Page 44 of One Wild Omega

“Hey… you remember that omega from a few years back? The one who dropped in your lap one night at the bar?” Harrison asked. “Like awaysback.”

Fitz frowned. It sounded vaguely familiar, but he struggled to remember everything.

“The night you told us you were quitting the department,” Harrison added.

“I remember the night, but I don’t really remember the omega.”

“Well, you got nasty with him. Said something about him giving you a weird vibe and feeling angry,” Harrison said.

Fitz frowned, some of it coming back. “Yeah, yeah. That was, what… about six, seven years ago now? How in the hell did you remember that?”

Harrison tapped his forehead. “Good memory.” He tossed some carrot slices into the pan Luke was stirring. “And I remember thinking about it a while.”

“Why?”

“It was totally out of character for you, so it just seemed… odd, it stuck with me a while. When we meet our omegas, there’s this crazy chemical reaction that’s supposedly happening, right? That person must have this exact balance of pheromones to attract their alpha, from what I understand. So maybe there’s something out there like ananti-omega… someone who produces the exact right number of thewrongpheromones. Maybe you met that person that night at the bar and it caused that weird reaction. And maybe this friend of Bellamy’s is close to being like that. His chemicals repel yours and you react.”

“Where in the hell did you come up with that wild theory?” Fitz asked before laughing.

“Are you going to tell me that there aren’t some nights you lie in bed, your brain just churning away, unable to sleep? Happens to me a lot. I mull over things. Sometimes too much,” Harrison answered.

“That’s what makes you such a good arson inspector,” Fitz said, extremely proud of the how far his brother had risen in the ranks at a relatively young age.

“Well, you’re not the only one in this family who wanted to reach for more. Me? I stayed in the department and did my reaching there,” Harrison said.

Fitz groaned, tired of hearing the same shit years down the road. His brothers would likely never forgive him leaving the fire department.

“Get over here and cook your damned dinner or there’s going to be another arson you’re gonna have to investigate,” Luke cried from the stove. “I won’t be here to help you next time.”

Fitz chuckled and watched as Luke continued his mentoring while Harrison took over. His big brother’s words ran through his mind. Was that it? Was Tanner so completely opposite him that it caused some kind of internal chemical reaction? That answer seemed too easy. It let him off the hook, and he didn’t deserve to be let off.

He hadn’t always been nice to Tanner, but that afternoon, he’d crossed the line. To heap more insult on, he’d been grasping at straws with the comment about Tanner wanting him. Sure, he’d seen the occasional odd look from Tanner, mixed with his own uneasy feelings. And their last couple of interactions had been heated… so he’d fired that bullet off, halfcocked.

Taking another drink, he thought back to Tanner’s face.

How the omega had almost appeared… embarrassed. Had his shot in the dark hit closer to the mark than anticipated?

Was Tanner attracted to him?

Nah.He chuckled at the thought.

A plate was slid before him, and he looked up.

“Give it a try!” Harrison said, a broad smile on his face.

He reached for the fork Luke was handing him. “I’m not going to die, am I?”

“We’ll see,” Harrison said, waggling his eyebrows. “Good thing I know CPR, eh?”

“Won’t help if I’m poisoned,” Fitz joked, grabbing the fork Lucas handed him. Hesitantly, he sampled a bite. As he chewed, the flavor hit his tongue. “Mmmm… not bad.”

Harrison beamed with pride.

“Now, hopefully you can do it when Lucas isn’t here.”

The smile faded. “Shut it.”

Fitz grinned before taking another bite. “I’m sure Cass will love it.”

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