Page 9 of Knot Our Mistake (Knot Ours #1)

CHAPTER

NINE

JAMES

"DELTA! BETA!" I roared as I stepped into my house, tired as hell after a day of hard labor, only to have a little orange ball run past my feet.

Before Bran and Leo had a chance to appear, the omega turned the corner, clearly chasing the orange ball down the hall. She froze in front of me, almost fearful, and my stomach knotted at the thought that this omega worried I'd hurt her.

"It's my fault, alpha," she clutched her fingers together, holding them in front of her as she met my eyes for the briefest of moments before looking back down.

"You don't even know why I was calling them," I grumbled.

"The cat. I just loved her so much and?—"

Okay, she did know why I was calling them. "It's in the house."

"Two to one," Leo called from down the hall before stepping out of our room.

"You can't vote against me before we even decide to vote," I kicked off my muddied boots, and the omega leaned forward, picking them up and lining them against the door. "You don't need to do that."

"The Omega Industries instructed that as an omega, it is my job to serve my alpha."

I was feeling a headache forming, it's official. My fingers came up and pinched my nose. "I'm not your alpha."

She blinked a few times, and when her head tilted just right, I thought I saw moisture. "Oh. My apologies, alpha."

"Why did you vote against me, while I wasn't even present?" I asked Leo when he stopped in front of me.

"Because you would have said no."

He was correct on that. "That's presumptuous."

"Is it though?" Leo quirked a brow.

Ignoring the way my delta called me out, I brought the attention back to the ball of fur that had disappeared into my house. I directed my statement at the omega. "You will take care of it."

She nodded once. "Of course."

"I don't want to find my things destroyed."

"I understand." She twisted her fingers together, fidgeting.

"Keep it away from me."

"Persimmon."

"Excuse me?"

She bit her lip before quickly releasing it. Her eyes instantly fell to the floor, and I had to ball my fists at my side to stop myself from reaching over and forcing her eyes on me. "I named the cat Persimmon."

Well damn, even I could admit that was cute. I wouldn't voice it though. "Keep Persimmon away from me."

"I-I'll try, alpha." Fuck, why was she stuttering now?

I softened my voice, trying to take away her fear. "I've got to clean up, but if you'd like to help Bran prepare some meat, I can throw it on the grill."

She nodded, so damn agreeable. "Yes, alpha."

I sighed. "Omega, that was only a suggestion, not an order."

"I-I just want to please you, alpha. If that means helping Bran, then that is what I will do."

"You don't need to please me, omega." But my alpha, well, he disagreed as he chanted all his wants and needs inside me.

Bite her. Claim her. Knot her until she carries our child.

I argued with him nonstop, but he didn't want to listen to reason.

She's not ours. She can't stay. She'll only hurt us.

After a long moment of silence, my alpha hissed, coward , then fell blissfully silent.

The more time in the presence of the omega, the more I had begun to think that maybe, just maybe, he was right.

I was a coward. I had my own omega right in front of me, and I was too afraid to reach out and accept the gift that was offered, no matter how she came to be.

But she had the power to destroy us, and my unit was already so fragile.

"I want to," she whispered.

Against all my logical thought, I stepped forward, her scent slamming into me so hard that my chest contracted.

My finger went to her chin, forcing her eyes to mine as I leaned down, making sure our eyes connected.

"Never sacrifice your wants for a unit, omega.

If it pleases you, do so. But never pick your actions based on what you think we'd want for you. Okay?"

"Okay."

I stepped back before I did something stupid like kiss her.

Fighting the drive to do so was near impossible.

Everything about her begged for my body to connect with hers.

But I wasn't weak. I was an alpha. And she wasn't ours.

I couldn't take advantage of her like that, knowing eventually she would find her own way in life and leave our unit behind.

"Now go find Persimmon, before she gets into trouble. I'll be out in a bit."

She nodded enthusiastically before disappearing in the direction the orange fluff ball had darted to. I watched her go until she disappeared into her room, and when I looked up, Leo was smirking at me. My tone changed into a low menacing rumble. "What?"

"Oh nothing."

"Say it, delta," I ordered.

"It's just that for someone who doesn't want to keep her, you sure are looking at her like she's your salvation." Leo shrugged, then changed the subject, "Anyway, turns out a female orange cat is rare..." He paused for dramatic effect. "Just like our omega."

"Leo," I warned.

