Page 19 of Follow Your Instincts

As soon as I opened the next envelope, I pushed it away. “Ugh, fuck there’s someone in there that smells like licorice.”

“Aw, I like licorice,” he said and slid it into the reject pile.

I examined the next envelope. There were three cards inside, labeled with the Alphas’ identification numbers in the NON system.

As soon as I removed the first card, I wanted to squirrel it away and sneak it back to my room. It smelled like blackstrap molasses, the kind that my first foster mom used to use to make cookies, and cinnamon. Sweet and subtly spicy. My mouth started watering and I moaned.

“That good, huh?” Andreas said.

I didn’t bother replying, just dug for the next card. It was somehow even better. Juicy red watermelon and fresh basil, perfectly balanced and crisp. I wanted to lick it.

The last card was a heady mix of rye whiskey and tobacco, tipsy and smoky and dark. I got lightheaded and tried to rub it against my face.

Andreas caught my arm first. “Alright, stop contaminating the samples you horny devil,” he said and snatched the cards all back from me.

I whined when he took the scents away, then slapped my hand over my mouth to stifle the sound. My scent had flooded the small room, and I flushed in embarrassment.

“Okay, so, that goes in the yes pile I think,” Andreas said and smiled at me. “You alright?”

“I’m fine, that was just more intense than I expected,” I said.

“That’s true scent compatibility,” he replied and smiled. “It says here that the pack also has a Beta, but Beta scent cards tend to degrade over time, so no luck there. But, I think we can stop there for today.”

“I’d like to start meeting packs as soon as possible,” I said.

“Sure, I’ll set up some meetings for next week. Now get out of here, your perfume is about to choke me out,” Andreas said and laughed.

I rolled my eyes but still made a beeline straight back to my room. I was wetter than I’d ever been before in my life.All this from smelling some index cards, I thought. My skin was flushed and hot, and my core pulsed with desire.

“This is ridiculous,” I muttered and stripped off my leggings and underwear. Even the cool air of the room was almost too much on my oversensitive skin.

I touched my clit and bit my lip against a moan. I stroked my clit slowly, the memory of those scents driving me higher and higher. I gasped and slid two fingers inside my pussy, which was clenching around nothing, and sighed in relief. And suddenly it was Soren’s face and scent that filled my mind; his thick dark hair pushed back and slick with sweat above me.

“Fuck,” I whimpered softly as I came apart, harder than I’d ever come before in my life. All because of some index cards and a fantasy about my coworker.

Maybe being an Omega could have its perks.

Chapter 6

Lachlan

The email from the National Omega Network popped up in the middle of a work call. My stomach lurched, but I kept my face calm. Don’t open it now, I thought futilely; I was already double-clicking the notification.

For the first time in three years, an Omega was requesting to meet us. I scowled, but I doubted anyone on the call noticed anything. Scowling was apparently my resting expression according to Ben.

I considered just deleting the email, but of course, Ben, Lucas, and Soren were all copied on it.Well, fuck.

Right on cue, my phone lit up with a notification from the pack group chat.

Check your email!Lucas wrote. I turned my phone over to hide the screen and tried to focus on the meeting again, but it was a lost cause.

I had meant what I said to Soren a few nights previously about it being too late for us to find our Omega. He’d come home smelling like pure temptation, and I’d been shocked at my reaction. Even without knowing who the Omega was, I’d felt a surge of rage that anyone had dared to lay a finger on her. It had been years since I’d felt something that strongly, and it was terrifying. It solidified that I was better off withoutsuch a complication, that I should turn my attention to finding companionship outside the pack like Ben and Soren were.

And then, of course, life had to complicate things. My packmates would get their hopes up and be disappointed, yet again.

We’d seriously tried for the first couple of years after becoming a pack, registering with the NON and attending mixers and parties up and down the East Coast. But, unsurprisingly, none of the Omegas we’d met had chosen us. My reputation always preceded me, the scarred Alpha with the fucked up past.

The interminable meeting finally ended, and I knew I couldn’t ignore my phone any longer. Rather than reading through the text chain, I sent one of my own.Pack meeting tonight for dinner, I wrote, then tried to get back to work.

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