Page 48 of A Heart in Knots

I dared to move a finger, lifting it between two of hers. She molded her hand around my touch and soon our fingers intertwined.

“Skye… I…”

“I know.”

“Do you?” I asked, desperate to find something to make this pain go away, or at least calm it down.

She went doe-eyed, her already big, bright eyes seemed that much larger.

“It’s confusing,” she admitted. “But,” she squeezed my hand. “I know you’re hurting. And I hate it. And I want to take it away. I don’t know if that’s the heart talking, or my omega nature, or just… human decency. I want to be there for you, Rowan. Whatever that means.”

I hadn’t noticed until now that her cheeks were flush, and her nose a little pink. Had she been crying? “Are you alright?”

“Oh. Yes. I’m fine.” She cleared her throat. “I’m going to tell you a secret. Before I came here, I went to a support group meeting for omegas. I thought it would help to talk to people. I just ended up sobbing.” A nervous, throaty laugh trilled from her. “It was so embarrassing.”

I didn’t know how to respond, so I just squeezed her hand again.

“It felt better after, though. A release. I had a lot to let go of. I still have more to work through, I know, but it’s a start.”

“Sounds like you had a pretty emotional day. You want me to drive you home?”

Her smile was small, a curved moon, prim and demure. “Thank you.”

I pushed my chair back and stood. “My car’s just a block away.”

Skye rose and fell in next to me. We began walking.

We got to the corner and I felt her aura burst with excitement. Was I supposed to be able to feel that? Was it really her aura, or was it just genuine excitement that everyone, alpha, beta and omega felt every now and again.

“Look!”

Standing in between two buildings was a big, wide chair. The upholstery was faded, cracked and torn, the legs scuffed, but it still had structure, more or less. Skye walked up to it.

“It’s a perfect reading chair,” Skye exclaimed. Fearlessly, she sniffed it. With a shrug, she said, “Probably belonged to some betas, it doesn’t smell overpowering, or even really funky.”

“It needs to be reupholstered,” I pointed out, eyeing the weathered fabric.

“So, I’ll learn how,” she said, with more confidence than I’d ever seen from her.

I shrugged. If she wanted this beat up chair, who was I to say no? “I’ll bring my car around. It should fit.”

Stars twinkled in her blue eyes. “Oh, thank you!” She ran up and threw her arms around me. “For all your help, Rowan.”

She squeezed me tightly, and I couldn’t stop myself from placing my hands on the small of her back. I dipped my face into her hair and took a deep breath. Her joy made her scent so incredibly potent, almost intoxicating.

Omega.

Myomeg–

I pulled out from the embrace before the alpha-brained thoughts took over. “Car. Be right back.”

Once I got to my car I rushed in and slammed the door. My fingers dug out the little vial of red clover from under my shirt. I zipped it back and forth along the chain as I waited a fewminutes for the tension in my body to calm down, for my inner alpha to fall quiet. It had been a long time since being touched felt so enticing.

Together, we wrangled the old chair into my hatchback. It was a snug, but workable fit. On the way back to Skye’s home, we had the windows down and music loud, early AlphaBetas stuff, from their first album, where it was raw and chaotic and unpracticed. It was nice to let just a little loose like this.

We got to her house and I managed to get the chair out on my own. I tucked it under the deck for now.

“What’s that thing?” Halo descended the stairs from the front balcony and joined Skye and I on ground level.

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