Page 44 of The Knotty Omega

Dear Alpha with Big Feelings,

Love is hard. There is always a risk when it comes to your heart and telling someone how you feel about them. You have to ask yourself, are you okay with keeping things to heats only? It would be unfair to both your pack and omega if you went through her heat while having feelings she doesn't know about. Trusting a pack to help you through your heat is a big deal, and there needs to be some level of attraction there for her to even consider it.

Tell her how your pack feels, but do not force a decision on her feelings. If she still wants you to help after your admission, there is hope for you yet.

Sincerely,

The Knotty Omega

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

“So you’re telling me that someone knocked her damn door in and nobody saw or heard anything?!” I resist the urge to throw my phone across the room as I pinch the bridge of my nose and close my eyes.

“That’s right, sir. I don’t know how they did it, but they managed to get in and out without anyone noticing.” Sawyer’s voice is tinny through the phone. He’s one of my most trusted guys — we served in the marines together for four years before working at the same security company. Then I nabbed him when I started my business.

I’m in my office onsite today, which is not typical for me, but Cady’s case has me feeling antsy. What would have happened if she wasn’t at lunch with us when those bastards came knocking? My alpha instincts are screaming at me to protect, but how can I do that when I don’t even know what the threat is?

The OMS refused to release the name of the pack Cady met with citing "confidentiality", and the police won't divulge the information either. I need to get Archie on his sister to see if she can look it up.

“Fuck. Okay. Have Jameson see if he can get anything from the traffic cams. There has to besomething.”

“Sir, we don’t have clearance to do that yet—”

“I don’t care. Have him use the skills we hired him for to get into the cams and scrub the footage. If we find something, we’ll worry about making the way we obtain information look legitimate later.”

“Yes sir.”

I tap the end button on the call, and toss the phone on the desk.

Shit.

How the hell am I supposed to get any work done when I can’t get her out of my mind? The way she felt sitting in my lap yesterday, like the spot was made just for her…I need to take a step back. This whole situation is clouding my judgement.

Of course, her being in danger would send my protective alpha instincts into overdrive. I keep forgetting that just because she’s our scent match doesn’t mean she’ll stay. I know that first hand. Logan still isn’t the same since his scent matched omega left and destroyed their pack.

I’d always looked up to my older brother, doing whatever I could to be just like him. When his pack found their true scent match, they were over the moon. But it only lasted a few months before she left them. I still don’t know what happened, only that she said she “couldn’t do it anymore”. Her departure ripped their pack apart, and my brother has never been able to pull himself out of his depression.

I’ll die before I let that happen to my pack.

All I need to do is not give her a reason to leave.

I’m not so far up my ass that I don’t realize I’m the weakest link in this pack when it comes to attracting an omega. I don’t have Oliver’s easy-going personality or Matt's calm demeanor. Hell, I don’t even have Archie’s level-headedness. Simon might be just as quiet as I am, but his is a careful quietness. A studying one. If anyone in this pack causes her to leave, it’ll be me.

I won’t do that to my brothers.

I’d rather be the only one left out than have my whole pack suffer because of me. I’ll have to pull back, and if I do speak to her, I’ll have to be extra careful about my words.

She doesn’t seem like a delicate thing but I doubt my rough edges are appealing to her.And she's already skittish about joining our pack.

I’ll hang back until she’s so enamoured with the rest of my pack, nothing, not even me, could make her leave.

Sighing, I stand from my desk and grab my phone, shoving it back into my pocket. I’ll do my own recon on the apartment, maybe someone will speak up while I’m there.

By the time I get to her apartment building, my skin is prickling with anxiety. I need to put this threat to rest before it drives me mad. It’s taking everything in me to not drive straight back to the pack house and wrap her up in my arms in an attempt to protect her from the rest of the world.

My footsteps echo in the hallway as I walk up the stairs, and when I come to Cady’s door, I move to slip around the police tape criss-crossing the doorway. The actual door is still broken in, a sight that makes my blood boil. If I ever get my hands on those bastards—

“Um, excuse me?” A small, elderly sounding voice rings out behind me.

---