Page 95 of Knot Your Baby

He sighs, cracking an egg into the pan and stirring. “Shit!”

“It’s fine, it’ll come together,” I tell him. I’m not sure if I’m talking about the gougères or us. “Add the other three eggs and don’t stop stirring.”

He glances my way and smiles. “You’re really bossy.”

I smile back at him. "You know I finally gave up on you last year." The words taste so bitter as I admit it. "I decided I couldn't waste my life waiting for something that would never happen.” I shrug my shoulders. “What changed for you?"

His hand grips the spatula so hard I’m surprised it doesn’t break. "I knew you were stressed. My alpha knew. It was like he was part of me and clawing to get out. And then I caught your scent. That scent. It was like being struck by lightning. Everything inside me just bolted upright–everything made sense–and I had to get to you."

A tear slips down my cheek. "One scent and now you're sure? After nine years of nothing?"

"It wasn't nothing to me," he growls.

“Keep beating the eggs in, you can’t stop.” I could give him the electric mixer, but he can feel the pain.

He grunts as his arm beats the mixture like a mad man. "I've been trying to find you for years—chasing the ghost of you for years—Freya. Dating omegas who reminded me of something I couldn't place. Unable to form relationships because something fundamental was missing. I've been looking for you everywhere without knowing it was you."

"But you never sawme." I try not to sound like just saying the words gives me pain.

“Oh I did.”

What?

I hold back a whine. I've protected myself for too long to surrender so easily. "No, you didn’t. Nine years, Thorne. For nine years I felt incomplete. Don’t say this to me now."

Thorne turns and reaches for my hand again, and this time I let him take it. He looks up at me with shiny eyes. "Because despite what you think, I liked seeing you in the club. I used to stand back and watch you dancing, laughing and joking and wonder if you were telling me the truth. Because I saw you. And not just the omega.”

His voice breaks and my omega keens inside me, yearning to forgive, to comfort, to claim him as mine.

He continues, “You. Your laugh, your sassiness, your kindness. But it never took away the fact that I wanted my soulmate. So, I stepped away from you."

“We need cheese.”

“Fuck the cheese.” Thorne drops to his knees before me, his powerful frame shaking. “I’m sorry. I am so fucking sorry. It was always you, only I never knew it.”

I feel my resolve weakening, but I need to be sure. "And Stone? Do you hate me for what I did?"

"No. I’m glad you took action, Freya. Stone is our child. He’s a miracle I never dared hope for." Thorne's voice is softer now. "But even if there was no Stone, I would still be here, on my knees, begging you to give me a chance to be yours. Your alpha. Your mate."

The dam inside me breaks, and the tears finally fall. "I hated you for so long."

"You should hate me. I deserve it."

"But you want me for real?" My voice drops to a murmur.

"I want you, Freya. You're the omega who shares my scent. You're mine and I almost lost you." His eyes flick around my face. "Please say you forgive me and let me love you the way I should have from the beginning."

I close my eyes as Thorne rises to his feet. His hands gently frame my face. "I will spend every day making up for the time we lost. I swear on my life. On everything I am."

As I lean into his palm, my omega purrs at his touch, and for the first time in nine years, I feel close to being whole. But I can’t make it too easy for him. “I might find it hard to forget.”

His thumbs brush away my tears. "I won't ask you to forget the pain I caused, only to let me help you heal it."

"I might hate you forever," I whisper.

"Well, that’s fine, but I’m still not going anywhere. Never again." His scent wraps around me. "I'm yours, Freya, forever. I always have been, even when I was too stupid to know it."

“You were?” But despite nine years of heartache, I believe him.

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