Page 51 of Knot Gonna Lie (Syzygy Omegaverse #1)

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

SETH

The mess hall carried a weight that had nothing to do with recycled air. Tomorrow we’d touch down on Planet Tera, trading the familiar confines of Paradise for an unknown world. Tonight felt suspended—between what was and what would be.

I arranged the serving dishes with unnecessary precision, each placement deliberate. Pasta supreme steamed in its vessel, salad gleamed emerald beside golden bread, dessert waited beneath a dome. Simple fare, elevated by circumstance—our last meal together in the space that had become home.

Elara entered between Luca and Jaxom, and my hands stilled.

Her scent hit first. Vanilla-lavender, darker now, richer—like sugar caramelizing under flame.

My mark throbbed in answer. Three days since she’d claimed me, and already my body registered every shift in hers as data points: temperature elevated point-seven degrees, pupils dilated, pheromone production up thirty percent.

Clinical notes. Unmistakable signs. Her heat approached like a storm on the horizon—inevitable, transformative.

“Smells incredible.” Her voice carried a new warmth since the claiming, softer around the edges yet somehow sharper, more present. She moved toward the table, Luca and Jaxom adjusting with her, orbital bodies unable to resist her gravitational pull.

She was their sun as she was mine.

I forced myself to portion servings, hands steady while my mind catalogued everything—the flush at her throat, the way she leaned subtly into Luca when she thought no one saw.

The medic in me logged symptoms. The man in me wanted to pull her against my chest and breathe her in until her scent lived in my lungs.

“Even got Xavier to join us,” Stella said as our captain entered. He lingered in the doorway, storm-gray presence diminished since that night he’d walked away from us.

“Tomorrow’s approach vectors won’t calculate themselves,” he muttered, though he took the seat farthest from our cluster.

The seating formed itself without words: Elara in the center, Luca on her right, me on her left, Jaxom beside me. Our scents mingled—citrus, pine, cedar, all threaded through her vanilla-lavender until it became something new. Pack-scent, my training supplied. Olfactory marker of bonded units.

Tobias and Maia sat across, her copper hair catching the lights as she leaned into him. Stella and Sylas mirrored them with practiced ease, synchronized even in reaching for their drinks.

“Last supper,” Tobias joked, then faltered. “I mean—”

“We know,” Xavier said, voice surprisingly warm. “Everything changes tomorrow.”

The truth of it settled over us like benediction and warning both. Tomorrow meant Planet Tera, Eli’s reaction to our omega, a thousand unknowns. But it also meant her heat, the final step that would bind us beyond breaking.

I served the pasta, careful to give Elara a larger portion. Her caloric needs had increased steadily over the past day—another marker of approaching heat. She needed the energy reserves for what her body prepared to endure.

“Seth’s outdone himself,” Maia said, raising her fork. “Actual vegetables.”

“The hydroponic bay finally yielded.” My tone stayed even, though pride stirred. Those tomatoes had taken months—saved for something that mattered.

Conversation found its rhythm. Xavier spoke of navigation runs before joining us, his walls easing notch by notch. Stella recounted her security training, making even Jaxom laugh with her impression of her drill sergeant. The stories wove together, threads binding us tighter.

But beneath it all, awareness thrummed.

Her hand found mine under the table, fingers tracing veins with idle curiosity. Electricity raced up my arm, pooled hot in my chest where her bond lived. Through it came whispers—contentment layered over anticipation, desire banking like coals waiting for air.

Luca’s purr rumbled too low for most ears, but I felt it through the table. Jaxom’s fingers kept brushing his fresh mark, as if he needed proof it existed.

“The villa’s stocked,” Xavier said abruptly. “Whatever you need for…” His hand gestured vaguely toward us. “It’s available.”

Heat crawled up my neck. Our captain discussing heat preparations felt like crossing an invisible boundary, acknowledging what we all knew approached.

“Seth’s handled everything,” Luca said, hand resting at her lower back, the possession in the touch unmistakable. “Supplies, nutrition, environmental controls.”

“Always prepared, our Seth.” Tobias’s teasing held affection. “Bet med school didn’t cover this.”

He wasn’t wrong. No textbook prepared you for this—pack bonds, the way her impending heat made my blood sing, the way instinct stripped me bare.

“We should go.” Elara’s words came sudden, cheeks flushed beyond wine. “I need—” She stopped, pressing her lips together as a visible shiver ran through her.

The temperature spike hit my awareness like a flare. Point-nine degrees in thirty seconds. Her eyes carried that glassy quality that preceded heat onset, focus turning inward as her body prepared for its ancient purpose.

“Of course.” I was already standing. The others followed, instinct immediate. “You need rest.”

