Page 10

NINE

“Tell me again why we entrusted you with this,” my normally-optimistic pack mate says in my ear.

I reposition my phone while I stroll along the dewy green of the quad.

I was only a couple seconds out the door before Kendall was calling me to go over the plan.

As if they all hadn’t asked me multiple times in the past week.

I sigh. “Like we’ve talked about before, I’ve already met her. It just seems like the best idea if I’m the one that initiates more interaction. Plus, she and I hit it off.” I pause for a moment. “Before she ghosted me.”

Shit… maybe she won’t want to see me.

“That wasn’t because of you, though, Ci,” he reassures me.

“Right.” I hesitate. “Anyway. I’ll also be able to keep my head on straight around her. You know, being a beta and all.”

“Keep your head on straight? You? ” he jokes. “Not only is the straight part inaccurate, but you’re as crooked as they come, man.”

“Shut it,” I laugh, the statement putting me back in good spirits. “I normally agree that being well-balanced is boring as fuck, but this is different. You would all go crazy smelling her for the first time and you might freak her out. She’s going through a lot right now, we can’t run her off.”

A beam of pride shoots through me when I think about Stacia standing up for herself. Sam told us about how she came over the day after the party to break up with Derek. He also told us about the unstable tantrum Derek had after she left.

It’s been a few weeks since that weekend and Derek’s been an even bigger pain than usual.

Well, that’s putting it lightly. The break-up has made him unbearable .

He’s constantly making ignorant remarks and constantly trying to bait other alphas into fighting.

I’m not an alpha, but trying to find some kind of control through violence doesn’t seem like the smartest solution.

It’s exhausting being around someone that volatile all the time, so we’ve been keeping our distance as a pack ever since.

“She may not want to meet you guys right away, so we have to treat this delicately.” I make my way down the beaten path to the English department. “But really, I just want to see how she is. Please tell your alpha to be patient.”

Kendall scoffs. “Please. I’ll be fine. I don’t want to scare her off anymore than you do. I just want to meet her…” He pouts before sighing. “Fine, I see your point.”

“I’m almost to the building now, so I’ll call you later.”

“Okay. Be your normal charming self! I believe in you!” He blows a patronizing kiss through the speaker. “Call me after class!”

I shake my head and laugh before hanging up. I make my way through the doors of the English building, which is where my noon lecture resides. I’m positive she has a class at the same time because I see her every time I walk through these doors.

I’m desperate to talk to her, but I’ve been biding my time.

She just broke up with her boyfriend, yes, but that’s not the only reason.

She has no idea that this possibility even exists.

She may not have smelled me the same way I did her the night we met, either from being high or just not feeling that way about me.

The latter is what frightens me the most.

I’m a beta, and I may have had a magical meeting with her, but there’s a chance that my ability to smell her is just a fluke. I have to be prepared for the outcome of that.

I shake the thought away right before I spot her in my peripheral.

My breath hitches. She’s the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen.

Her hair is shiny and bouncing; she’s wearing these light green dungarees and a pair of Mary Jane’s.

Our aesthetics may differ like night and day, but the fashion sense is much appreciated.

Focus, Ciro.

She’s standing at a bulletin in the hallway, which gives me the perfect opportunity to talk to her. That same wonderful scent from the night we met hits my nose, beckoning me forward. I stop behind her and swallow hard.

“Hey, Stacia.”

She turns around swiftly and meets my eyes. I’m not sure what kind of disappointment I’m expecting, but I start to breathe easier when her eyes go wide and joyful.

And I’m not an expert on scents, but did hers just get slightly more sweet?

“Oh, wow, hi!” she says, “You did say you were majoring in communications.”

“Reluctantly,” I laugh. “Anything interesting on the board today?” I ask, pointing at the bulletin.

She looks back at the board for a moment, a slight blush on her cheeks. “Nothing really. Just a poetry contest, but I’m not very good. I enjoy it, but I’m better at fiction writing.”

