Page 39 of Big Knot Energy (Shadowverse)

Okay. So yeah, they kind of were, but they’d been more concerned that I approved of him rather than seeking out the first willing omega to add to the pack. They’d wanted to make sure I got along with him, that I was okay with him even before I’d known the omega was male.

Male omegas were as rare as female alphas, yet here he was, adamant that I see myself in a different light, adamant that I was royalty in his eyes.

“My parents…” I started but was unsure of how to finish my thoughts. How the hell did I tell him about how I was raised? Enzo, Ax, and Cyrus were fully aware of my background. They’d done what they could in the past few months to help me get past all that bullshit, to accept that my upbringing was abnormal.

And then there was the whole thing of how Amir might see me after finding out the kind of people who’d raised me. Or rather, birthed me, being as we’d all been raised by nannies.

“What about them?” He rested an arm along the back of the couch, lazily toying with my hair.

I could ruin everything with just a few words. Amir could learn about my parents, about my past and decide I wasn’t worth the risk, that the pack wasn’t worth the risk.

His fingertips brushed along my cheekbone as he ducked his head to force me to look him in the eye. “Your past doesn’t define you,Habibi.”

My love. He kept calling me that. And yeah, it was far too early for that four letter word, but the term of endearment sent a frenzy of butterflies fluttering in my belly every time.

“Have you heard of Pack Alvarez?”

His dark brows shot up his forehead. “Yeah.”

Rolling my lips into my mouth, I hoped he would connect the dots so I wouldn’t have to put them into words.

“That was your family pack? You’re Issa Alvarez?”

“Isabelle Alvarez, one of five beta children. My younger sister is the only omega of the six of us.”

“Weren’t your parents killed in a freak fire?” he asked.

That was a piece of information I wouldn’t divulge. There wasn’t a chance in hell I would get Cora’s pack in trouble, not when they’d done so much to protect first my sister then me. And also because the pack lead was the brother to one of my alphas.

“Yeah. They were.”

His brows lowered until a crease formed between them. “The alpha who mistreated you…he was chosen by your fathers. Arranged bond and all that bullshit.”

His beautiful eyes seemed to darken as his anger grew.

“Yeah. All of us had our packs or alphas chosen for us. Except my sister…did her own thing.” Yet something else I wouldn’t divulge just yet. No reason to tell an omega we were courting that Enzo’s brother and his pack had kidnapped my sister on the day of her bonding ceremony and then fell in love with her.

His eyes narrowed. His arm rested on the cushions behind my head. He was no longer gently stroking my cheek or toying with my hair. He simply watched me with various emotions flashing through his eyes.

“That actually explains a lot,” he finally said.

A knock on my door startled me, and I glanced up as Cyrus peeked his head inside. “Am I interrupting?”

“Of course not. This is your–”

“Stop,” Amir said, surprising me.

“What?”

“You were going to tell him he wasn’t interrupting because this is his house. Or did I guess that wrong?”

“How…” How the hell had he known what I was going to say? Yeah, I’d said that very thing to all three alphas dozens of times since I’d moved into this room, but there was no way Amir could possibly know that.

Cyrus grinned and raised a brow as he stepped further into the room. “The living room is set up whenever the two of you are ready. Did you show him the omega quarters yet?”

“Not yet. She was telling me how she came from a pack of assholes who convinced her she wasn’t important because of her designation. I’m paraphrasing, of course. But you get the gist.”

My mouth hung open as my wide eyes went from Amir to Cyrus and back.

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