Page 39 of Forbidden Taste (An Omega’s Preference #3)

thirty

LEO

It’s here. The final performance. Saturday night in all its glory at the Karlen Center.

I’ve only been here a handful of times, juniors and seniors the only ones slotted to play on stage depending on their final project.

Even now, my path would never have me up on that stage, not that I mind. The spotlight isn’t really for me.

However, being here to support my men is everything and I’ll gladly weather the uncomfortable chairs and speeches that are too long and too boring to see Riley and Hawk perform.

They mentioned that it was a joint production and I questioned how that was possible considering they never performed together.

They gave me an answer, something I didn’t really understand but that’s behind us.

I haven’t seen either of them in twelve hours, both of them needing to practice and set up, my presence a true distraction at this point and with my project done, I decided to pack up my room and say goodbye to the space I called home for nearly nine months.

Tomorrow, we’ll all file into Hawk’s apartment until we figure out what comes next but for now, that’s home.

I lean back in my chair, my gaze catching on the Haynes’ pack, a stark contrast to everyone else filing into the building.

My fathers are on the larger side, my bulk a mirror image of my Omega father’s and the head Alpha even larger than him.

My other two fathers are smaller but broad shouldered like I am.

And then there’s Elias, my twin, my other half that I can barely ever get on the phone because he’s adventuring somewhere halfway across the country.

Our eyes meet, my green eyes a lighter shade of his, a grin spreading across his face as he wraps his arms around me.

“Good to see you brother,” he rasps, his voice deeper than mine.

I took all the soft looks in the split, Elias every bit the Alpha version that I didn’t get. “Still pretty as always, I see.”

I snort, shaking my head. “And you’re wearing…

whatever the fuck you’re wearing. Why do you smell like an Alpha?

” I got the apple pie scent but his fierce, stormy rain scent comes from our Beta father—our biological father.

I sniff at him again, confused because it’s wholly Elias’ scent but not as sweet as it used to be.

His nose scrunches up and he shrugs. “Happened in the last year I guess. Why are we even talking about me? You smell confusing as fuck.” He wiggles his brows, pushing me into the aisle I came from.

I’m not sure how to answer that, realizing that I should have called at least once in the past week to tell my parents—at the very least, my twin—what the fuck was going on with me.

Now, I get to suffer the embarrassment just before the performance, Elias slipping past me to sit on the other side as my fathers come toward me.

My Omega father, Kieran, pulls me in first and I sag against him, drawing the warmth from his hug.

It isn’t easy traveling home, only really visiting during school breaks and I realize just how much I cherish having them beside me.

“Hey, son. You look good—really good. I was worried when you didn’t call home.

” His hand lingers on my shoulder, squeezing softly as I then give hugs to my other three fathers.

I find my way back to my seat beside Elias, trying to find the right words. “A lot of things have changed and I didn’t really know what to say,” I push out, trying to gauge their reactions. My Alpha pack father, Isaias, laughs, his dark hair streaked with gray, reaching over to pat my thigh.

Elias cuts into the moment, although I’m not surprised.

“We all know, brother. You forget that all your medical records show up in your chart—which our dads have access to. We also got the copay bill and they put my name on it.” Elias wraps an arm around my shoulder, his other hand roughly running through my hair. “You’re still my baby brother.”

“Keep telling yourself that, you’re the oldest but I’m getting my degree while you’re making fires in the woods.”

He chuckles, releasing me. I actually have no idea what he’s doing most of the time but he apparently went through a year or two of ranger school and takes people on adventures occasionally.

Most of the other times he’s blogging his adventures, doing stunts that absolutely should not be done by anyone, let alone an Omega.

I know for a fact he’s given all four of our fathers several heart attacks in the last year or two.

Granted, no one online thinks he’s an Omega.

“Now, who’s yours? And don’t give me some bullshit.

” Elias leans back in his chair, chewing on his bottom lip before he points to Riley sitting on the piano bench, his wide smile focused on Hawk stretching across the stage.

“I’mma say that one. What? He’s pretty and because he’s looking at that Alpha, him too. ”

“Yeah, both of them.”

“I knew it. We’re twins, remember? I know you like them soft.” He playfully jostles my shoulder, Kieran on the other side of me laughing as he drags my other father into a possessive kiss, the smallest of my fathers.

I’m not sure why I ever thought I wouldn’t find someone with the ragtag band of misfits I grew up with.

“Just watch the performance before I gag,” I say, all of them laughing as I point to the stage.

Elias’ scent hardens and then evens out, a quick glance at my brother worrying me.

The smile is still there but there’s something lurking in his eyes that doesn’t match his expression.

I lean over to ask but then the lights start to dim, a hush falling over the crowd. I guess I’ll ask him later.

The performance is absolutely perfect, just as beautiful as yesterday, my heart soaring as I watched Hawk glide across the stage, Riley pouring his emotions into every key he touched.

And when he moved to pick up the violin, adding more to their performance, I was enraptured. Those are my mates, my men, my future.

I’m so caught up in the moment as the lights return to their former glory that I don’t notice Riley making a beeline for me.

