Page 47 of Stella

I pulled Stella against me, leading her out of the room.

Too much longer and I would simply have Stella in the industrial sized kitchen. The siren’s call of her body was too much for me to resist, and my careful control crumbled.

Chapter13

Sunshine

Icrossed my arms over my chest as Simon dragged Stella out of the kitchen.

“Subtle,” Julian said. “Real subtle.”

I bit my lip, trying to picture the overbearing alpha with Stella. “She keeps telling us how much he gets on her nerves.”

“Which is basically foreplay for Stella.” Luca brought more onions over to the prep counter.

Stella spent most of our teen years being wild and rebelling as much as she could. We all grieved for our parents in different ways. Stella seized life by the throat and wouldn’t let go, the brush with death reminding her that life was precious.

At least, until her stupid former pack broke her heart. I’d never seen her cautious until they dumped her.

Maybe it would be good for my younger sister to let go again. Heavens knew we were all batting a thousand when it came to falling in love.

Raina refused to date anyone seriously, Luna and Stella had both tried out pack life and been dumped, and my love life was a cliched dumpster fire.

I dated a pack for years, even though they reminded me I was a beta, and not really necessary. I thought we were finally making progress to a matebond when I walked in on them cheating on me. With my best friend. Who was also a beta.

They were all happily bonded now. It wasn’t that they didn’t want a beta.

They just didn’t want me.

I glanced at Luca out of the corner of my eye, looking for signs that he was disappointed Stella was choosing another alpha.

Society pretended like alphas weren’t in control of themselves around omegas, especially omegas in heat, but neither Logan nor Luca seemed affected by my sister’s hormones.

Julian handed me a plate of food. “Try these.”

Maybe because they already had their omega. It wasn’t impossible for a pack to choose two omegas, but it definitely wasn’t the norm for two omegas wanting to share a pack between them.

My cousin Ember didn’t care about society’s rules, and her long term totally-not-her boyfriend West was a male omega.

An empty sense of longing lodged inside my chest. I did my best to ignore it.

Pack Kahele was already complete. Whenever another alpha or omega came sniffing around their pack, Luca or Logan always told them they liked their pack small. They’d moved to the area five years ago. Logan had conquered the East Coast dining scene in New York, and they moved out here to be closer to Julian’s mom, who had been diagnosed with cancer.

Logan introduced himself, offered to help cater events, and brought delicious samples.

I was fresh from my own horrible break up myself, losing my pack and best friend in the process. I’d thrown myself into the event planner with my remaining best friend Holly and met the guys.

It was too soon to want them. I told myself it was rebound lust, and I’d been very vividly reminded of why betas didn’t try to fit into packs.

Once time passed, and Julian’s mom went into remission, the pack stayed here. I realized I didn’t want them for just a rebound.

But they had never showed interest, and I was just a beta. A beta, whose family tended more to omega or alpha. Everyone always said betas were normal people and thank goodness for us or society would collapse.

Normal was another term for boring. I saw the looks Stella, Luna and Ember got in crowds. Men crossed the room, the street or, in one case, a football field to talk to them. Raina was an alpha, and gleefully rubbed it into everyone’s faces. Zephyr was currently living his best life by not settling down.

Me and Terran were the betas of the family, and Terran was shy enough that he preferred it that way.

My family loved me. It was the rest of the world, for all the talk about how betas do it better, that made it feel like I was an accessory to my own life.

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