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ROWAN

It wasn’t a good day. I had taken the morning shift at work and for some reason, humanity collectively decided to be a dick.

I had to deal with arrogant tech bros, impatient soccer moms, and screaming children.

The screaming children were the worst. One decided to throw his mom’s cappuccino onto the floor.

The mug shattered against the ground, and a small lake of piping hot coffee and foam fanned out into the little nooks between the floor tiles.

Why couldn’t this place have a trendy, industrial aesthetic?

Of course, I had to mop it up, and get her a new coffee on the house.

We were already packed, and understaffed and what am I doing with my life?

I was ten minutes away from clocking out when I caught the scent of blueberries. I glanced out into the seating area and saw Skye walk through the door. Her chunky knit cardigan swayed around her body as she came to the ordering counter. Her smile was dazzling and instantly eased my aggravation.

“Hey stranger,” she said when it was her turn to order.

“Long time no see.” It had been three days since our little dog park date.

“I was in the neighbourhood.”

“Where’s everyone else?” I glanced around the restaurant for any sign of her pack.

“Just me.” She gave a cunning, almost sneaky grin. “I took the bus.”

This made me pause, and I suspected she had something up her sleeve. I grinned a little. “What can I get you?”

“A peach milkshake?” she asked, pulling her wallet from the deep pockets of her cardigan. “And an apple scone.”

I set to work preparing her order. Clacking the tongs together, I scrutinized each scone, searching for the best one to give her.

I selected one with big chunks of soft baked apple poking out from the golden brown pastry, and placed it on a plate.

I wanted Skye to have the best Fair Grounds had to offer.

The best I could give her. She deserved it.

“When is your shift over?” she asked as I placed her milkshake in front of her.

I glanced at the wall clock, I had technically overstayed my welcome. “Now, really.”

Skye smiled again. “Sit with me then. I’ll be waiting for you.” She turned, walked out of the building, and settled on our patio seating.

I hurried to finish my business and clocked out, went to my locker, grabbed a coffee to go, and soon joined her. By the time I sat down, her scone was gone, and her milkshake was half-empty.

“I’m glad we have another chance to talk,” she said. Her smile faded and she tilted her head. “What’s the matter?”

With a drawn out exhale, I slouched back in my chair. It was hard, metal, and not very comfortable.

“Long day. Customers were jerks.” I rubbed my eyes. “I didn’t sleep well last night,” Just like every night, but she didn’t need to know that. “So, my tolerance for people is not exactly generous.”

“Oh. Do you want me to go?”

“No.” I wanted to tell her that she was by far the best part of my day, but I didn’t want to scare her off. “Maybe you’re the exception to the rule.” I suggested instead. “What did you want to talk about?”

“I just like talking with you,” Skye said. “Is that bad?”

“No.” At least, I didn’t think it was.

Her eyes were searching my face, and my aura rippled under her gaze, like it couldn’t decide if it wanted to envelop her or shy away from her musing.

“What?” I asked.

“I can tell you really did have a bad day.” Sympathy wove around her words, making them light, and tender.

“I can feel…” Skye fell silent, then reached across the table and put her hand on mine.

Again, it was like my aura could melt out of my pores and swallow her hand.

Was this craving what happened when an alpha loses his omega?

Is this what aura damage was? I just wanted to drink her blueberry aura up, consume it and use it to patch my own aura back together, no matter how slipshod or messy the stitches were.

“I guess I’m just not hiding it as well as I usually do,” I mumbled.

“Tell me about her,” Skye’s voice was feather soft. “What did she smell like?”

I took a breath to speak, but instead of saying anything, I pulled my pendant from under my shirt. Inside, the dried clovers and little black speckles of cloves rattled around.

“Red clover.” I let go of the chain and the pendant fell until the necklace went taut and it bounced against my chest.

“That’s a really beautiful necklace.”

“Thanks.” I shifted my coffee cup in a half circle, unsure what else to do with my hands.

“Do you have any pictures?” Skye prompted.

I blinked at her, then pulled out my phone. I unlocked the screen and swiped to my photo reel, then slid the phone in her direction. I didn’t want to look. Not today.

She took in the images one by one, her delicate fingers barely touching the screen as she cycled through the gallery.

I knew what she saw. I could recreate them in my mind.

Marathons that we ran together. Mountains we climbed.

Trails we hiked and campgrounds we slept in.

Tracker as a puppy. Amusement park rides.

Event movies where we dressed up as the characters, Indigo’s insistence.

Snowboarding, paddleboarding, windsurfing, white water rafting.

