Page 6 of Knot Our Mistake (Knot Ours #1)

CHAPTER

SIX

JAMES

The fact that Leo and Bran managed to sleep at all with an omega down the hall was baffling to me.

Her scent, fates, it was so strong, and she wasn't even in heat.

I'd fear what would happen if she had been.

But lucky for us, she was in fact on suppressants.

A conclusion I came to while poking around in her toiletry bag she left in the bathroom.

I tossed and turned the whole night, barely getting a wink of sleep, and just when I had finally lulled myself into a fitful slumber, chatter and ruckus in the kitchen tore me to consciousness. I knew that sound. Knew the voices. Knew the shitshow that was about to become my life.

"Fuck," I groaned loudly, as I pulled a pillow and smothered it over my face.

Bran stirred, his body stretching before he paused mid movement. "Is that..."

"Don't say their names," Leo moaned. "If we don't say their names, maybe they'll go away."

I flung my arm out, hitting Leo's chest as a sudden realization smacked into me. I bolted upwards, searching for a pair of sweatpants. "They can't be here."

"They are," Bran huffed, defeated.

"The omega," I growled.

"Shit," Bran and Leo cursed in unison as they both jumped up.

Shit was an understatement. Our mothers, singularly, were each a force. Together, the three of them were like being hit by a stage five hurricane with no anchor. If they saw that we had an omega in the house, we'd be done for. They'd get their hopes up, start planning babies and family trips and...

I couldn't let myself think about how much a part of me craved to do so too.

I wouldn't. She was not our omega. Not our mistake.

She was the Industries's, and I couldn't in good faith keep her, even if I wanted to.

Which I didn't. I didn't want to keep the omega, especially after last night.

Bran and Leo would get too attached and then they would get their hearts broken.

We nearly broke down the bedroom door trying to get to the kitchen so we could shoo our mothers away before they saw the omega.

Each of our steps were borderline running as we raced toward the kitchen, but it was for nothing.

We were too late. Sitting at the kitchen table, with coffee mugs in hand, were each of our mothers, surrounding Sophia.

"James," my mother called when I froze in the entry, feeling chest pains from the panic the image caused. "Don't just stand there."

"Mother," I swallowed back bile. "What are you doing here?"

It was Bran's mother, Jane, who answered. "Meeting our new daughter-in-law."

"I don't think I'm?—"

"Nonsense, dear," my mother, Liz, cut off our omega. "You are part of the family now."

Behind me, Leo sighed. "I swear these women are like wolves; they can smell prey a mile away."

"I heard that, Leonardo," Cecile shot her son a pointed look that caused the omega's lips to tilt up as she fought a smile.

Our mothers resituated themselves, aligning their seating on the opposite side of the omega, leaving the seats directly next to her open. We had no choice but to pick a seat next to her, me directly to her right, and Bran and Leo to her left.

"This meal smells amazing, ladies," Bran, always the charmer, buttered up our mothers. "Though I will admit, we hadn't expected you here this morning. It's not even a scheduled Sunday."

"Only here to meet our daughter-in-law. If we didn't come over, you'd never introduce us," my mom beamed.

"That's not true," I huffed as I reached for the carafe of coffee, wishing I had something slightly stronger to combat the headache that was forming.

"Well," Cecile gave a look of disapproval to the three of us. "You didn't call once yesterday, and we waited."

"Excuse me?" My brows furrowed, not understanding why they would wait for a phone call we never promised to make.

"About your gift," my mother rolled her eyes before picking up a potato and ham breakfast casserole, offering it to me.

I scooped some onto my plate, adding a few other fixings before continuing on with the conversation. "I'm not sure I understand what you ladies are going on about." I scooped some of the casserole in my mouth and groaned at the cheesy goodness. "This is outrageously good."

"You like it," my mother grinned.

"I said I did."

"Sophia made it," my mother's smile morphed into one full of beaming triumph.

I turned to the omega. "You... made this?"

She kept her eyes on her plate, and I hated that. Hated that she did not want to make eye contact with me when my alpha begged for it. I reached over, using my fingers on her chin to raise her eyes to mine before repeating the question. "You made this?"