"James." I swear I felt my claws starting to surface, urging me to swipe across my delta's smug face. I resisted, barely. "You smell. Go get clean while we get dinner started."

I didn't respond, instead growling my frustration as I stomped down the hall to our bedroom.

Thirty minutes later, I exited my bedroom and searched out the omega and my unit, finding them outside, sitting around a table that was covered in bowls. Next to the bowls lay a platter of seasoned meat waiting to be put on the grill.

"Nice of you to join us, alpha," Bran was the first to spot me, and I was unsure if it was sarcasm or sincerity. "We left the meat for you to grill."

"He is the best at the grill," Leo told the omega, and damn it, that subtle compliment had my chest puffing up with pride.

"I can't wait to taste it," she offered as I grabbed the meat, checking to make sure the grill had been preheated before I plopped the steaks onto it.

When the sweet sound of steak sizzling hit my ears, I turned toward her again. "Omega, how do you like your steak?"

Her eyes glistened for a moment, a hint of mischief in them, and I knew her omega was speaking to her, but when she replied, she held none of that mischief. She cleared her throat, "Medium rare."

"Perfect." I turned my body back to the grill, ignoring the heat that had nothing to do with the cooktop and everything to do with what that glint in our omega's eyes meant. No, not ours. The omega.

Our omega.

I ignored my alpha, putting all my concentration into watching the meat and listening to Bran and Leo chat, talking about everything, while the sweet little omega added in her opinion. Something about the situation seemed more right than I cared to admit, but I still couldn't keep her.

After flipping the steak and finishing it off, I plated it before returning the meat, cooked to perfection, back to the table. The omega inhaled deeply, "Looks amazing, alpha. Thank you."

I sat down across from her, grabbing a bowl and pulling back the wrapper. Before I could question what was inside, she piped up, "It's potato salad. The other is fruit."

"Our omega needed something to do while Bran and I struggled for our lives bathing Persimmon," Leo's eyes sparkled as he spoke, baiting the omega.

"Persimmon was a perfect angel, don't believe a word of what he says." Her brows furrowed at Leo, then turned to Bran, "And if I recall, neither of you wanted to let her go after the bath."

"We couldn't. She had literal claws into us," Leo laughed.

"Don't soil her good name," she raised her chin defiantly. "No potato salad for you."

Leo leaned forward, grabbing the bowl before she could fully pull it away, "Come on, darling, you know I'm only playing. Your cat's an angel like you."

Given the chaotic sprints she was doing around the house when I came inside, I doubt that to be the truth, but I still enjoyed watching my unit relaxing for once.

Everything was always about work, but for these few hours at the end of the day, the first in a long while, Bran and Leo actually looked like they were enjoying themselves.

"I think," Bran leaned forward on his elbows, "that it's only a matter of time before that little kitten has the alpha wrapped around her little tiny paw."

"Never," I insisted. I barely tolerated the cats on a good day. The only reason I let them exist is they got rid of the mice, which were bad for the crops and spooked the horses.

"Two weeks, tops," Leo agreed.

"You both are ridiculous," the omega took my side. Well, for all of two seconds. "He'll be petting her by the end of the week."

"Omega," I warned.

"Oh, he's getting testy because he knows it's true," Bran pointed out.

"Had I known you three would gang up on me while I was trying to relax and eat, I would have skipped coming out here and spent my evening inside."

"Don't be a baby," Bran offered me the bowl of fruit. "Until you came out, I was the victim between them."

"Don't let this omega fool you," Leo looked so proudly at her. "She is quick-witted."

"I grew up with a lot of brothers. They left me little choice," she admitted.

"I'd like to meet these brothers," Bran put more potato salad onto the omega's plate.

"Maybe someday," she shrugged, and her expression was all we needed in order for us to realize that was the end of that conversation.

We aren't keeping her , I reminded my alpha when he agreed with Bran.

We are and you will , he growled, his tone one he'd never used with me before.

Didn't he understand? We can't keep her.

We couldn't break the rule of owning an omega.

The most important rule of all, being financially stable enough to own her.

We weren't poor, but the truth was, we are part of an unstable industry.

One plague could wipe out a whole crop or herd, and then what?

How would we financially protect her and our family?

Not to mention omegas deserved it all, and I wished I could give her it.

But here, on a dusty farm... she'd never be happy.

She'd never be able to stay.