Page 31 of Knot Your Sunshine
The words bounce around in my skull without making sense. "What?"
"The TikTok account that messaged you." His gaze holds mine. "We're the ones who invited you here, Mia."
The fog of pheromones clears slightly as confusion takes over, though thinking still feels like swimming fully clothed. "You're... all of you? Together?"
Josh steps forward, his hands moving as he talks. "We found your hair oil through Claire, our assistant. She was wearing it, and we..." He catches my bewildered expression and his cheeks flush. "We thought she'd suddenly become our scent match, which obviously doesn't make sense since she's a beta we've known for years. Anyway… your oil, it captured part of your scent. I ran it through my proprietary algorithm, which confirmed a 98% probability of scent match compatibility."
"So we had to know for sure," Keanu adds, running a hand through his hair. "So we invited you here. Each of us met youseparately, took half a dose of scent blockers so we could assess without overwhelming you."
"Or revealing ourselves too soon," Noa finishes. "We needed to be certain before—"
"What the fuck." I take an instinctive step toward them, my omega desperate for contact, but then manage to step back.
They exchange glances, guilty, worried, uncertain.
"Every one of you I met, all of it was what, a test?" A spark of anger flares in my chest, providing a welcome distraction from the overwhelming urge to close the distance between us.
"Mia—" Josh starts.
"You deceived me." My voice comes out tight, strained. "You lied to me."
Keanu and Josh shuffle their feet like scolded children. But Noa holds my gaze, expression unyielding. "Do you deny we're scent matches, Mia?"
I can't. Not when every cell in my body screams that these are my alphas, my pack, my mates. The word 'no' literally won't form in my throat.
"That's not the point." My voice shakes with the effort of staying focused. "You lured me here under false pretenses. Are you even interested in my business, or did you just want to… acquire an omega?"
Their confident alpha energy starts shifting, leaving them looking genuinely sorry.
"We had to be sure," Noa says quietly. "A scent match is so rare. Precious. We couldn't risk being wrong."
"Or risk scaring you off," Josh adds, pushing his glasses up his nose. "If we'd been wrong, at least you would have had a nice vacation. And we genuinely are interested in your business. The molecular structure of your oil formulation is fascinating, and the scalability potential—"
I plant my hands on my hips, trying to look stern despite the fact that their scents are making me dizzy. "Wow."
Keanu winces. "Look, we know it sounds bad. That's why we wanted to tell you everything today. We didn't want to keep things hidden from you."
"How considerate," I say flatly, though the words start coming out breathier than intended.
"We know this isn't ideal," Josh says, his blush spreading down his neck. "We wanted to be upfront but—"
"But would you have come?" Noa cuts in, stepping closer, and I have to fight not to grab him by the collar and dive my nose back into his neck. "If three random alphas had messaged you saying 'we think you're our scent match, please fly to Hawaii so you can be all relaxed while we smell you properly'?"
He has a point, but admitting it feels like surrender.
"That's not... You don't understand." I take a shaky breath, trying to ignore how good they smell, how much I want to fly my body right into them. "I came here for my salon. I prepared a whole pitch about building something that matters, about—"
"Then give it," Noa says simply.
I blink hard, trying to focus through the haze. "What?"
"Your pitch. We're listening."
The room goes quiet. They're all watching me, waiting. Their scents swirl around me, making it hard to remember my own name, let alone my pitch.
I straighten my shoulders, forcing my foggy brain to cooperate. "Fine. You want to know why I'm here?"
The words I've practiced a hundred times feel slippery, keep trying to escape, but I grab onto the core of it.
