Page 41 of Talk About… Rivalry

“It seems like they’re still buddy-buddy. I ran into Sidney and Maverick at the grocery store and they were still as cocky as ever.” He huffed and turned to me. “Honestly, not to be a dick Taylor, but you’re way better off without her.”

“You don’t even know her,” I defended again, my argument weak. He had his own reasons but I couldn’t make sense of his version of Sidney, and mine. Yet, as I started talking, my own convictions grew stronger. Sidney was mine. “I’m not just some stupid omega who can’t figure out what he wants out of life. I genuinely really like this girl and I didn’t say that I was just going to give up on her because of this. She has no ties to me. I’ve made it obvious what I want. There’s a difference between going home with someone and starting a relationship with someone, and I want more than one night with her.”

Leo held up his hands in defense and shook his head. The look of pity on his face made me clench my jaw and glare.

“Fuck you, Leo. I don’t need your approval.”

“We’re pack,” Leo shot back in a frustrated growl. “Are you really going to throw that all away for a girl that you’re not even scent matched to?”

“She’s not a scent match to anyone and scents don’t mean that fucking much. Just because she doesn’t have one, doesn’t mean I can’t be with her.”

“Wait, wait,” he said, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose like this was giving him a headache. I couldn’t blame him there. We’ve been arguing back and forth, both of us on completely different wavelengths.

This was a first for us.

Of course, now we chose one of the biggest things a pack could fight about. The cold, hard truth was that if we weren’t compatible with our omega, then we weren’t a pack.

“So, when you’ve been telling me about the girl with no scent and the scent blocker issue, it was her all along?”

I nodded, feeling miserable and ready to just go home and curl up into a ball in my nest.

“Is that even possible?”

“For people to have scent issues? Of course, it is,” I said. “It’s only an omega issue, so you probably haven’t heard of it.”

He ran a hand over his stubble and nodded once as if that made sense.

“So, what now? We just part ways?”

“What else can we do? I’m not giving up on Sidney,” I said, feeling a mix of renewed determination and dismay. How could I possibly choose between my best friend and my omega?

I would take today and let myself be in my feelings.

Tomorrow, everything would change.

I was going to double down my efforts to be there for Sidney and show her that I was the kind of man she wanted in her pack.

Hell, I’d take scent blockers myself if she wanted me to.

This was not where our story ended. I was not going to just roll over and let it happen and be miserable without her.

I understood that there was a fine line here. If she didn’t feel the same, I would have to let her go.

But I saw the way she flirted with me, how she looked at me and her eyes would soften.

She fought it, but she wanted me, too. I was sure of it.

Not wanting me was never the issue.

We were both quiet as we processed everything. Leo wasn’t arguing and I wasn’t really sure how we could go from here.

At least packwise. He’d always be my best friend regardless. It felt so surreal after seeing the house I thought would be my pack house yesterday, the two omega nests seemed perfect and I could almost picture Sidney on the other end of the hall.

Now it was all crumbling down.

“Look I’m not trying to be a stubborn asshole here, but I’m also not willing to just pretend that we’re not pack. We have a pack connection whether we want to admit it or not and it’s not going to just go away because of this.”

“You just said you hate her. How is that going to work?”

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