Page 2 of Knot Our Mistake (Knot Ours #1)

CHAPTER

TWO

James

I held the paperwork in my hands, but nothing made sense.

It was my signature, my writing, my fucking everything, but I didn't sign up for this.

I didn't sign up for her. The farm was no place for an omega.

Especially one as pretty as her with her manicured nails, high heels, and layers of makeup.

Not for an omega with her hair so perfectly styled that brown curls cascaded down her back like a waterfall or with eyes as blue as the crystal water that runs through the back of the property.

Fuck.

I couldn't think about her eyes when I held fraudulent paperwork in my hand. I lifted the phone to my ear for the third time, waiting for someone to answer. It was a weekend, I got that. But this was a fucking emergency; I couldn't wait until Monday.

Couldn't, or wouldn’t? My alpha grumbled, mad that I threatened to take away something he so vocally wanted.

I get it, she smelled like cherries and lime, and I'd never thought much about how I liked that combination until it slammed into my senses, nearly causing my knees to buckle.

But this place wasn't for her. Hell, some days I barely made it into the farmhouse without collapsing from exhaustion. She'd never survive.

A groggy voice picked up, "Omega Industries, how may I help you?"

Were they sleeping? In the middle of the afternoon?

How nice it must be to get an afternoon nap.

I frowned, letting my annoyance at someone else's simple joy get to me for a moment before I said, "Hello, this is James from the Kendrick unit, and there seems to be a misunderstanding.

Today I received," I flipped the paperwork, "Sophia, and I did not purchase her. "

"Oh, yes, Alpha Kendrick. I'm glad to hear Sophia arrived to her new home safely," the woman spoke, suddenly cheerful.

"She isn't home. There's a misunderstanding," I insisted.

"Unfortunately, there is not. We spent the last few months in communication with you and your unit, until a perfect match arrived."

"I communicated with no one," I ground my back molars, frustrated.

"Is that your signature?"

"It's my whole damn handwriting, but I didn't fill this out." I shook my head as I tossed the paperwork on a plant stand nearby. "I couldn't afford an omega, even if I wanted to. There is a misunderstanding."

"Payment was received and..." there was a pause as she shifted through paperwork. "Sophia comes from the list of discounted omegas who are unable to be returned."

"You sent me a clearance omega and won't take her back?" I growled.

"Discounted and formerly returned. If you read page ten before signing it... you would know that second chance omegas are nonrefundable."

"I didn't sign it," I roared, and from inside, I swear I could hear the omega whimper.

"Sir, the only thing I could really offer you is an apology for this situation; however, it's out of my control. If you don't wish to keep your omega, transfer ownership to someone else."

"Ownership?" Jesus, she wasn't livestock; she was an omega. A precious. The literal center of our existence.

And you don't want ours , my alpha growled, but he didn't understand that she was not ours. She did not belong to us. We couldn't own an omega. Not out here. Not in the middle of nowhere. Not in the country.

"Units don't simply have omegas; they own them. Free to do with as they will. They are bought or traded. That is the law, or have you not kept up on the current politics?"

That was disgusting. "If I sent her back, what would happen?"

"She wouldn't be allowed back into the gates. She would become homeless and forced to find whatever means to survive if her family doesn't take her back in."

"That doesn't seem fair."

"We can't give them endless chances, alpha. You are her second and final." She sighed. "Sophia is a nice girl. I think if you give her a chance, you'll enjoy her company."

"I live on a farm, ma'am. A farm is no place for a lady."

"It's a perfect place for Sophia." Did she not see the same girl that I saw? "Enjoy the rest of your weekend, Alpha Kendrick."

I hung up before my temper could consume me.

But I was furious. What the hell were we going to do with a woman, an omega, in our small farmhouse?

Especially a woman who looked like that?

A woman so manicured, put together, fucking perfect that she couldn't be tarnished by this place, dirtied by the land and the things on it.

I closed my eyes, gathering any restraint I could muster before pushing my way into my house.

It wasn't large; in fact, it was small, and I never seemed to have an issue with it, but now I worried that the space I worked hard to build with my unit wouldn't be enough for the woman in patent pumps.

When I entered, she wasn't there, only Bran and Leo who looked down the hall longingly, waiting for the omega to surface.

My chest did a funny little pang of regret, and I rubbed the spot before approaching my family. They wanted this; it was clear. But I couldn't understand how they could so willingly crave the omega when our hearts had been made fragile by a beta from our past.

"I'll fix this," I proclaimed.

"Why?" Leo hadn't bothered to look at me. "She's not our mistake. I say we keep her."

It wasn't that fucking simple. She wouldn't be happy here.

She didn't belong. How could simple farmers like us make an omega like that happy when she clearly was used to the finer things in life?

And hell, I can't deny she didn't deserve them.

All omegas did. But the only thing out here in the middle of nowhere that I could offer her is horse shit and spiders.

"She isn't an object. We can't merely keep her," I protested.

"Funny," Bran snorted.

"What?"

"If she couldn't be kept, then she shouldn't have been able to be bought."

I brought a hand to my temple, feeling a low throb start. "I didn't buy her."

"According to that contract you're crumpling in your fist, you did," Leo smirked as I tossed the papers onto a side table.

"What now?" Bran's eyes were locked on the hallway, too fucking hopeful.

"Well, I can't just kick her out. The world out there is no place for an unaccompanied, unbonded omega." I sighed. "She can stay. But don't get your hopes up; it's temporary. The moment I can get the industries to come to their senses, she's leaving."

I spoke the words, knowing it was already too late.

Five minutes under the intoxicating scent of that beautiful omega, and they were already obsessed.

Already infatuated with the life we could have, disregarding the life we did have.

The life that was never meant for an omega.

She was not ours. Not our fucking mistake.

But somehow, I had a feeling that to my unit, that didn't matter.

We had an omega, and they would not let that go to waste.