“She did a lot of living in the time she had.” Skye’s voice was quiet, maybe reverent as she put the phone on the table. “You made sure.”

I shoved my phone into my pocket and shook my head. “I’m a camping guy. I like to stay close to the earth. Running, climbing, things like that. Anything extreme, like the snow, or water, was all her idea.”

“You said it was a… car accident?”

“Yeah.” My throat felt dry so I took a drink of my coffee. It scalded my throat but maybe that was better. I opened my mouth to say more but only ended up repeating myself. “Yeah.”

Skye touched my hand again and all I wanted was to wrap myself up in her. Her gentleness and compassion fed something in me. Her presence chased away the pain, the lonesomeness.

I dared to move a finger, lifting it between two of hers. She molded her hand around my touch and soon our fingers intertwined.

“Skye… I…”

“I know.”

“Do you?” I asked, desperate to find something to make this pain go away, or at least calm it down.

She went doe-eyed, her already big, bright eyes seemed that much larger.

“It’s confusing,” she admitted. “But,” she squeezed my hand. “I know you’re hurting. And I hate it. And I want to take it away. I don’t know if that’s the heart talking, or my omega nature, or just… human decency. I want to be there for you, Rowan. Whatever that means.”

I hadn’t noticed until now that her cheeks were flush, and her nose a little pink. Had she been crying? “Are you alright?”

“Oh. Yes. I’m fine.” She cleared her throat. “I’m going to tell you a secret. Before I came here, I went to a support group meeting for omegas. I thought it would help to talk to people. I just ended up sobbing.” A nervous, throaty laugh trilled from her. “It was so embarrassing.”

I didn’t know how to respond, so I just squeezed her hand again.

“It felt better after, though. A release. I had a lot to let go of. I still have more to work through, I know, but it’s a start.”

“Sounds like you had a pretty emotional day. You want me to drive you home?”

Her smile was small, a curved moon, prim and demure. “Thank you.”

I pushed my chair back and stood. “My car’s just a block away.”

Skye rose and fell in next to me. We began walking.

We got to the corner and I felt her aura burst with excitement. Was I supposed to be able to feel that? Was it really her aura, or was it just genuine excitement that everyone, alpha, beta and omega felt every now and again.

“Look!”

Standing in between two buildings was a big, wide chair. The upholstery was faded, cracked and torn, the legs scuffed, but it still had structure, more or less. Skye walked up to it.

“It’s a perfect reading chair,” Skye exclaimed. Fearlessly, she sniffed it. With a shrug, she said, “Probably belonged to some betas, it doesn’t smell overpowering, or even really funky.”

“It needs to be reupholstered,” I pointed out, eyeing the weathered fabric.

“So, I’ll learn how,” she said, with more confidence than I’d ever seen from her.

I shrugged. If she wanted this beat up chair, who was I to say no? “I’ll bring my car around. It should fit.”

Stars twinkled in her blue eyes. “Oh, thank you!” She ran up and threw her arms around me. “For all your help, Rowan.”

She squeezed me tightly, and I couldn’t stop myself from placing my hands on the small of her back. I dipped my face into her hair and took a deep breath. Her joy made her scent so incredibly potent, almost intoxicating.

Omega.

My omeg–

I pulled out from the embrace before the alpha-brained thoughts took over. “Car. Be right back.”

Once I got to my car I rushed in and slammed the door.

My fingers dug out the little vial of red clover from under my shirt.

I zipped it back and forth along the chain as I waited a few minutes for the tension in my body to calm down, for my inner alpha to fall quiet.

It had been a long time since being touched felt so enticing.

Together, we wrangled the old chair into my hatchback.

It was a snug, but workable fit. On the way back to Skye’s home, we had the windows down and music loud, early AlphaBetas stuff, from their first album, where it was raw and chaotic and unpracticed.

It was nice to let just a little loose like this.

We got to her house and I managed to get the chair out on my own. I tucked it under the deck for now.

“What’s that thing?” Halo descended the stairs from the front balcony and joined Skye and I on ground level.

“It’s going to be my reading chair,” Skye said. “It’ll go great in the corner of my nest. I’m going to refurbish it.”

“Ah,” Halo hummed. “A project. Good.” She turned to me. “And you’re just who I wanted to see.” Her brown sugar coated plums danced in the fresh summer breeze.

“I am?”

“The suit for the gala has arrived. If you come in I’ll give it to you to take home.”

I blinked. The gala! I had completely forgotten.

“Sure,” I nodded. “Lead the way.”

The three of us went inside the house, Skye trailing behind, already glued to her phone, watching videos on how to reupholster a chair.