Page 9 of Knot Only For One Night

ESPER

Penny has been holding court basically since we met up after lunch. I sit with a handful others as she laughs and gabs and rarely asks for anyone else’s involvement. She waves around her red lollipop as she speaks.

Eventually, the other groupies dissipate as we meander back to our room—nope, her room. She opens the door and my once-neutral-covered side of the room now is an explosion of pinks and reds.

Penny plops onto her bed, and I cringe at her dirty shoes on top of the comforter.

But it’s not my bed, not my room, not my problem.

“Thanks again for your help with the room,” she says. “I actually see the use for your silly little degree now.”

“Anytime, Pen.”

Penny had the extra bed moved out—how she got the school to agree to that, I have no idea—so I take a seat in one of the boneless chairs we picked out a few weeks ago.

Penny is a beautiful woman. She has red long hair, green eyes and cutesy freckles that bunch when she snarls, which she does now.

“Professor Marlyn can actually kick rocks. Maybe trip while doing so, down into a ditch. Or over a bridge.” As beautiful as Penny is, her mood never seems to be as cheery as her appearance. Any professor assigning any type of work was a personal offense to her. She was here to go pro at tennis, not actually learn anything. As long as she eventually married whoever they picked out for her, Penny’s wealthy parents are happy to pay for her schooling and are supportive of her tennis career.

“How’s your heat coming along?” Penny asks, shooting up to a sitting position on her bed and reaching for a nail file on her desk.

I swallow my discomfort at the question. Was that common to ask? It felt like… like it should be private. I stretch the sleeves of my large sweater and cover my hands, which are anxious to pick at something, anything, at this point.

For a moment it feels like we should be besties gushing over boys and dreaming of mates, like being in the same space should be easy and enjoyable, but it… isn’t.

She’s my best friend. She is.

“I actually… I may have found a partner.”

Her eyes light up before I even get the words out. Penny is a beta, so she doesn’t have a scent that I can smell, since we aren't scent matches. But her interest is written all over her face.

Scent matches are basically soulmates. A person destined to be your perfect romantic match determined by scent.

“Who? Is it someone on campus? Someone I know? How’d you meet so fast?”

Happiness covers my skin like glittering shimmer, lotion and I can’t help but squeal along with her.

“His name is Reed, he goes to school here. He’s a business major and he loves bike rides.”

“Bike rides?” Penny laughs and I nod my head.

“Yeah, he says he rides his bike to school every chance he gets.”

“What does he look like? Is he hot?”

“So hot.” His profile picture is permanently etched into my mind. Half of his honey blond hair is tied up in a pony and he doesn’t smile, just stares right into the camera as he leans against his bike with helmet in hand and an orange and purple sunset behind him.

“What designation is he? An alpha?”

“No,” I say, running my long fingernails softly over my cheeks trying to calm myself down. “He’s an omega.”

Penny pauses. “An…omega?”

“Yeah…”

She shook her head at me, all previous excitement vanished. “Esper, you need a knot. That's, like, basic biology, babe.” She scoffs.

“Well, I know… ” Tears prick my eyes, and my face goes impossibly warm.