Page 28 of Knot Their Girl
I could say all I want to say and it still wouldn’t be enough, so I let her do the talking. Raeka does a hair flip I’m sure she’s practiced a million times in her life before she tells him, “You’re not wrong. This is probably the only alpha I trust—mostly because my friend is his brothers’ mate, so.” She shrugs.
“Great,” Gideon says. “Now, uh, before you bring everything inside, we need to discuss the NDA.” He gestures for me to follow him, and he leads me around Raeka. It takes way toomuch self-restraint in me to not lean into her and breathe her in—even with her scent diluted and muffled, hints of sweetness still poke through.
What the fuck is stifling her scent like that? Whatever it is, it’s driving me nuts.
Gideon ends up leading me to his home office, which is next to a library room. Raeka follows after us, humming to herself a melody only she knows. For an omega who didn’t want to accept any offers regardless of the alpha doing the offering, she sure is happy to be here. It’s odd, and it doesn’t make sense to me.
Was everything she told me that night at the Omega Garden a lie? Or is this some strange elaborate ploy whose endgame is something I can’t even fathom?
Gideon motions for the door, and Raeka shuts it for him. I move toward the lone window in the room, leaning against the window framing as I stare outside for a while. The other alpha pulls out some paperwork, while Raeka plops herself down in one of the two chairs opposing his modern-looking desk.
Finally, I turn away from the window and approach the desk. “Why do I have the feeling you’re about to drop a bomb on me, Mr. Chase?”
“Please,” he says, pulling out a pen from the lone drawer in his desk. “Call me Gideon. Mr. Chase is my father.”
“Fine, Gideon. What’s this NDA about? I don’t mind signing, but I need to know if there’s something you’re not telling me. Are there credible threats to your safety I should be aware of?”
“Not at all,” he says quickly. “It’s not that. It’s… actually about the nature of the offer Ms. Whittenhall accepted.”
She groans. “Raeka. Jeez, you two are going to be so annoying, I just know it. Let’s all agree to be on a first-name basis with each other, okay? No Ms. This or Mr. That… unless I’m making fun of one of you, then Mr. That is totally fair game.”
I narrow my eyes at her, and all she does is flash an innocent smile in my direction—this girl is used to playing games, I bet. There are a few things I could say to her after that, but I force myself to return my attention to Gideon. “What is the nature of the offer, then?”
Now that I’m thinking about it, it is odd for a recluse like Gideon to go after someone like Raeka. I don’t know much about him, but what I’ve heard through the grapevine is that he likes to stick to himself. Someone like Raeka is too outgoing for him.
Plus, why now? Why put in an offer for an omega now? The man’s older than me by a few years. If he wanted an omega, shouldn’t he have gotten one years ago?
Gideon pulls out a set of papers, along with a metallic pen, both of which he slides over to me. “Before we get into it, I need you to sign this.”
I don’t like being in the dark, but another NDA under my belt is no big deal. I lean forward, snatch the pen off the desk, and sign where necessary. “There.” I shove everything back toward him, meeting the alpha’s dark blue eyes. “Now tell me what this is about.”
“I did not put in an offer for Raeka for me.” He runs a hand down his shirt, and for a split second he appears uncomfortable. “I put in an offer on behalf of my nephew, Colter, a beta.”
His words hit me like a train, but I’m one immovable object, so I sit there, quiet, for a long while. Raeka is here for a beta? Please. Betas can be with omegas, sure, there aren’t any laws against it, but omegas and alphas were built for each other—if a beta is involved with an omega, typically it’s within the confines of a larger pack, where the omega will still have alphas and their services while she’s in heat.
But a beta and an omega, as a pair? Let alone Raeka as the omega… no, I can’t see it. Whatever Gideon is trying to do, it’s not going to work.
“To the outside world, to everyone outside of this house, Raeka will be considered mine,” Gideon is busy saying. “Only the four of us will know the truth. I haven’t yet spoken to my nephew about this, so please, don’t discuss this with him. You aren’t here for him, anyway. You’re here for Raeka. She wants to be free to come and go as she pleases—since she won’t be bonded, she’ll need you watching her back anytime she leaves the property.”
I’m slow in glancing at the omega in question, and I find she’s looking at her nails, a bored expression on her face. Her diffused scent bothers me more than I care to admit; being so close to her, I want to grab her, toss her over my shoulders, and throw her in the shower and see if a good scrub-down fixes that scent of hers. “You agreed to this?”
“I did,” she tells me, but I just can’t accept that.
“And what do you get out of this arrangement?”
“You mean besides being away from my lovingly overbearing mother who refuses to see the fact that I can survive without an alpha tying me down?” She cocks her head at me, oozing her typical attitude. “I get to be free without having to give up the finer things in life. All I have to do is spend some time with a beta. It’s a win-win, for me, honestly.”
I want to laugh. I want to laugh because this is so ridiculous I can’t even… I just can’t.
Gideon speaks, “I will break the news to my nephew tonight, after dinner. Colter is a special case. After my sister and her husband died, he stopped talking. You’re a rough personality, Pax, I can tell, and I might not be typical when it comes to the type of alphas you’re accustomed to dealing with, but I warn you: if you’re rough with my nephew in any way—”
The man is about to threaten me. While I can appreciate the sentiment behind it, it’s wasted on me. “You don’t have to do that,” I tell him. “Your nephew will be safe with me, just as your… nephew’s omega will be.”
Even saying it, it tastes wrong on my tongue.
Gideon must accept this, because his shoulders relax and he waves me away. “You two can go. If you want, you can bring up Raeka’s bags. They’re still in my car in the garage. I’ll let you know when dinner is ready.” That’s all he says as he turns his focus to the NDA I just signed.
Raeka is the first to jump to her feet and mutter, “Thank God. Meetings are so boring.” As she practically skips to the door, I’m much slower in following her—and as I do so, I can’t help but watch Gideon as I stand.
