Page 34 of Knot Your Sunshine
Elena freezes mid-step. Her eyes go so wide I can see white all around her irises. "WHAT?" The word echoes through the trees, sending a bright red bird fluttering from a nearby branch. "Your scent matches? All THREE of them?"
"All three."
"Holy shit. Holy actual shit." She grabs my shoulders, shaking me slightly. "Mia, do you understand how rare this is? Three scent matches who also happen to be loaded? That's like... like finding a unicorn AND winning the lottery!
"I know."
"No, I don't think you do!" She's practically vibrating with excitement. "This is huge! This is life-changing! This is—wait." Her expression shifts. "What about your business? The whole reason you came here?"
"They're backing it." I start walking again, needing movement. "Full funding for franchising the salon."
Elena hurries to catch up. "So it's your franchising idea you wanted to pitch, uh! Knew it."
"Yeah, and they're ready to fund everything." I duck under a low-hanging branch heavy with some kind of yellow fruit. "But they also want... more."
"More as in...?"
"They want to date me. Get to know me. See where this whole scent match thing goes."
Elena makes a sound somewhere between a laugh and a scream. "Of course they'd want that, you're scent matches! Aren't you interested?"
"Of course I am! But I'm also..." I wave my hands in the air, searching for words. "I don't know how to process this. It's too much, too fast."
"Okay, okay." Elena grabs my hand, squeezing gently. "Take a breath. This is all good news, even if it's overwhelming. Why don't you tell me exactly what they said? Every detail."
So I do. I tell her about the conference room revelation, their arguments, me booking it out of there faster than someone dodging their chatty neighbor…
"I swear—" I stop, press my palms against my eyes where a headache is beginning to bloom. "When they walked into that conference room together, and their scents..." I drop my hands and look at Elena. "I've never smelled anything like it… I literally walked up to them and sniffed them. Each one. In a line. Like some kind of... feral omega."
Elena's lips twitch, and I can see her fighting hard not to laugh.
"Don't."
"I'm not laughing."
"You're trying not to laugh."
"Maybe a little." She steps carefully over a root pushing up through the path. "They're your scent matches, they want to fund your business dreams, and date you. This soundssoterrible."
I bump her shoulder gently. "I know it sounds perfect, but what if the attraction is just biology? What if they just want a pretty omega to complete their pack and don't care about who I actually am?"
"Did they say something to make you think that?"
"No, but—" I sigh. "Every alpha I've ever dated loved my ambition at first. 'Oh, how inspiring, a career-driven omega.' Then reality hits. The late nights at the salon. The missed dinners because someone needed an emergency color correction. The way I talk business during what's supposed to be romantic moments." I kick at a fallen leaf. "They all eventually expected me to dial it back. To be available at their convenience. To shrink myself down to fit their idea of what an omega should be."
A distant rushing sound catches my attention, barely there at first, like wind through leaves. But with each step forward, it grows clearer, more distinct. Water. Moving water.
"So the thing is," I continue as we walk, the sound growing louder, "what if these three are the same? What if—"
The path curves sharply to the right, and the dense foliage suddenly opens up.
I forget what I was saying. Forget everything except the view in front of me.
Water cascades down into a pool where mist rises in delicate clouds, painting two little rainbows across the spray.
"Jesus," Elena breathes beside me.
I make my way to a flat boulder near the pool's edge and sit. Elena settles beside me, pulling her knees to her chest, cool droplets landing on our faces in an irregular rhythm.
