Page 54 of Knot Their Girl
“No. I’m going to visit a few shops tomorrow and grab you something new.” The way he says it is very alpha-like; there is no room for argument.
Not that I would. I love getting new clothes. I’ll never turn down a new dress, even if it is from Gideon, whose style is kind of plain. I mean, all I ever see the guy in is dress pants and long-sleeved, button-down shirts.
“How can I say no to that?”
He leans forward and folds his hands as he stares intently at me. “You can’t.”
Gideon taking charge. Huh. For some reason, I never thought I’d see the day. I kind of like this side of him, and it makes me think about how close we got in his room. How hard it was for me to pull away from him.
God, this is getting messy, isn’t it?
Chapter Twenty-Five – Pax
Staying away from Raeka is like cutting off my own nose to spite my face; stupid, pointless, and in the end, a dumb decision all around. The four of us eat dinner with each other every night, and I’m forced to sit across from her and watch her, listen to her, all while knowing she has no idea she effortlessly holds the gazes of both alphas at the table… and the beta beside her.
For a girl who doesn’t like alphas, for an omega who doesn’t want a pack, she sure does pull everyone in around her.
“My sister is dying to come over,” Raeka is busy saying, while wholly unaware that every male at the table is completely enraptured by everything she says and does, including me, as much as I hate to admit it. “So is my mom. I’m trying to push them off as long as possible since none of this is typical, but I honestly don’t know how much longer my excuses are going to hold. Sooner or later, my family is going to want to come over and they won’t take no for an answer.”
“I’m sure we can handle that when the time comes,” Gideon says, managing to sound much calmer than I would if I spoke.
No, most of these dinners, I try to keep my mouth clamped shut, because I know if I do speak, there are only a few things I’d say, and all of them involve the oblivious omega sitting across from me. I’ve been professional since that day downtown, but at a great expense to my sanity.
This girl… this reluctant omega, is driving me insane. If I speak, it’ll be obvious just how hungry and desperate I am for her.
I’ve never felt like this before. It’s new to me. I don’t like it—but at the same time, I can’t get enough. The day I got through the lotion she covers her neck with, the moment I inhaled her true scent, I was lost. I lost the path and I’ve been wandering,trying to find it ever since, but I keep getting pulled deeper and deeper every time she glances my way.
That omega is mine. She might not know it yet—or maybe she does and she doesn’t want to face the music—but she’s fucking mine. My Raeka. My omega.
How hard the mighty fall, huh? It’s pathetic, really, but I just don’t care.
“You say that now, but you only briefly met my mom,” Raeka says. “She is… a lot. As someone who lived with her for twenty-one long years, she’s a hell of a lot. Too much, some might say. I love her, but God, she really knows how to grind my gears. And Nicole, she’s sweet enough, but as the perfect omega she strives to be, she’ll know something off.”
“We’ll handle it,” Gideon reassures her again.
“Mmm. Not so sure about that, but whatever you say.” Raeka’s gray eyes meet my stare across the table, and I can’t hide how tightly I grip the fork in my hand. “How are you over there, big guy? You’re holding onto that fork like you want to use it to kill someone. Anyone particular in mind?”
I don’t say a word, but Gideon must sense how I’m feeling, because he’s the one who answers her: “I don’t think killing is accurate. I believe something else is on his mind.” He coughs after he says that, then returns to the food on his plate. “Not to change the subject, but I did find you a dress today. I left it in your room. You should check it and make sure it fits.”
Right. Because Raeka and Gideon have to go out and pretend to be a match. Let’s be honest, though: there won’t be much pretending. How could there be, when Gideon, like me, is dying to have her?
“Great,” she says, grinning ear to ear. “I do love me a new dress every now and then, although I am concerned that your style doesn’t match mine.” I don’t know if that’s a dig at Gideon’s age or something else—it’s true he’s older than her. Hell, he’solder than me. If you look at it from a numbers perspective, we’re both too old for her. Neither of us should want her. We should already have our own packs to keep us busy and fulfilled.
But we don’t. Gideon had his nephew to take care of and a business to run while I never felt the need to have a pack or an omega.
Dinner passes without much incident after that. I offer to help Gideon clean up after Raeka and Colter wander off, but he outright refuses my help, “No. Maybe you should go talk to her.”
I frown. “About what?”
The other alpha stares at me quizzically, though I don’t know why. Neither of us are accustomed to chasing after an omega, but it seems like Gideon is the more adaptable one out of the two of us. “We can’t go on like this forever. Sooner or later, something has to give.” Quieter, he says, “Someone has to break, and it would be better for us all if it happens sooner.”
I should be instantly irritated by another alpha trying to tell me what to do. I’m no typical alpha. My dominance is stronger, more intense; I can push it onto most other alphas, if necessary. Über alphas like myself usually end up as pack leaders, but I don’t have a pack—and that’s what makes it even stranger to me that I don’t get annoyed by Gideon suggesting I speak with Raeka.
I think about what he said for a few moments, and then I mutter a low, “Fine.”
Upstairs, I find Raeka in her bedroom. She stands in front of a full-length mirror in the corner of her room, holding onto a floor-length, soft pink dress. She holds the dress against her body, checking herself out in the mirror. She’s so engrossed in it she doesn’t notice me standing there in the doorway.
How? How can she drive me so mad, even with her scent covered up, and yet she hardly acts as if my scent bothers her at all? From what I understand, if a scent is that enticing to analpha, it should be the same vice versa. It means compatibility, and when I think back to how her body reacted to mine that day in the city…
