Page 34 of Knotty, Nice, & Holiday Lights
My gaze shoots to the device high up on the wall, that white electronic box glaring down at me.
It’s a little scent murderer.
What if—and hear me out—what if we really are scent-matches, and we never learn the truth because we’re always all together here in this place where scents go to die?
How would I get them to come with me somewhere away from here?
I mean, sure, I could plan some kind of outing. Come up with something that we’d all like to do. Like, maybe find an arcade or something. Seems we all have a love for video games in common.
But I need a reason, otherwise I’m just the weirdo Omega asking some guys to hang out for no apparent reason. And Matthew may not want to go on any outings, anyway, given his anxiety.
I growl, something I’ve been doing a lot lately.
I need to get out of here. Think for a while, away from this place.
Sitting up in a rush, an idea strikes me. Something too perfect to ignore.
It may not work, but if it doesn’t, I’ll be away from here and get my wish to think.
If it does work, it will prove that they feel some kind of pull toward me. At least Will and Asher.
Schooling the devious smile on my face, I exit my room and head downstairs.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Hey, Will?” Izzy sings as she walks down the stairs. She sends me a half-hearted wave as she rounds the bottom of the stairs and walks up to the front desk, where Will is doing a bit of paperwork.
When she leans on the desk, bending at the waist, she pushes her bum out in the most tantalizing way that I can’t stop myself from staring.
Will smiles at her. “What’s up, Izzy?”
“I was wondering, are there any good lounges in the area? I really feel like doing a little drinking and dancing.”
What?
Will’s smile grows. “Absolutely. There’s one only about a ten-minute drive from here. Let me send you the link.” He pulls out his phone, taps the screen a bit, then turns his happy faceback on her. “There you go. Would you like me to get you a rideshare?”
“Oh, no,” she says, standing upright and bouncing on the balls of her feet. “I can take care of that. Thanks!” And she’s gone, back up the stairs in a rush.
I stare daggers at Will. I know the bastard feels it, he’s just ignoring me.
So, I get up from the couch and walk to the desk before I let my frustrations out. “You’re going to let her go? Are you mental?”
Will fixes me with a level stare, an edge of anger in those blue eyes I’ve never seen before. But I don’t back down. He has to have lost his mind.
His tone is steady and calm when he finally responds, waves of unfamiliar strength rolling off his form. “Look, Asher. We’ve known one another for over a year, but you don’t know me very well yet. It’s for that reason, and the fact you’re my pack brother, that you get a one-time idiocy pass.”
I gape like a cod. “Excuse me?”
His brow twitches. “A one-time pass. To be an idiot. To think that I’m also an idiot.”
Footsteps pound down the stairs in a flurry. I barely catch Izzy before she’s at the door, saying, “I’ll be back late!” and gone into the night.
Will steps out from behind his desk and turns his back on me, heading for the door beside the closet that leads to his apartment, his aura quiet and cool.
Who is this bloke, and what did he do with Will?
I blink a few times before asking, “Where are you going?”
