “I’m sorry, did you just say you’re scent-matched to all pack members? It’s not just Fawn, Eli, and Tanner?”

“No, it’s all of them,” Lyra confirmed. “Fawn is as well.”

“Yup, I’m matched with everyone too, but Pascal and I don’t have an intimate relationship even though we’re bonded,” Fawn clarified.

“Extraordinary,” Perry exclaimed. “As far as I’m aware, this is the first time something like this has happened. In the few cases we’ve seen, the Omegas are matched with only a select few, but you’re both saying it’s a perfect match all around.”

Lyra’s expression became more anxious as Perry’s excitement grew. I wasn’t sure why, but why didn’t matter. All I gave a shit about was ensuring my starlight knew she was safe with her pack.

“Perry,” I cut in, leaning forward. “I don’t mean to sound rude or ungrateful for your interest in our pack’s situation, but was there something you needed from Lyra and Fawn? A same-day summons seems a little abrupt for a friendly chat.”

There was a flicker of guilt that would have been easy to miss if I hadn’t been watching for a reaction. “You’re right, Mr. Hill. The summons wasn’t originally for this chat. One of our Scent Matchers had delivered it, intending to verify your claim. It wouldn’t be the first time people tried to play the system to get a month and a half of paid time off. Thankfully, this matter was brought to my attention when I was notified Scent Matcher, Mira Chambers, was served with a lawsuit yesterday.” Perry raised a hand, halting Eli from speaking. “I’m not going to interfere or discuss the matter unless I’m required to in court. If the accusations are true, she deserves everything that’s coming to her. The only thing I will say to you, Mr. Thatcher, as the owner of this company, if Mira Chambers is found guilty, an internal investigation will be done to ensure nothing like this ever happens again.”

“The investigation should happen regardless of the outcome of my lawsuit,” Eli shot back. “Once the media gets a hold of this, people are going to demand reassurance that something like what happened to my sister will never happen to their children. True or not, the battle you face is the court of public opinion.”

Damn, that had to burn, but Perry deserved it. Everything Eli said was the cold, hard truth of doing business, and I absolutely would not want to be in a fight against an Alpha like Eli. Yeah, I’d jumped the gun when I asked Lyra if Eli ever raised a hand to her, but someone has to ask the hard questions. Did I truly think Eli would stoop so low as to hurt or intimidate an Omega? No. But I’ll be damned if the one time I didn’t question someone’s intentions, it ended up hurting someone I cared about. I’m sure if I point-blank asked Eli if he’d rather me leap to defend our Omegas, even if it meant questioning his character, it would be better than ignoring the situation.