Jaxom’s hand found her elbow, steadying her as she swayed slightly. The simple touch made her lean into him, melting into his touch, seeking skin contact through the barrier of clothes. Another symptom—heightened touch receptivity, the need for pack presence growing exponentially.

“Thank you for dinner.” She managed to address the table, though her voice carried distraction. “For everything. You’ve all been—” Another shiver, this one making her curl toward Luca. “Family. You’ve been family.”

Maia stood, crossing to embrace her carefully. “You are family. Pack or not, you’re ours.”

Even the mated pairs shifted, biology tugged toward her. Xavier alone kept distance, though he lifted his glass in quiet salute—his version of acceptance.

We guided her from the hall as one. Corridors felt too narrow for the charge in the air. Her skin radiated heat now, a fever my hands could feel from inches away. Six hours until full onset, by my estimate. Enough time to settle her. Enough to prepare, to—

“Need you.” Her words came breathless against Luca’s throat where she’d pressed her face. “All of you. Please.”

The plea shot through us like lightning. Jaxom made a broken sound. My steps faltered, blood thick with answering need.

“We’re here,” Luca promised, voice dropping into alpha register, command wrapped in devotion. “Always here.”

The nest appeared before us like salvation.

She’d expanded it over the past days, adding blankets and pillows until it dominated the cabin.

The construction followed no logical pattern, yet achieved perfect comfort—soft walls high enough to create security, entrance positioned for easy defense, sight lines clear to monitor approach.

She dragged us inside, hands already tugging at clothes.

“Too many layers.” Frustration thickened her voice as she buried herself in Jaxom’s chest. “Need to feel you.”

I caught her hands, forcing steadiness. “Temperature first.”

“I’m burning.” She turned those gold-flecked eyes on me, pupils blown wide. “Have been since dinner. Since this morning.”

The words stopped my hands, my heart.

“Let him fuss,” Luca murmured, amusement warm in the bond. “It’s how he shows love.”

Love. The word lodged in my chest.

I pressed my hand to her forehead, confirming what I already knew. Thirty-eight point two degrees. Elevated but not dangerous. Her pulse raced under my fingers when I checked her wrist, rapid but strong.

“Pre-heat,” I confirmed unnecessarily. “You have time still. Hours. Maybe days.”

“Don’t want hours.” She hauled me down, foreheads pressed. Her breath ghosted across my mouth. “Want my pack. Want skin and scent and—” She made a frustrated sound. “Want to memorize you all before biology steals my memory.”

The vulnerability in that admission broke something in me. I kissed her, soft and careful, trying to pour reassurance through the contact. She sighed into it, body melting against mine.

“Then we memorize each other,” Jaxom said, steady as ever. “No rush. No pressure. Just us.”

We undressed slowly, each reveal deliberate. Luca’s scarred chest, testament to years of conflict before finding purpose. My own leaner frame, marked now by her claim. Jaxom’s careful movements, still believing himself less than despite the possessive pride in her eyes when she looked at him.

She traced each imperfection like cartography, mapping the geography of our bodies with fingertips and lips. The bruises from our combat training had faded to yellow-green shadows. She kissed each one with reverent attention, reclaiming damaged skin as hers.

“Tomorrow changes everything.” Her observation came quiet, almost lost against the sound of our breathing. “Eli. The planet. My heat coming closer.”

“Nothing changes this.” Luca pulled her between us, surrounding her with pack presence. “We’re yours. However tomorrow unfolds.”

“Mine.” Her smile curved, fierce and tender both. “My alpha. My beta. My anchor.”

We lay tangled, skin to skin but chaste, her fever climbing by degrees. I pressed against her back, Jaxom steady at her front, Luca curved protective around us all.

“Seth?” Her voice drowsy, heat-drunk but aware.

“Yes?”

“What happens? Truly happens in heat?”

I considered how to answer. Medical texts described biological imperatives, hormonal cascades, reproductive drives. They didn’t capture the reality—the loss of self, the desperate need, the complete surrender to instinct.

The way instinct erased control.

“You’ll need us.” The simple truth seemed safest. “Your body will demand things your mind might not remember asking for. We’ll be here for all of it.”

“Will I remember?”

“Fragments,” Jaxom answered when I hesitated. “Impressions more than memories. The feeling of safety, of being cared for, loved.”

“Protected,” Luca added, his arm tightening around us.

She made a satisfied sound, already drifting toward sleep. The heat would wake her—soon, by my estimation—but for now, exhaustion won.

The ship hummed around us, carrying us toward tomorrow’s uncertainty. But in the nest, surrounded by pack, time suspended. Just the four of us, breathing together, hearts finding synchronization as sleep took us.