I catch him, my arms wrapping tight around his waist, lifting him off the ground, gasps and then flashes, pictures snapping around us, but I don’t care as I hold him closer, my grin splitting my face.

His lips crash to mine, pure need running through the bond as he then peppers them across my cheeks, jaw, and nose, his scent coating my skin.

Hawk’s there not a second too late, pressing against my side standing in the row ahead of us. Riley leans out of the way for Hawk to draw me into a kiss of our own, his hand sliding around the back of my neck, my mates bracketing me, a perfect chaos of love.

And that’s when I remember we’re not exactly alone. My brother clears his throat, his brow raised as I pull away, my face heating. I slowly place Riley on his feet next to Hawk, knowing that this conversation is going to be more than just awkward. “Hey, this is my brother and those are my parents.”

Riley and Hawk freeze, wide-eyed, their mouths opening and closing, blubbering through a mess of hellos—“Uh, hi,” “Hello, sir,” “Ma’am, shit, why did I just—” my family laughing at their unease and embarrassment.

Kieran pulls himself together first, reaching across the seats to pull Riley into a soft hug and shake Hawk’s hand. “We’re happy to add you to the family.”

“Thank fuck someone’s parents are normal,” Riley groans, and Kieran raises an eyebrow, his gaze flicking to me, questioning.

“Long story. But yeah, this is Riley and that’s Hawk.”

Elias leans over my shoulder, obviously intrigued. Granted, we haven’t spent much time together ever since I started school and it’s even harder to get him on the phone. “You’re both welcome to dinner if you don’t have other plans. I’d love to pick your brains on my brother.”

Riley scrunches up his nose as if about to refuse and then grins. “Only if we get stories about when he was little. I bet he was adorable. ”

Elias readily agrees, the ease of adding my mates to our family so much smoother than I thought it would be.

Hawk and Riley mention they’ve got a few things to clean up and I say I’ll wait for them.

My fathers start telling me that I did good, that they couldn’t be happier, and that whatever I need to tell them doesn’t need to happen all at once.

However, the moment they file out of the row, that leaves me with Elias.

And the silence is deafening.

When I turn to face him, the happiness has been slighted, my brother looking toward the stage with a longing I’ve felt for too damn long. “Why do I feel like there’s a reason you keep disappearing and that it has nothing to do with adventure?”

He lets out a heavy sigh, still focused forward. “Because we’re both finding ourselves, Leo. We grew up in a loving family, parents who gave us the world. Even our aunt’s pack was selfless and amazing in ways that just… the world isn’t that pretty of a place.”

“Elias, I’m well aware.”

He twists toward me and shakes his head.

“No, you don’t know. My little vlog channel, have you ever read through the comments?

No? Well I have and they’re everything you’d ever want to hear.

If you were an Alpha. But I’m not one. I know what would happen the moment they found out I’m an Omega and it hurts that they love this fake version of me and not who I really am. ”

He leans forward, arching his neck to show off his scent.

“That? I wear a blocker, something to give it an edge because of the looks I used to get otherwise. I know our dads found love in the most unexpected way, but people can be so damn cruel right to your face.” His expression dims, tears gathering in his eyes.

I’ve never seen this version of him, and I don’t know whether to tug him against my chest or share my own troubles.

I decide to do neither. “Being myself gets me in trouble, laughed at, Alphas trying to dominate me, rough me up, tell me that I’m some grotesque monster.

Leo, when Kieran told me about your medical results, I thought that maybe that’s what I was too. It made sense.”

My eyes widen at the thought that we truly are the same in every way. “And?”

“I’m not. I’m just an Omega. They did all the fancy tests but everything came up the same way. Omega. But I don’t feel like one most days, and those confusing feelings are getting worse. Running away from them isn’t helping.”

“So you came back home.”

“Yeah, I’m trying something different. I’ve been searching so fucking long for the answer, I never thought to just accept myself as I am.

It was Kieran’s idea, although Isaias and I have had a few long conversations.

I just… I’m just a bit lost and seeing you with them, it makes me want, Leo. It makes me want so fucking bad.”

His words make me remember how close we used to be, of how we’d stay up all night talking about our futures in high school, about the people we fell for, about the desires we had, everything. This time, I don’t hesitate, drawing him against me and holding him tight.

“I won’t say I’ve got everything figured out but I will say that I’m here for you. I miss talking to you.”

“Not that you’ll have any time. They looked like they were going to jump you if I didn’t step in.”

I laugh, pulling away. “Elias, I might have jumped them instead. Fuck, don’t start. I gotta go make sure they have everything. See you at the diner? ”

“Yeah. And for the record, I’m ecstatic for you. You deserve every bit of this and I can’t wait to see what kind of things you build after you get your fancy little degree.”

“You’ll get yours too, brother. When you least expect it, when you’re not looking.”

The smile he throws at me warms my heart as I weave my way through the aisle and head toward backstage.

Hopefully in a few years, we’ll all be spending Christmas together, full families, my cousins and my aunt’s pack filling the house with laughter.

I’ll have to ask about them as well—although they moved out of Emsboro a few years ago and it’s been hard to meet up since they live halfway across the states.

But that’s a conversation for later. Right now, I have some mates to attend to.