Page 3 of Knot Happening

The bare bones of the room around me doesn’t provide any warmth. My mattress sits on the floor while a dresser holds little else but clothes. I would add more to it, but the need to return to my pack house is just as strong as my need to be close to Tatum.

I bought this place a year after my world fell apart.

I’m so close but still so far away from her. If I didn’t know the consequences, I’d wash my scent blockers off and soothe her the way my instincts demand. She knows that smell of lavender and sea salt all too well and would probably go feral trying to find me so she could claw my eyeballs out.

Fair enough.

I deserve nothing less.

I tried to come back. The fallout was catastrophic.

Seeing the woman I love in so much pain, knowing I caused it, knowing there was nothing I could do to end that pain…fuck, it was pure agony.

So I backed off. Even though it nearly killed me. Learning to live in our new normal was hell.

I always wanted Tatum to be my scent match.

An Alpha can tell when an Omega is their scent match when they go into a rut. And an Omega can tell, likewise, when they are in heat. They crave those scents with an almost feral need.

Nothing overrides a scent match except a bond to another person that exists outside the scent matched pack.

But I went and fucked everything up so epically that she would rather face the world alone than let me back into her heart.

So I bought the apartment next door and keep my eye on her. If I’m not doing jobs for my pack, I’m here. Or outside the diner. Or following her through the aisles of the grocery store.

It’s not stalking. Well, okay, by definition, it’s probably stalking, but she’smyOmega.

Either Tatum is oblivious, or she’s subconsciously ignoring me as a form of self-preservation. Probably the latter. I mean, I do my best not to be obvious, but she doesn’t even seem to sense me. Of course, it’s not as if I’m a danger to her. And I know she’s still taking those fucking heat suppressants.

They don’t mask her entirely, mostly dulling her nature and minimizing the potency of her scent. They fuck with her instincts, suppressing the Omega’s need for a nest and comfort, and can also make heats unpredictable with prolonged use. Bursts of hormones breaking through and making her emotional.

I hate it. I hate even more that I’m the reason she’s on them.

I pull up the view of her living room on my tablet, zooming in on her. I don’t feel sorry for invading her privacy. For being able to make sure she is safe, and that her mama is okay.

She’s clutching the flyer I left for her in the diner tightly in her hands. My phone beeps with a text, but I ignore it in favor of watching my girl.

I’ve lost a lot in my life, and even if Tatum doesn’t want me, I won’t be losing her too. I don’t care how long it takes her to come around to the same conclusion that I have. She’s mine.

Always has been, always will be. I’ll wait for my girl until the day she comes back to me.

My phone rings, but still I ignore it. Until, of course, it keeps ringing. Only one person would do that. Call me incessantly.

“What?” I grumble at my brother, Kodiak. We’re half brothers by blood but pack brothers by choice. Kodi’s twin is our pack lead, and he’d bitten us in three years ago. I know what they don’t, but I haven’t said anything. Things are meant to go a certain way. It wouldn’t be fair to my Omega to do anything less for her.

“That slippery fucker did it again. I don’t know how he keeps getting out! I was certain we’d catch him this time,” Kodiak hisses, and through the bond, I feel a sense of reluctant admiration for the ‘slippery fucker’ coming from Kodi. “Left his fucking scent all over the room too. Fucking brownies… Damn Omegas.”

I can’t help but snort. My brother’s nemesis… I’ll admit, he’s a pain in the ass. But what started as a deadly threat, morphed into something more taunting. The threat is clear. But what can we do if we can’t catch the Omega? When we don’t even have a lead.

“You probably need to change your tactics. He’s started to expect–”

“Yeah, yeah!” Kodi cuts me off. “Shut the fuck up and get over here. We need to comb through the surveillance.” Hearing my thirty-five-year-old brother act like a moody twenty-year-old catches me off guard.

I chuckle but don’t argue. I watch Tatum for a little longer until she disappears into her bedroom.

With a heavy sigh, I tuck my tablet into my backpack and slip out the window and down the fire escape at the back of the building. Using the front door is too risky. She might see me.

But that won't stop me from being close to her.

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