Page 42 of Knot in Their Wildest Dreams: Part 1

“Of course I feel it!” He yelled, his face contorted as his hands gripped into fists over and over. “I feel the pull of her every moment! You of all people know how I’d longed for an omega, someone who could help me share this pain and be there for me!” He howled, his words breaking. “My body drives me every moment to be near her! Tries to trick me into thinking she’d somehow be good for me! I feel the ache of her down to my bones!” His voice cracked as he looked at me like a man being tortured.

“But despite the pain, I would never,everallow myself to sleep with her!” He said, and I once again felt the shame of my broken promise to him. “I will deal with this ache every day until my last. And I’ll never let that… woman… who massacred so many to ever get to me in that way.” I felt Dante through our bond. He was right. He felt the ache of not being bonded to our scent match just as much as any of us. And he also felt the pain from what happened to his family, which he carried around so deep it was in the marrow of his bones. And as his packmate, I’d betrayed him by allowing myself to get too close to the woman who was behind his hurt.

“We need to put down some ground rules.” Vigo said, running his hand through his dark locks, now tousled and wild. “Look, Dante, we can’t stop the fact that she’s our mat- our match.” Vigo had almost slipped up and used the word mate, which was a bit more intimate than the sterile ‘scent-match’.

“And we cannot stop our desires to be near her. We all know this.” He made sure to look at Dante, affirming that we were all in perpetual misery by not bonding with our scent match.

“The longer we are around her without taking action, the more unbearable it will be. And that will make us messy, and prone to mistakes. So how about we work within these confines. If we do anything physical with Celeste, it will only be to alleviate the growing urge and not anything more.” Vigo’s words made Dante look angry again, but he went on. “And for the record, I am trying like hell to not let my mind go there, but I had no idea a scent match was so strong. And I’ll be avoiding Celeste as much as I can. But if any of us cracks, we need to just remember it’s a biological draw only, not anything more. Otherwise, it will tear our pack apart. And we can never achieve what we set out to do if we are divided.”

Vigo was right - I had to get my head out of the clouds, stop imagining that my draw to Celeste was anything more than a biological distraction. There could be no happily ever after with her. But we couldn’t escape our draw to her. So, we’d deal with it, as long as we knew that it was temporary.

“I’m sorry, Dante.” I said, and felt the crushing weight of his disappointment through our bond. It was worse than his anger. Deep down, he was also scared. He thought he’d lose us to her. “Hey, you’re my pack. Okay? Nothing will ever come between us. Not an omega, certainly not her.” His dark eyes looked at me with such anguish it nearly broke my heart. “It’s only physical, nothing more.” I promised, and I waited for moments that felt like eternity for him to respond.

“Alright.” Dante finally said, resigned to our fate. “Fuck her if you need to. But don’t expect me to treat her any differently.”

I sighed, looking down at the ground. Even now, my body craved to be close to the small, devious omega. The sex had temporarily alleviated some of the intense desire, but the scent match wasn’t going to go away. We had to deal with it the best way we could until she was out of the house.

I knew Celeste was a formidable opponent, but the longer she was here, the more I felt like our pack would unravel. And she hadn’t a single clue.

Chapter 30

Celeste

“You need to make an appearance. It will be good for your reputation, and look good for the board.” My uncle said as I chewed my nail absentmindedly. It had been a week since I’d slept with Liam. Strangely, I didn’t feel too bad about it. It was not quite as awkward as I’d imagined, and he’d softened up toward me considerably. Although we still looked at each other as the competition.

Things felt different around the house now that the pack had come to terms with the fact that we were scent matches. But honestly, it almost felt worse when they weren’t actively being hostile. Now that they knew, they didn’t seem to know how to deal with me.

“Celeste?” My uncle’s voice interrupted my train of thought. “Are you going? This is important!” He said, almost chastising me.

“Yes, of course I’ll be there.” I said, attempting to soothe his agitation.

“Good. I expect you'll make all your meetings this afternoon?” He asked, and I stifled a scream. Why did he act like I was a teenager needing to be reminded to do my job? I’d been running things for years now.

“Of course.” I replied, a smile on my face to mask my inner emotions.

“Very good. I don’t want the stress of your situation to affect your job duties. You know the board is watching you like a hawk.” He said with concern. He didn’t need to remind me. Ever since the fiasco interview had been published, the board had taken out their anger on me. As if I wasn’t the very same one who had been fighting for the company to get with the times!

“I have to go.” Was all I could manage to say in response.

Once the call ended, I let out a near scream of frustration. I still had a marketing deck to approve, a call with Research and Development, and the quarterly updates from my team. Oh, and now I had an art auction to attend. My uncle always wanted me to go to those, where the wealthy and connected liked to congregate.

I checked my calendar. This week, I was supposed to go on a planned outing with one of the pack anyway, so I figured I could kill two birds with one stone. Vigo seemed like the safest choice - my last interaction with Liam had completely derailed, and after getting a taste of that golden god, I wasn’t sure I could keep my hands to myself if I spent any more time with him. And Dante? He still couldn’t stand me. So, Vigo it was.

I knew he often liked to work out around this time, so I made my way through the house until I was at their custom gym. It was beautiful, I had to admit. And just as I suspected, Vigo was inside doing pull ups, his chest and back glistening with sweat and muscle in all its glory as he practiced pulling himself up, over and over.

I stood by the door, mesmerized by the way his body rippled with each movement, his grunts filling the air. The potent leather and amber scent of his sweat only made his presence more intense, and for a moment, I almost lost my nerve to speak to him. But he must have felt me watching, because at that moment he looked back and saw me ogling him.

With a final grunt, he dropped to the ground and walked over, his blue eyes curious as he panted from his workout. He grabbed a towel and threw it over his shoulders. “What's up, princess?” He asked as he cocked a dark eyebrow. I put my hands on my hips and squared up to him, even though he was absolutely massive compared to me. I saw some dark smudges on his hands.

“What’s that?” I asked, wrinkling my nose.

He looked down, spreading his large hands out. “Just did some work on my car earlier. You should come take a look at it sometime, I could take you for a spin.” He said with a cocky grin.

I rolled my eyes, trying not to think too hard about the last time I went in a car with one of them.

“I came here to ask you something," I said, trying to keep my voice steady.

He tilted his head, smirk growing wider. "Oh, really? Thought you’d be here to admire the view." He gestured to himself, not even bothering to hide the wink he threw my way. I guess since I’d already had sex with one pack member, all bets were off.

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