Page 8 of Talk About… Rivalry

“Just a Sprite for me,” Avery said. Her hands rubbed her rounded belly with a small smile on her lips. She was glowing, happier than I think I’d ever seen her. Finding her pack and coming home was the best thing for her.

I still couldn’t believe that I was about to be an uncle in a few months. Sometimes I wasn’t sure how to feel about it but she assured me I’d be a natural once I had those sweet babies in my arms. I couldn’t argue with that. She’d done the same to me.

“Girl, not me. If you want me to rehash these bad date details I’m going to need something stronger,” Sidney groaned before turning to me. “How about a Long Island?”

Mentioning a date made me want to argue, but I simply nodded and turned, making their drinks and mulling over the possibilities about what made the date so bad… even if I was secretly glad it was.

After I slid her drink and waved off her card, I hovered nearby, cleaning some glasses that didn’t really need cleaning and wiping the bar top...anything to listen.

“I kid you not, Avery, these assholes handed me acontract.”

What the hell? Now I needed names of whose asses I’d be beating after my shift.

“Oh my god, no.” She laughed. “What could possibly be in a first date contract?”

“Some bullshit about what would be expected of me as their trophy omega. I kid you not, they used those exact words. Oh, and if I didn’t live up to those expectations? They outlined the punishments I’d receive if I didn’t have dinner on the table or tend to their every need the moment they requested it. Oh, and since we weren’t true mates, I would just be a temporary placeholder until they found their mate.”

Okay, now I was growling low, trying to stop it but that sent fury through my fucking veins. How could anyone look at a girl like Sidney Vance and try to mold her into some fucked up omega standards that had been outdated for years.

Fucking twats.

Avery was frowning almost as hard as I was as the next words slipped out of Sidney’s mouth, her voice quivering with pain.

“Maybe this is the best offer I’ll get, always a placeholder for packs until they find their mates.”

Fuck. If anyone was lucky enough to have her and threw her away, they’d be fucking stupid. She was the complete package, brains, beauty, and sass.

Avery wasn’t having it, either, her words firm as she leaned in so Sidney couldn’t ignore her.

“Sidney, just because your scent doesn’t work now, doesn’t mean it never will. You’re not broken. Even your doctors are hopeful that when you find your mates your scent will come in.”

My heart broke for her. I had no idea that she wasn’t just wearing blockers. I always found it odd she didn’t have a scent and figured since she never reacted to mine that I was simply not her mate. That didn’t stop me from wanting her and willing to give up everything to have her.

Wait… Holy shit. If her scent was dormant… that could mean she was my mate. That we were scent matches and we just didn’t know it yet.

That possibility was enough to make me want to snatch her up and carry her out of here right now, to test out the theory.

Though, Avery would kick my ass, pregnant and all.

I’d spent years hoping Sidney would one day wake up, come near me, and be struck by that telltale reaction to finding a match. Her green eyes widening, freezing mid sentence, nostrils flaring as she took in another deep breath to confirm.

But it never came, and now I knew why.

Fuck, my mind was chaos and I didn’t know how to handle it. Did I say something to her? Press her for more information.

But I couldn’t. She’d probably be horrified to realize that I overheard it all.

“To make it even worse,” Sidney said, not skipping a beat, “They found a fucking scent match right there in the middle of dinner. They threw me under the table faster than I could blink, leaving me with the fucking check.”

Her face twisted into a grimace, eyes far away as if she were reliving that awful moment.

A deep, low growl filled the air, and it wasn’t until they turned to me that I realized it was coming from me. I let my eyes close and took a deep breath, my fists so tight that my blunt nails were digging into my palm.

How could those fucking assholes leave her with the check? No matter if they found their mate or not, you handle something like that delicately.

The fact that they hurt my omega made me want to track them down, even though I had no names or faces.

“Sorry, I just overheard that last part. That’s shitty, Sidney, I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve that.”

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