Page 43 of Knot Gonna Lie (Syzygy Omegaverse #1)
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
ELARA
The mess hall thrummed with easy laughter, the kind that only bloomed when boundaries dissolved and walls came down.
I perched cross-legged on Luca’s lap, his strong thighs creating a living throne beneath me while his arms formed a protective circle around my waist. Through our bond, satisfaction purred like a well-tuned engine—pride in having me close, displayed, claimed before his clan.
The holographic card display shimmered between us, casting sapphire light across familiar faces gathered around the central table. What had started as a simple game of strategy had somehow evolved into something far more dangerous—truth-or-dare disguised as entertainment.
“Your turn, Elara.” Maia tapped her stylus against her lips, eyes glinting with calculation. The rules had shifted three times already, each round peeling us closer to confessions no one had planned to share.
I studied the digital cards hovering in midair, their luminescent edges pulsing with each heartbeat. Winning didn’t matter anymore. This was a dance of dares and truths, intimacy dressed as entertainment.
“Truth,” I decided, knowing that honesty cut cleaner than deception.
“Ooh…” Stella leaned forward, green eyes sharp with interest. She’d claimed the chair across from Sylas, who watched her with the devotion of a man worshipping his goddess. “What was your first impression of each of us?”
Heat crept up my neck. The question seemed innocent enough, but nothing about Stella was innocent. In the little time I’d been around her, I could tell the clan’s security could read people effortlessly, dissecting motivations and stripping them bare.
“That’s dangerous territory,” Luca murmured at my ear, his breath sending a shiver down my spine. His chest rumbled with restrained laughter as his arms tightened around me. “Choose carefully, little omega.”
But I’d already decided on honesty. “Luca felt like coming home to a place I’d never been.
Seth reminded me of gentle rain on a warm day—steady, necessary, healing.
Jaxom...” My gaze shifted, finding Jaxom where he sat at the table’s edge beside Xavier.
His dark eyes locked on me with a quiet intensity that made my pulse stutter.
“He notices what others overlook. Small things that matter. He makes me feel… something.”
Something flickered across Jaxom’s features—surprise melting into something deeper, hungrier. His fingers tightened around his glass of hard liquor, knuckles going white.
“And the rest of us?” Tobias prompted, clearly fishing for his own validation.
“Tobias and Maia felt like finding siblings I’d always wanted—chaotic, brilliant, and absolutely devoted to each other.
Stella and Sylas radiated the kind of partnership that made me jealous…
what I want to have one day with my pack.
And Xavier…” I paused, meeting Xavier’s cool gaze across the table.
“Xavier felt like winter. Beautiful. Necessary. But not meant for me.”
Silence stretched, taut as a vacuum.
Xavier’s jaw tightened, something unreadable passing through his dark eyes. But he raised his glass in a motion that might’ve been salute or dismissal, taking a deliberate sip without breaking eye contact. “Fair assessment.”
“My turn,” Seth announced from the kitchen nook, where he’d been nursing a steaming mug while monitoring supplies. His mark peeked from his open button shirt, still angry red against his golden skin, sending possessive satisfaction spiraling through me. “Tobias.”
Tobias groaned dramatically. “Truth.”
“What’s the most embarrassing thing that’s happened since joining this clan?”
“Oh, no.” Maia covered her face, already laughing. “Don’t you dare—”
“The first week,” Tobias began with a grin, “I tried to impress Maia by fixing the environmental controls in her quarters. Except I somehow reversed the atmospheric settings and filled her room with industrial coolant instead of breathable air.”
“He nearly gassed me,” Maia said, exasperation softening into affection. “I found him passed out in my doorway, unconscious from his own mess.”
“Romantic,” Stella drawled. “He was the reason why I had to put security codes on almost everything. Before, the whole crew had access to the whole system, being able to take over in case of an emergency. But I didn’t want to die due to someone’s attempt to impress someone.”
“It worked, didn’t it?” Tobias waggled his eyebrows. “She had to nurse me back to health.”
“I should’ve left you there,” Maia muttered, but her hand found his across the table. “But I was afraid what else you would do to grab my attention.”
The easy camaraderie flowed between us, each story showing me more of the bonds holding them together. They weren’t just crewmates—they were family, chosen by their alpha to stand not only as part of his crew, but as part of his clan.
