Page 5 of Knot Happening

"He's focused on the food, not on her," Marcus observes with the clinical detachment he applies to hostile negotiations. "And she's talking like whatever she's telling him is really important."

I watch Belle lean forward across the table, getting all serious about whatever she's telling him. Adam smiles and responds, but there's something... friendly about it. Like they're comfortable together, but not in that electric way you'd expect if they were actually into each other.

"You know what's been bugging me?" I say, and both my packmates look at me. I don't usually share what I'm thinking.

"What's up?" Felix asks.

"Three years we've been running those damn balls. Three years hoping we'd find our omega, making the perfect setup for other people to meet their mates while we go home alone every fucking time."

The frustration I've been holding back finally spills out. We've put all this work and money into creating something amazing for other people, while our pack is still incomplete.

"And meanwhile," I continue, watching Belle get animated about whatever she's explaining to Adam, "the most obvious omega in town is sitting right there, hanging out with her best friend, completely clueless that three alphas have been looking for years."

"You think Belle is “our omega”?” Marcus asks, and there's something hungry in his voice that makes my alpha side wake up.

"I think Belle is an omega, period," I correct him. "She's hiding it, probably doesn't even know it herself. But definitely omega."

Felix moves closer to the window, studying Belle with new interest. "What makes you think that?"

"Experience," I say simply. "You learn to read people, to see through the act they're putting on. Belle is pretending to be a beta the same way I used to pretend to be a regular civilian when I was undercover."

"Explain," Marcus says, his business brain already working.

"Watch how she moves around other alphas by always keeping her distance, even when she doesn't seem to realize she's doing it. The way she controls her emotions. She's built her whole life around taking care of other people, which screams omega, but she does it like she's in charge instead of part of a pack."

I pause, watching Belle gesture passionately about something, her whole body showing how smart and protective she is.

"And," I add quietly, "she doesn't smell right for a beta. There's something underneath that doesn't match what she'ssupposed to be. Something that only alphas like us would pick up on when she lets her guard down."

"She's on suppressants," Felix says immediately, getting it.

"Has to be. Which means either something bad happened to her, or she's been hiding what she is for so long she's forgotten."

"Real mate bonds work differently than regular alpha and omega attraction," Marcus explains like he's giving a presentation. "Suppressants can block normal omega scents, but they can't completely hide the mating scent from the right alphas. The more emotional she gets, the stronger that signal becomes."

Marcus's eyes get that calculating look he gets when he's planning something big.

"But she's with Adam," Felix points out, looking at the scene through the library windows. "They're obviously close. Intimate, even if it's not romantic."

"Are they though?" I challenge, focusing on what I've been trained to notice. "Because from where I'm standing, they look like two people who trust each other completely but have never even thought about being together. Look at the space between them, how they're careful not to even touch casually."

Marcus moves closer to the window, and I can see him getting that focused look. "So you're saying they're just friends."

"I'm saying they're best friends who've never considered anything more because Belle's been suppressing her omega side so well that neither of them knows what she really is."

Through the glass, Belle laughs at something Adam says, and the sound makes something in my chest tighten. She's gorgeous with soft curves that she tries to hide under oversized sweaters, dark hair that catches the afternoon light, and a smile that could light up the whole damn town. The way she gestures when she talks, animated and passionate, makes me want to know what she's thinking about, what gets her so excited.

Adam's leaning back in his chair, grinning at whatever story she's telling. He's a good looking guy, shorter than any of us but solid, with the same dark hair as Belle. They look comfortable together, but there's something missing. No heat, no tension, just... friendship.

If I'm right about this, if Belle is an omega who doesn't understand what she is, if she's been right here while we've been searching everywhere else for our missing pack member, then this changes everything.

"Besides," I add, watching Adam offer Belle another piece of chocolate, "if they were actually together, they wouldn't be here having their afternoon chocolate talks about library stuff. They'd be at home doing... other things."

Marcus makes a sound that's half laugh, half snarl. "Good point." He's still staring through the window, and I can practically feel the want rolling off him. We all can. Belle does something to the three of us, which she has done since the first day we saw her when we ended up in the library for one reason or another. We just never thought...

"So what do we do now?" Felix asks, and he sounds excited. His hands are pressed against the glass like he wants to reach through it.

"We get to know her better," Marcus says with that decisive tone he uses when he's made up his mind about something big. "We find ways to spend time with her, and we test Theo's theory."

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