Page 6 of Rugged Hearts: Part One

He shakes his head as he rushes out, “It’s not, you don’t have to worry.”

I nod and go back to the tablet and quickly sign it and hand it back to him. He checks it over then looks up as he pulls keys from his pocket. “Here you go, the keys to the house. Here’s my number as well, call if you need anything.” He then hands me a business card with Eli written on the back along with a phone number. As I’m looking at it, he says, “I wrote my cell on the back. I travel for work but if there’s ever a problem and I’m out of town, you can still get ahold of me and I’ll let one of the guys know.”

“Thank you, Elijah.”

“Eli, call me Eli.”

I nod in response. Gods I feel so awkward. I start to head towards the door and he follows me out. I open my car trunk and stare at the pile of items. Now it’s time to figure out the best way to get this all inside.

“Wow that’s a lot of stuff. Would you like some help? I mean it’ll go a lot faster with two people,” he offers.

I go to refuse but looking back to the car quite literally packed to the brim and back to Elijah—no,Eli. Screw pride. “That would be great thank you.”

We both move to start pulling the TV box that’s laying on top of everything when he suddenly stills and, oh Gods, did I hear him inhale?Damn it. I didn’t put more descenter on after loading everything into the car. I was a hot sweaty mess by the time I finished, no doubt my scent is slipping out now.Just ignore it, don’t acknowledge anything. I move to pull the box completely out and bypass him, which seems to catch his attention. I can’t begin to decipher the look he’s giving me so I just start carrying the box towards the house.

“Wait,” he says, startling me. “Let me carry that in. What room do you want it in?”

I let out a breath, relieved he’s not commenting on my scent.There’s nothing against an omega renting any type of space but I have been trying to let people think I’m a beta. “The bedroom to the left, off the kitchen.”

Time passes quickly as we find a rhythm of unpacking the car and bringing everything in. At one point it just made sense to put all the bags from the store in the kitchen and I’ll go through it one by one. The totes that were buried underneath all my shopping went right into my bedroom. We both seem to have broken a sweat with everything, but it went a lot faster than if I did it myself.

“Thank you for helping with this. I’d offer you something to drink but I realized I forgot to go grocery shopping, not that anything else would’ve fit in my car.”

He lets out a laugh at that comment. It really was packed full. “Anytime. If you need help with anything else let me know, I’d be happy to help,” he says with a soft smile.

I doubt I will take him up on that but it’s nice of him to offer. “Well, I should get started on unpacking. I also need to run by the BNB and grab my things before checking out.”

Taking the hint, he starts to move towards the front door, and I follow to walk him out. That’s when I catch it, just like yesterday with Parker, it shocks me, his scent. Crisp apple. I can’t even figure out the emotion that’s overwhelming me right now. It feels so foreign to me at this point in life, I didn’t think I’d actually experience it again—joy. What the fuck is happening?

Eli looks back at me as he reaches the door. I’m standing there frozen like an idiot.Pull yourself together Thea.I can fall apart after he leaves. Snapping out of it, I walk up to the door and say, “Thank you again for your help today.” Fall back on your professionalism, that seems to be engrained in me. Gods why can’t I be normal.

“Of course, and I meant what I said earlier if you need anything call.” I nod in agreement and he heads towards his car.

Closing the door and sliding down to sit on the floor against it, I feel so…confused. Connor is the only one whose scent elicitedany type of emotion. Almost like there was another layer to his scent and it was a feeling or emotion. Now I’ve met two alphas in twenty-four hours that are basically doing the same thing. I don’t have the energy for this. I just need to not be found bymy stalkerand stay off the radar. That’s it, nothing else. Definitely not scenting delicious smelling alphas. And Ben’s scent…Maybe it’s their pack? I just need to avoid them. Well, as much as I can since they are now my boss and landlord. Groaning, I bang my head against the door behind me.

5

ELI

Holy shit. She’s an omega and my scent match. Thathasto be what that feeling was. I never felt anything like it before. It wasn’t just scent compatibility, been there done that—this was on another level. Driving home is a blur as so much is running through my head. I can’t wait to tell the guys. Actually, that probably isn’t a good idea. We’re all still healing from the disastrous courtship we had a year and a half ago. Most of us, I think, are doing okay but the rest…I don’t think telling them the news that I found a scent match would be the best.

Oh Gods, what if she’s not a scent match with all of us? We can’t go through anything like that again. Not after what Amber did to us. Thea doesn’t seem like she’s anything like Amber thank the Gods. It was actually cute how whenever she got flustered or embarrassed, she would default to being professional. I wonder who she’s met. I know she’s met Ben since I talked to him about her earlier after I found out she’s working at the lodge. He must not have caught her scent when they met. I can’t be sure but she had to have been wearing descenter. I was too. I didn’t want my scent to linger in a house we’re renting, and that’s just standard practice. But I get the feeling she is purposely hiding her scent.

Oh Gods and her scent—it’s so sweet but with a campfirewood smoke tinge to it. When I scented her as we were unloading her car, it took everything in me not to lean closer to her. I wanted to be surrounded by it. How am I not going to tell the guys? Micah definitely isn’t in the headspace for this kind of news. Maybe I should talk to Liam, if anything to confirm she’s my scent match. I don’t know anyone who has a scent match. Honestly, I thought it was more of a myth at this point since it’s so rare.

I can’t think of what else it could be. I know it in my bones she’s our omega. The most beautiful omega by far. Her smile this morning made her whole face light up. I just wanted to make her smile more. When I saw her, I couldn’t help but admire how beautiful she is, wearing jeans and knit sweater that still showed off her curves. I need to find more ways to see and get to know her. But how? It’s not like my job will intersect much with her.

I actually have to fly out in two days to go check in on our latest property build downstate. And well, Ben did say she starts on Monday at the lodge so she’ll be busy too. I’ll think of something for when I come back. Now I just need to make it through family dinner without any of my pack noticing how happy I am or why.

“Eli?” Micah asks. I was thinking about possible ways to run into Thea again once I’m back from my trip. Everyone else was talking and catching up over dinner. We started making it more of a priority to have pack dinners as often as possible throughout the week. It helps us reconnect and check in with each other, at least that was Ben’s main argument when he brought it up over a year ago.I look at Micah, who has his dark red hair perfectly styled with his trimmed beard. He never looks disheveled, even as a kid he was always making sure he looked presentable at all times. His brown eyes are boring into me, waiting for my response.

“Mhm, what?”

“I asked how did the showing go? Do we have a tenant for thehouse finally?” Micah asks with a slight edge. He’s always two steps away from a tantrum in my opinion. I’d actually like to see him blow up since he bottles up everything. It’s gonna happen sooner or later.

I look over to Ben, surprised he didn’t mention it to Micah. I mean they work in the same building, and their offices are right next to each other. I shake my head at the nonsensical men in my pack. “Yup, she signed the lease. The house will officially be rented for the next year.”

He nods. “Good. If she doesn’t renew we should sell it. It’s empty more often than rented.”