I found myself relaxing into Luca’s embrace, his steady heartbeat against my back anchoring me to this moment, this feeling of belonging.
“Elara’s turn again,” Jaxom said quietly, eyeing me with a look I couldn’t quite decipher.
“Dare,” I answered, bolder than expected.
Tobias’s eyes lit up with mischief that should have been a warning. “I dare Seth to kiss you—right there, on Luca’s lap.”
The words landed heavy, cutting through the air.
Seth froze, his mug stalled halfway to his lips, gray-blue eyes widening, caught between panic and desire.
Luca’s arms tightened around my waist, his alpha instincts flashing possessive through our bond before something steadier took hold—trust and wondering where this was headed.
Around the table, conversation shut down. Stella sat straighter, attention narrowing on us. Maia leaned toward Tobias, pulled in by the shift in the room’s current. Even Xavier looked up from his vidtablet, his dark eyes curious.
“I—” Seth started, then stopped, his gaze finding Luca’s over my shoulder. “Alpha?”
The question held layers. Permission. Boundaries. The careful navigation of pack politics that could either strengthen bonds or shatter them completely.
Luca’s chest rumbled against my back. “The choice is Elara’s. Always.”
I turned slightly, studying Seth. Hope hid beneath his careful composure, his fingers trembling around the mug. My sweet beta, who’d claimed me with such reverence, now asking for something as simple as a kiss.
“Come here,” I whispered. “You know you never have to ask.”
He set the mug down, rising with deliberate care.
Each step carried the weight of ceremony, the clan’s eyes heavy on us.
He knelt beside Luca’s chair, level with me.
Silver flecks glinted in his eyes, his scent threaded with mine.
His hand came up to cup my cheek, thumb tracing along my jawline with reverent gentleness.
“Are you certain?” he breathed.
Instead of answering with words, I leaned forward, closing the distance between us.
Our lips met in a kiss that started soft—tentative exploration, getting reacquainted with the taste of each other in front of an audience.
Seth’s lips were warm, yielding yet firm, and I savored the way his breath hitched against my mouth.
Then his hand slid into my hair, fingers threading through my golden strands, tugging gently to angle my head for better access.
The kiss deepened, shifting from tender to ravenous, and my toes curled in the plush nest beneath us.
His tongue grazed mine, a slow, deliberate sweep that sent sparks racing down my spine.
He tasted like herbal tea—earthy chamomile and mint, laced with a hidden intensity, like secrets whispered in moonlight. Gentle and beautiful. The flavor was uniquely Seth, steady yet electric, and it pulled a soft moan from my throat, the sound muffled against his lips.
The moan drew answering growls—low and primal—from both Luca beneath me and Seth against my lips.
Luca’s hands settled on my hips, not restraining but steadying, his fingers pressing into my skin with a warmth that grounded me.
His breath was hot against my neck, a teasing contrast to the cool air of the mess hall, and I could feel his gaze, heavy and possessive, as he watched his packmate claim my mouth with increasing desperation.
Seth’s kiss grew hungrier, his tongue exploring deeper, each stroke more desperate, like he was trying to pour every unspoken word into the press of our lips. My hands found his chest, fingers curling into his shirt, feeling the rapid thud of his heart beneath my palms.
The position—caught between them, claimed by both—sent liquid heat spiraling through my core, pooling low in my belly.
I pressed closer to Seth, my body arching instinctively, my breasts brushing his chest as I angled into the kiss.
His hand tightened in my hair, not painful but insistent, and his other arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me flush against him.
Luca’s hands flexed on my hips, his thumbs tracing slow circles that made my skin tingle. Seth’s kisses turned fevered, his lips moving against mine with a need that matched my own, each brush and nip stoking the fire inside me.
I nipped his lower lip, tugging lightly, and he groaned, the sound vibrating against my mouth.
His hand slid down my back, fingers splaying over the curve of my spine, and I shivered, the sensation amplified by Luca’s steady grip and the heat of his breath against my neck.
The air was thick with our scents—my vanilla-lavender, Seth’s citrusy pine, and Luca’s tropical coconut-pineapple musk—blending into a heady haze that made my head spin.
I deepened the kiss, my tongue dancing with Seth’s, chasing the taste of him, the way his intensity unraveled into something raw and unguarded.