Page 7 of Knot Their Valentine

I wrote his name, Caelum Baker, on page after page of every fucking notebook I owned. Practiced writing Harlow Baker right along with it.

If he noticed those first few months, he said nothing. Not even at Christmas that year, when I followed him and his best friends, Lachlan and Quinton, around the house like a fucking lost puppy.

Only Caelum had presented as an Alpha at the time. I had presented as an Omega early. It happens sometimes like when you find your scent matches young. But those are rare. So fucking rare, that no one really knows much about them. I know for an Omega, you need to be in heat with your scent matches to really know for sure. So the only explanation was that my hormones were just really freaking strong.

I knew we were compatible, Caelum and I.

Of course, in true Caelum fashion, he destroyed my heart. Well, not at first. One day, after crushing on him for a few months, I saw him kissing another Omega, and my hopes of being his were shattered. I was sixteen, it wasn’t a big deal. By fifth period that same day, I was already drooling over some other boy.

That is, until Caelum decided to fucking socially annihilate me the next damn day. By eighth period, Caelum had told the entire student body that I was in love with him. That I was obsessed. That I was his goddamn stalker.

Oh! And wouldn’t you know, he had proof! As the rumors went, I’d apparently talked my mom into moving in next door to him and his family at the age of four. I’d also managed to spend every holiday since I was seven months old at his place because I was obsessed with him and not because my mother fuckingforced me over there. Look at me, a genius mastermind before I could even walk.

Teenagers are fucking stupid.

Memories of crying in bathroom stalls as I tried to eat my lunch plague me. For the sake of our mothers, we kept the truth away from them. Which only made his case against me stronger, in the court of public opinion, when he’d share the images of me in our combined family pictures looking like I want to kill him.

I glare at him, ready to say fuck it. To reveal the awful truth to my mother, even though I graduated from high school two years ago.

When she said she found me an apartment, I stupidly assumed she meant a solo apartment.

She thinks I avoid Caelum like the plague because of my lifelong desire not to be turned into his Omega against my will. I never told her he’s actually the worst fucking bastard ever.

Or the even more embarrassing truth. That while Caelum was my tormentor, his now mated Omega, Quinton, became my next epic crush. One I never managed to get over.

It was as if my subconscious was punishing me. Because along with falling for Quinton, I also found myself drawn to Lachlan. Two men who were off limits even before they became a pack.

So, I avoid them. Especially over the last eleven months.

I just saw them several weeks ago at Christmas, where I pretended Caelum didn’t exist, while Quinton sat cheerily by his side, attempting to include me from time to time, but I would rather jump off a cliff. Lachlan was polite as always, but I never spoke more than a few words to any of them.

Drenched myself in scent blocker for good measure too. Something that often goes against our instincts.

“Hey, Harlow, welcome home!” a softer, much kinder voice says from behind Caelum.

I take a quick breath and hold it before his scent can reach me. Peach cobbler. He’s like a bite of juicy fruit on a hot summer's day. It’s irresistible. His and Caelum’s scents mix so fucking well that it’s unbearable for my poor hormones. Which is why I utilize the scent blockers at family gatherings.

Right now? No scent blocker.

“Quinton,” my mother nods to him, giving him a chillier greeting than the ones she reserves for me when I piss her off. I know she always wanted me to end up bonded into Caelum’s pack, but to treat Quin so coldly? I’m about to tell her off, but Cae distracts me.

“You’re still salty about that stuff in high school, Harlow?” Cae smirks at me as he joins me in the hall. I’m still holding my breath, so I don’t respond. At some point, I’ll need to inhale, though. I lift my right hand and flip him off instead. My mother has stepped up to Quin and is saying something to him. I’m trying to focus on that instead of Caelum, but the Alpha is so imposing it’s fucking hard.

His chuckle warms my skin, so I step to the side, trying to get away from him. Caelum is a pain in my perky Omega ass.

I’ve focused so hard on not breathing, that I miss the exchange between Quinton and my mother. Right up until the Omega male is pulling me into a hug that shocks me. That's when my lungs give up, and I gasp for air, sucking in the Omega’s scent so deeply that I feel him inside me like a fucking sickness.

Oh, fuuuuuuck me. I tremble so badly that I make Quinton fucking whimper with the need to comfort me, no doubt. He whimpers! My responding whine is immediate, and I send myself into a coughing fit trying to cover up the sound.

These men smell like Omega catnip, especially Quinton. I’ve never thought the scent of another Omega was so alluring. Figured out how abnormal it was very early.

I double over and hack up a lung while trying to clear my senses. Quinton pats my back gently, and Cae lets out an Alpha growl. My mother looks unsure as she steps forward. The three of them close in on me, and my panic only makes breathing harder.

It’s only been a few seconds, but I’m sure this is how I die.

Until someone else steps out of the apartment and into the hall. He grips my waist in his hands and lifts.

“Come on, Omega. Let's get you some air,” Lachlan grunts. Before I know it, my ass is planted on the counter inside the apartment, and firm, warm hands caress my back in soothing circles. “Breathe, Omega.” His golden eyes are locked on mine, and he sucks in a breath with me to demonstrate. I feel like I’m in a trance as I do as he says. His scent of plums and honey makes my mouth water, even as it spikes to soothe me. His hands are cupping my cheeks now.

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