Page 15 of Knot Their Girl
“I’m sure Raeka knows the way,” he easily interrupts my mom, and then he strides closer to me, closing the distance between us in a few steps. “Shall we?”
I really would like to tell him off, tell him I’m not for sale, that I don’t need any alphas, especially one as strange as him, but with my mom looking on, my resistance is probably best givenwhen she’s not a few feet away. I’ll tell him to screw off as we walk the garden together, and I won’t hold anything back.
“We shall,” I say, motioning for the alpha to follow along like a good dog. I hold my head high as I lead him through the house, toward one of the back doors. We exit onto the patio where my parents like to entertain their bougie friends. Just beyond the outer stone is the rose garden, full of immaculately-kept bushes of all colors, deep in bloom.
Of course, my mom isn’t the one who keeps them tidy. We have a landscaper for that, someone who comes every weekend. Does that stop my mom from calling itherrose garden? No, no it does not.
I’m the first to step onto the stone pathway that winds through the rose bushes, and when I glance back at Gideon, I find his head bent, his eyes on my bare feet. “You don’t want shoes?” he asks.
“I’m not afraid of a bee sting, if that’s what you’re worried about.” As I reply to him, I find my mom gazing out of one of the windows nearest the door we just walked out of. I bet it’s killing her not to be out here, to not be eavesdropping. I’m going to enjoy telling off this alpha as much as I’m going to relish making my mom squirm inside.
“If you say so,” he says, taking the step off the patio and onto the path with me. We start walking, more side-by-side instead of me taking the lead. I don’t look much at him, instead paying more attention to the pretty yellow roses next to us as we walk along. “Your mother said you didn’t accept any offers after the choosing ceremony.”
I chuckle. “Of course she would frame it like that.”
“Excuse me?”
Glancing at him, I tell him the truth, “I didn’t accept any offers because I didn’t get any.”
“Oh.” His legs slow to a halt, and I’m sluggish in stopping with him.
“Oh?” I echo. “Does that bother you? I told you that’s what I wanted. If it bothers you so much, maybe you should leave—”
“No,” he says with a single shake of his head, his dark blue gaze resting comfortably on me. “It doesn’t bother me at all. In fact, it makes things easier.” Leave it to this alpha to say the one thing I’m not expecting him to.
“How?”
“You strike me as someone… different. I need someone different.”
“What kind of weird kinks you got, Gideon?”
As I deadpan the question, the alpha himself nearly chokes on air. “That’s not—dear God, that’s not where I’m going with this at all.” He quickly glances away, and unless I’m mistaken, his cheeks had darkened in color somewhat, like the man is blushing.
How…adorable. A blushing alpha. What a strange thing.
I’m a master at toeing the line, so I keep digging in. “So, you’re not here to tell me you want to put your baby in my belly?” Don’t ask me how many times I’ve read that line in romance novels. To me, that line just isn’t sexy at all.
“No!” He reaches up and loosens his tie, the put-together man suddenly looking a bit hot, but maybe it’s the sun beating down on us making him all hot, not me. “That’s not…” He trails off for a moment, before coughing and regaining his composure. “I wanted to speak with you alone because my offer is unconventional.”
Is he gay? Is he just looking for an omega for his pack? Sexuality is fluid, especially where packs are concerned, but in some old-fashioned circles, I suppose there are still those who look down on alphas who don’t have an omega of their own.
“You have to say more,” I tell him. “Because my mind is running a mile a minute here.”
“I told your mother I want to put in an offer for you,” he says, and though a part of me hates hearing those words come out of his mouth, another part of me enjoys it way more than she should. My inner omega is pleased, the bitch. “And that’s how it would look to the world, but…”
But?
I have zero idea where he’s going with this, and when it becomes clear he’s hesitant to outright say it, I have to say, “But?” What’s the catch here?
And then, when he says what the catch is, I’m thrown for a loop. I literally don’t know what to say, so for a while, I don’t say much at all.A minute passes, then two, and one word finally comes to me: “What?”
Chapter Nine – Gideon
I went into the bathroom during the night of the choosing ceremony to convince myself that I could find what I was looking for. It was a pointless endeavor, I knew; what I was looking for wasn’t the norm. I’d probably have better luck going through a companion service, but those weren’t typically used by alphas. Omegas used them, and the hired help was typically a beta. My situation was all topsy-turvy. It didn’t fit the mold.
But someone came into the restroom. I thought nothing of it, until I noticed it was a girl—an omega, and she froze like a deer in headlights when she saw me.
Pretty.
