Page 19 of Knot All is Forgiven

"You are," I impress upon him, something instinctual within me eager to please him. "But I can't leave my car at the grocery store. I figured you could take me to it, go home, get your cat, and then come over?"

He visibly relaxes. "Oh." Glancing at me from the corner of his eyes, he nods. "I can see why that would be a good idea. However, I would much prefer if you came to my home with me first so I could follow your car home." Icarus clears his throat. "You know. For safety."

I start to protest, the words sitting at the back of my throat, ready for me to throw them out, but then I slow down and think for a minute. Why would this be a bad thing? Because I've been on my own, independent for so long? What is the harm in letting this kind, handsome, successful Alpha take care of me?

I mean, he could be a murderer.

Fuck.

He could be a murderer.

"Vick, are you a murderer?"

"Icarus isn't, but Vick may be if you keep calling me that."

I cross my arms over my chest in a huff. The scrubs bunch awkwardly around my chest. "I don't think murdering your Omega is going to fly with the medical board."

"Well, good thing Vick doesn't have a medical license. Or an Omega. Icarus Valentine does." Despite the sharpness of his words, humor glints in his eyes.

"If we're gonna pack up, can we take my name?"

"Goddamnit, Jordan. You're going to give me heartburn." He turns into a parking garage under a modest apartment building. "You run in eight thousand directions at a time."

"Boo hoo, Vick. I don't know if you realized it, but I just went through some life-changing shit today." I get out of the car and slam the door loudly.

"Oh, did you? You became what you've known you'd be for sixteen years. It sounds to me like you finally got your wish. And bonus, you get matched up with a sexy, if kind of awkward, doctor!"

He presses the elevator button a little too hard. I don't think we're actually arguing. There is no malice in either of our tones. What I think is happening is that we both have confusing, big feelings running amok within us and no idea what to do with them, so we're just being an annoying sitcom couple to release that pent-up frustration.

"You are incredibly attractive, which makes this so weird!" I groan, leaning my head against the elevator wall. It's slow as hell and clearly in need of a tune-up. "I wake up not just as an Omega, but a scent matched Omega. To my cute doctor. Oh, and by the way, Pack Stargazer somehow found out, and now I maybe gotta cut tail and run."

"Who are they to you?" he asks, crowding me against the wall. "Why did we run?"

"An elevator isn't enough time to explain it, Icarus." His body brushes lightly against mine, and I melt under the barely-there sensation like a touch-starved Omega.

Which, I probably am, now that I think about it. It's been a while since someone warmed my bed, and I am an Omega.

Ah hell.

I grab the front of his white button-up and yank his body against mine, crashing my lips into his. Icarus tenses momentarily, and then his whole body molds itself to my own, and hedevoursme. His kiss is bruising, a brand upon my skin that leaves no doubt about what it means.

I am his.

I should be scared. I should be worried. This is fast. We're strangers.

But that's how it always is. That's what they say. You meet your scent match, and suddenly, you're falling into bed with one another, instantly in love, unable to be apart.

I kind of get it.

The doors to the elevator open on floor twelve, and he pulls away, grabbing my hand and heaving me out of the car. Only five or six units are on this floor, and he is right off the elevator bays.

Inside, his place is clean and orderly but lacks personality. There are a few family photos on end tables and bookshelves. So many bookshelves. It seems that's the primary source of decoration. Beautifully bound books of all shades fill massive shelves that take up an entire wall. I want to say something exponentially stupid like,"Oh, are you a reader?"but bite my tongue.

I need him to think I'm cooler than I actually am. Just until he bonds me, I guess. Then he's stuck with my weirdo ass.

"Make yourself comfortable," the Alpha says, glancing awkwardly around. I can tell he doesn't entertain much. That's fine. I don't either. The only person who ever comes over is Lanie, my best friend.

Oh shit, I have to tell Lanie.

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