Page 3 of Knot that Simple

CHAPTER 2

LORCAN

We piledin the rented car, Oisin by my side, already complaining it was too small, even though it was a seven seater.

I pushed to rent a car—it wasn’t a good impression to meet her for the first time in a fishy-smelling truck.

Her.Gabriela Fonseca, 26 years old. Brazilian, but her omega mother was Bolivian. Used to be a waitress, and now, she was ours.

That was it, all that we knew about our omega, the woman who was supposed to be our mate. I didn’t even know her face because I let Tadgh talk me into a surprise. I was heading to Dublin Airport with a stupid sign with her name scribbled on it like a fecking idiot.

I gripped the wheel and breathed in the late afternoon air. Her flight arrived in Dublin tonight; I didn’t want to be traveling too long with her and her daughter down the motorway.

Her daughter. That was another part of the puzzle I knew nothing about but her name and age. Alice, six years old.

They asked us about the kid like anything could be a dealbreaker. I was in love with the woman before I even set my eyes on her. I dreamed about the day I’d find my omega.Knowing she started a family without us hurt a little, but it just made me want to take care of her more.

Oisin messed with the radio, annoying Tadgh, who wanted to sleep in the back seat. I blocked out their noise. We were only an hour from Dublin, and my heart was hammering inside my chest.

I needed to see her. The mating call was unbearable, and she wasn’t even close. How was it going to be when she finally got here?

I was old, forty seven in May. I broke my back fishing, but it was a good distraction for years of solitude. To our little village, Dingle was the big town. That’s how little it was, so it wasn’t exactly a surprise that when I came of age, there was no one for me, not even a pack. Oisin was ten years younger, Tadgh fifteen. I was long thinking I’d never share my life with anyone. I was really alone. No woman, no pack, just me and the Atlantic.

When they came around and we formed a pack, it was a consolation. We knew we’d never get an omega, but brotherhood made life easier. Tolerable. We took to the seas every morning, working together and going home to an empty house.

And life was supposed to be like that until a month ago, when we got a call. An omega matched with us. She was in a little village in Bolivia, only twenty six years old.

I glanced in the rear view mirror, and an old man with gray hair stared back at me. What would a twenty six year old want with me?

Yes, I kept my self in shape, mainly because of the type of work I kept, but my eyes had lines, my hair almost completely grey. What if she thought I was too old?

“Can we stop at the garage?” Tadgh moaned from the backseat. “I need snacks.”

“We are almost there,” I said, still tense from my thoughts running amok.

Oisin glanced at the phone with a GPS and chuckled, “One hour to go.”

Tadgh groaned and, as usual I relented, turning on the next exit to a stop so Tadgh could get himself sweets or whatever he had in mind.

As they went shopping, I pumped gas and bought myself a coffee, leaning on the car while I waited.

In less than an hour, everything was about to change. Our lives were never going to be the same. The muscles in my arms bulged with the excitement I wasn’t showing in my face. I wasn’t good with my emotions, but if I wanted to keep an omega around, I had to learn.

And I’d do anything to keep her.

“Got you M&M peanuts even though you’re a dick,” Tadgh announced, throwing the yellow packet at me.

I caught it midair and grunted a thank you. They were my favorite.

Back to the car, I raced to Dublin.

To her.

Tadgh was watchinga man beside us who carried a huge flower arrangement in his hands before he said, “Do you think we should get flowers?”

“Shit,” I cursed. Yes, we should.

“Fucking eejits,” Oisin followed.

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