“If it brings you joy, that’s all that really matters, right?”

She thinks about that for a moment before taking her phone out of her pocket. I feel another rejection coming.

Oh, you’ve done it now, Ciro.

But then she turns and takes a picture of the poster before putting her phone away. “I’ll consider doing it. A lot of my stuff is rather depressing these days, though.”

“I’m pretty sure lifetime happiness isn’t a requirement for good writing.”

She laughs before pointing casually down the hallway. “Want to walk me to class?”

I must look silly because I nod immediately.

We head out towards her classroom and, as I’m trying to muster up the confidence to carry out the plan, the negative affirmations come roaring back.

Maybe she can’t smell me the way I can smell her.

Maybe it’s some kind of biological fluke, and I’m just another beta that she can’t scent.

Or maybe it was a side-effect of us both being under the influence during our first meeting, the drugs causing hormonal abnormalities.

Maybe Kendall was right… maybe I shouldn’t be doing this.

But just as I imagine waving the white flag of surrender, something happens. So discreetly that I almost miss it, her head leans over toward me as we walk just before her nostrils flare the slightest amount. Her eyelashes flutter closed as what just happened hits me like a brick.

Holy shit! She’s trying to smell me. She can smell me!

What follows is a bloom of gloriousness that causes my head to feel both light and heavy at the same time. Her fragrance hits the doubt I was feeling a moment ago like a bat and dissipates it, leaving it behind as forgotten dust.

As soon as I start talking, she speaks as well.

“Hey, would you ever want?—”

“Look, I’m sorry about?—”

We both stop and look at the other before bursting out in laughter.

“You can go first,” I say.

She smiles gently. “I wanted to say I’m sorry for everything that happened with Derek a few weeks ago. You and your pack didn’t deserve to have your night ruined over our bullshit.”

I realize then that Stacia is genuinely a good person. How she got caught up with Derek is a mystery to me.

I shake my head. “You never have to apologize for someone else’s fucked up behavior.

He was an asshole, not you. I quite enjoyed our first meeting.

I don’t regret it at all.” A nervous cough gets caught in my throat.

“Also, my pack mate has been looking for a reason to hit him for a long time, so really, we should all be thanking you.”

She gives a sincere laugh at that, which makes me smile. She starts to slow down and I realize our walk is coming to a close.

We stop and I rub my neck in a nervous tick. “Hey, I recognize that this might be too soon to ask… my pack mates are on the hockey team and I normally go alone, but I was wondering… if you’d like to accompany me to their next home game?”

She winces, her face contorting in repulsion.

I chuckle. “You look disgusted.”

That makes her smile again. “I’m sorry. Derek used to make me go, but I hated it. I’m not a fan of how cold it is.”

A snort escapes me. “You’re right, it’s a literal icebox.

” I throw the plan out the window and go with the next best option.

I know the guys won’t care about the change of plans.

They just want her to be comfortable at the end of the day.

“What if we hung out and watched it back at our place? They’d be playing, so it would be just us? ”

She tilts her head before biting her lip in thought. It brings my attention to it, making me swallow hard. I don’t have an alpha inside me to drive my thoughts, but this particular omega makes me question my sanity.

“I’d like that, actually,” she says, and I internally fist pump.

She pulls her phone back out and the next thing I know, a chime echoes from my pocket.

“Sorry I never got around to texting you. It’s been a crazy few weeks, but now you have my number, too.

Text me the time and day?” She gives me a sweet smile that I reciprocate.

“Most definitely.” I nod. “I’ll see you very soon.”

“Later, Ciro.”

She makes her way into her class, looking back at me once to give another nervous smile. I sigh a huge breath of relief before walking away.

I immediately start to think about how to make it the best date ever. Even thinking of it as a date gives me butterflies.

Just as I’m getting to my classroom, it hits me. She knew my name, she remembered my contact. Maybe I wasn’t the only one affected by our meeting after all.