Page 20 of Knot Our Omega

I threw my arms around him at the invitation of his open ones and clung to him for dear life as he held me, so gently, so sweetly.

When was the last time I’d been hugged?

Never, since I was an omega.

But before that, when I was an alpha? Alphas didn’t need affection. They needed to be strong. Tough. To do things on their own.

Try as I might, a memory of being hugged anytime after I was very small didn’t come to me.

But here I was. Wilder, holding me close, telling me he was sorry. I was the one who should be apologizing. I was the one who ran out, too weak to deal with a reasonable conversation. But when I tried, he asked me not to, to let him bear it.

“I’m ready to go back in.” I pulled back and wiped my tears with my hands, no longer worried about what I looked like, feeling so accepted by him.

He apologized again.

“Please don’t apologize,” I said. “Wilder, I-I overreacted. You didn’t—”

His hand came up and cupped my cheek, and I leaned in to his touch. “You didn’t overreact. You’ve been through so much more than I’ll ever know, and I was insensitive. If you don’t want to come back to dinner, we’ll understand. I can bring you food to your room.”

“I want to,” I said, and I started walking that way because if I thought about it too long, I probably would go and hide in my nest. The one they made just for me. The one place they promised never to enter without my permission. I’d never had that before. I was always either in my parents’ house or the omega house.

My new pack was nothing like the old.

I sat down and thought to apologize again but bit it back. I didn’t want them to see me this weak. But I did want them to see me, something I hadn’t realized before.

They must have sensed I didn’t want to rehash my distress from earlier, because the first thing Vargas did was tell me that he’d just been talking to Wilder about my rocks.

“I was always told it was a silly hobby,” I said, “but you guys seem interested.”

“We’re interested in everything about you,” Penn stated very matter-of-factly. “Now, this is new to us. We’ve never had an omega in our pack before, and we want to do right by you. We want you to feel this place is every bit as much yours as it is ours. And that we’re making your days better—not harder.”

“I can’t believe you guys want me here.” I hadn’t meant to say it aloud, but out it came.

“Why wouldn’t we? You’re amazing.” The sincerity in Wilder’s words floored me. It was very clear he didn’t have the best filter, but that gave such a sense of honesty to the words he did share.

“Because I’ve been rejected,” I admitted.

And it was true.

They rejected me.

I was sloppy seconds.

An outcast.

First, I was rejected by my family, then rejected by my mates, then by most of the alphas wanting to buy an omega. Nobody wanted me.

Until Penn.

“The best thing that’s ever happened is them rejecting you,” Penn said, “because we hadn’t found you yet.”

Penn reached over to touch my hand but pulled back. They were still so nervous around me. But then again—I was nervous around them too.

“You’re so brave and strong,” Vargas said.

Wrong.

I scooped some more stew onto my plate, not even asking, something entirely new to me. Maybe I was brave or getting braver.

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