Page 14 of Trick Knot Treat

She looks panicked, but after a moment, her expression stiffens with determination, and there’s this fire about her that I think no one sees, but I love it. She doesn’t like to lose.

“So, you’ll do it?”

“Of course. I can do it. I’ll get it done.”

“You are amazing.”

Mum has no idea about the potential of the omega standing in front of her, hidden under the suppressant patches. She has no idea that my future is right there pretending to be a beta.

The question is why, but I’ll get to that later.

I won’t have another. Khione is my choice.

I step back, waiting in the shadows, until I see Mum walk off down the hall, leaving Khione like I knew she would. I wait until she approaches the door frame and then step around the corner, right up into her space, inhaling deeply. Every step she takes back, I chase, unable to stop, needing to be in her air, in her aura, just there. She looks up, and I whack that ridiculous hat off her head, tumbling her hair free like a golden wave until it’s falling to her mid-back.

“Felix,” she gasps my name, her eyes dropping to scan my body.

Her scent burns through the suppressant patch for three seconds as her cheeks heat and her eyes glaze.

“Khione,” I murmur and place a hand on her hip, feeling the tremble that is all for me. “Are you ready to take me on our alpha wooing excursion?”

She makes a hissing sound and brushes my hand off her. “Sounds so ridiculous, what would I know about wooing alphas?”

I smile at her, not ready to reveal her secret yet, but not willing to let her get away with it either.

I sweep open the cupboard behind her and pull out my secret stash. She’s too nervous, too on edge. I break off a row of chocolate and put it in her mouth as soon as she tries to protest.

She grumbles and pulls it out. “I could be allergic.”

“You were eating it last week, after you finished eating lunch. You were reading a book in the corner of the Sandy Heart and smiling. I was so curious what the book was that made you give up your usual magazine, but I did note the brand of chocolate and how much you enjoyed eating it.”

She freezes and looks at me sideways. “You saw me?”

I grin and take hold of her wrist. “Let’s go look for stones and woo alphas.”

She lets out an eep but keeps up as I pull her out of the house. I look back and see my mother standing at the front door, a confused look on her face as she studies the omega I’m absconding with.

Really, it’s the town’s fault for being willfully blind.

I tug her along, refusing the silent summons from my mother, until we’re long gone. I steer her back towards her home. It's on the outer eastern edge of town, in a street that is two back from the beach. She actually lives quite close to Grandma, but we’re not doing that.

Not at all, if I can help it.

“Your sister-”

“Is gone.”

“She was meant to be paired with Zaire, though, wasn’t she?”

I consider her for a long moment, she’s refusing to look at me and is chewing her lower lip with what looks like distress.

“Clearly, the only correct answer is that my mother was wrong.”

She gasps, but at least she stops chewing on her lip. “You know, every time someone says Lorelei Sol is wrong, a seagull craps on someone’s head. Don’t be so mean to everyone.”

Her response is so delightfully unexpected that I toss my head back and laugh. I don’t laugh. Not like this. Not ever.

She’s finally looking at me when I calm down, but as soon as she realizes I’ve seen her, she averts her eyes again.