"I—" She tried to look down again, but I wouldn't allow it. "Yes. I thought since I was here, I'd pull my weight, but then your mothers came and they helped out."

My mind couldn't wrap around how an omega who wore a layer of makeup so thick just yesterday could somehow make the best country baked breakfast casserole I'd ever tasted. Without thinking, I rubbed a thumb against her bare cheek. "I like you without the makeup."

Her cheeks brightened under my fingers as someone cleared her throat. "Anyway, you never called to tell us about your omega, and we waited all day."

I dropped my hand, turning back toward the elderly ladies waiting patiently on the other side of the table.

"Well, I myself didn't know about my omega until later in the day.

Which brings me to a curious question, Mother.

" I addressed my mother, though my eyes fell to the three of them who were no doubt accomplices to whatever scheme my mother surely instigated.

And this scheme, I somehow knew, deep down, had to do with the pretty little omega sitting timidly next to me.

"Oh?" Bran's mother, Jane, leaned forward, her elbows on the table. "What question is that?"

These fucking devils. "If I just learned about my omega yesterday evening, how did you know about her now?"

"Simple," my mother shrugged. "We bought her."

My fork clashed down to my plate. "What?"

Beside me, Leo rubbed his face with his palms. "I shouldn't be shocked."

Bran finished his statement. "Yet they never fail to surprise us."

"Boys," my mom scowled. "If we didn't step in, we'd never get grandkids. And I know you said to butt out of your business, but the last time I left it up to you, you almost had that awful beta carry your children. And you know she could have never carried a child of yours, James."

Beside me, Sophia's head tilted in interest, but she kept quiet. I growled my frustration before directing my annoyance back at my mother and not the girl next to me who was clearly a victim of her plotting as much as me. "How?"

No words could describe just how proud the women on the other side of the table were as they looked at us. "Well, all I had to do was tell you to sign some papers for my estate, and you signed anything I asked for blindly."

I closed my eyes, inhaling deep as I remembered the exact moment my mother began to pull one over on me. "Mom. That was months ago!"

"These things take time; I'm sorry I couldn't get her here sooner."

"You need to take her back," I demanded.

"Unfortunately, you and I both know that isn't possible."

I turned to Sophia. "I'm sorry, but you understand you can't stay, right?"

She tried to hold her face neutral as she nodded, looking back at her hands again, and fuck, I was furious at our mothers for bringing this innocent omega into this mess. "Yes."

"You cannot return her to the Industries," Cecil spat. "She was a final sale."

"She's a living being and shouldn't be sold," Bran fumed.

"You know that's not how the world works," Jane looked at her son. "Omegas are valuable. The cost of them is to ensure that they are going to be cared for, that the people acquiring them can afford to have them."

"But we can't, clearly," I roared. "We didn't pay that fee."

My mother waved her hand. "It was paid, same difference. We're all family here. And I know that without the fee, you can care for her just fine."

I was mortified to admit in front of the omega that we weren't capable of paying the fee to buy her. I didn't have to look toward her to know that her face was probably a mask of disgust. "She belongs with someone better than us."

"If there was someone better than you three, we'd not have paid the fee," Jane stated.

"This is a farm," I took a deep breath. "We have mud, and blood, and midnight cattle emergencies. This isn't a place for an omega."

"Did you even read her profile, James?" My mother crossed her arms over her chest.

"I don't need to read her profile to know that this farm isn't fit for her."

My mother laughed before addressing Sophia. "Anything you'd like to add to the conversation?"

She wrung her hands in her lap, nerves clear, and that alone should be reason enough to kick my mother out of my house. How dare she make the omega uncomfortable. How dare she expose just how weak of an alpha I was that I couldn't provide for my omega the way she deserved.

"I'm not afraid of dirt, or blood, or cattle. I don't care about the fees to acquire me; I'm only sorry that I'm not capable of meeting the standards of all alphas I come into possession of."

"Sophia," Bran tried to smooth it over, "it's not that you're not capable of meeting our standards; it's that we aren't worthy of yours."

Her voice was soft when she spoke, "And who gets to decide that?"