Page 73 of Knot the Alphas' Feral Omega

Fuck, I was nervous.

I hummed softly to myself in an effort to control my nerves. I heard the exact moment she woke up and stirred her bedroom upstairs. My sensitive ears perked up, and my heart rate jumped. I continued cooking, plating the eggs, hash browns, and sausage, and waiting patiently as she shuffled around upstairs. Then, slowly, she opened her door and started making her way down to the kitchen.

I could smell confusion in her scent, and by the time she walked into the kitchen, I was a nervous fucking wreck.

God, I hoped this was going to go well.

I hated feeling so uncertain. It was wholly unlike me, but...well, this was a situation of my own making. I’d made my bed, so I needed to lie in it.

Lilah made a soft sound behind me, clearly not wanting to startle me as she approached. “Good morning, Oliver,” she said cautiously.

I turned around, holding a plate I had already filled and smiling at her, even as my stomach flipped again and my nose filled with her sweet scent. She was wearing a soft pair of house shorts underneath an oversized white shirt, and I could pick up Emmett’s scent on her, no doubt from the shirt that she was wearing.

Despite the complications between us, the sight of her wearing my packmate’s clothes soothed my inner alpha. At leastsomethingwas going right in this entire clusterfuck of a situation.

Lilah’s eyes widened slightly as she saw what I was offering and then flicked up to mine, uncertain.

“Good morning, Lilah,” I responded, keeping my voice gentle. I handed the plate over to her and then nodded at the dining room. “Why don’t you go and sit down? I’ll join you in there in a moment.”

She narrowed her eyes a little bit, and I could see her going over my actions in her head, as if I were playing a game and she was trying to figure out my end goal. Her suspicion made me sad, but it also made me want to laugh—just a little bit.

She was right to be suspicious, but not for the reasons she thought.

“Okay,” she said, drawing the word out slowly as she took the plate. She eyed me one more time before turning and walking away, her head swinging this way and that, clearly looking around for the other members of our pack.

I couldn’t stop myself from snorting at the entirely unsubtle gesture. She wouldn’t find anyone else, at least for a little bit.

I loaded up my own plate and joined her in the dining room, where she was sitting at the head of the table, picking at her eggs. Her eyes immediately flicked to mine as I took a seat next to her, and then they darted down my body, registering that I wasn’t wearing the usual dress clothes I wore to work.

“Where are the others?” she asked. She looked around as if drawing my attention to the fact that we were the only two sitting around the table and then looked at me again.

I swallowed.Showtime. “They’re not here. I sent them away this morning because I wanted to spend some time with you. Alone.”

Her eyes widened slightly, and her tongue flicked out to drag along her lower lip. “Alone?”

I nodded, clasping my hands together on top of the table to hide how they trembled.

“I...I know you’ve been hurt by how I’ve been avoiding you,” I started, carefully choosing my words. “It was never my intention to hurt your feelings, but then again, it was never my intention to hurt you, period.” I grimaced a little and continued, “I wantedto give you some time to recover without my interference, but Emmett and Killian both let me know that my intentions, while ‘honorable’ and ‘noble’—their words, not mine—were causing you stress.” I chewed the inside of my cheek for a moment, then continued, flushing a little, “And after what happened the other night...”

A light flush rose in Lilah’s cheeks, matching mine. Her scent tinged with embarrassment and arousal, and I knew she was remembering what had happened between the two of us just as vividly as I was.

I waited until her scent simmered down a little bit before continuing. “I thought that what happened was an indication that things were starting to get better—between the two of us, I mean.” I watched her carefully for a moment before finishing, “Which is why I would like to spend time with you today, just the two of us, so we can get to know each other on a deeper level than we have.”

I offered a small, sheepish grin even as guilt curdled low in my stomach. “I’m sure you figured out that I wasn’t the most open with you the first time around when we were trying to build to this pack,” I said. “I’d like to fix that.”

Lilah regarded me for a moment, her eyes narrowed. I could see every single suspicious thought written on her face. “I did notice that,” she finally said. “It didn’t bother me too much at the time, but now...”

“I know,” I said quietly when she trailed off. I paused and swallowed thickly before saying, “I’m sorry. Truly.” I looked down at my hands, refusing to meet her gaze as I continued, “I’m sure you’ve noticed that I don’t especially do well with beingtold I’ve made a mistake or that the decisions I’ve made aren’t necessarily what’s in the best interests of myself or the pack. I can be a bit of a stubborn asshole, and I have too much pride for one person.”

A moment passed, heavy with tension, and then Lilah snorted, breaking it. “You could say that,” she said, her voice warm with amusement.

I was startled when I felt a gentle touch on my wrist. I looked up, seeing her watching me with a far more open and accepting gaze than she had been before.

“You’ve made mistakes, Oliver. I’m going to be the first to tell you that, and I will be the first to hold you accountable when you fuck up,” she said firmly. A moment passed, and then she continued, her voice a little softer, “But if I kept holding you accountable for something you’ve apologized for and something you’re clearly trying to remedy and make up to me, that would make me just as much of an asshole as you can be.” She winked, and the tiny gesture made me snort. ”And I’m not an asshole.”

“No, you’re not,” I agreed, chuckling softly.

She squeezed my wrist one more time before letting me go and picking up her fork to dive into the breakfast I had made her. She started eating, and I felt a rumble of satisfaction from my wolf as I watched our omega eat the food I had cooked.

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