Page 154 of Scent to the Feral Cowboys

“Just wait. I don’t want to spoil it for you.”

Levi's face wrinkled in confusion. "You're being mysterious, and I don't like it." He always had an issue with things he couldn’t figure out. He wanted everything to be sorted out by quick calculations.

Wade went to say something, but I spoke first.

"Just trust me," I insisted, moving forward again. "And keep quiet."

When we reached the left corner of the barn, I held up my hand, signaling them to stop. The faint strains of music drifted through the cracks in the weathered boards. That surprised me. I couldn’t think of anything in the old barn that would give Nelly music. I crept to the same busted section of outer wall again, peering through it first before I gave my brother’s the view. I just wanted it for myself a second longer.

When I stepped back, I pointed at the hole.

Boone pushed forward, not having to be told twice.

He pressed his face to the opening, and I watched as his entire body went still, as if someone had pressed pause on the world, but only he’d been affected. After a long moment—and I knew how much willpower it took to tear his gaze away—Boone pulled back, his expression full of wonder.

Cooper beat Wade to the punch next, giving the rest of us a replay of Boone’s reaction. Wade and Levi, overcome by curiosity, began searching for another way to see inside. They found smaller, less accommodating knots and cracks in the barn’s wall. Boone and I exchanged a look, and then we two hunted and discovered places we could peer through.

Outsiders might see the scene and wonder what the hell five Alphas were doing sneaking around and spying like secret agents. This was our property. Nelly was our scent-matched Omega. Yet, we were timidly watching her from a respectful distance. I might have even laughed at the absurdity of it, hadevery particle of my body, mind, and soul not been fixated on the fucking glory that was Nelly when she danced.

Her hair was pulled back into a tight bun, revealing the elegant line of her neck, the delicate curve of her ears. She’d taken off the shirt and pants from earlier, folding them on the floor. She now wore a pair of form-fitted shorts printed with horseshoes. I remembered those, they were part of a pajama set Gran got us at Christmas. We couldn’t have been more than ten at the time.

Nelly’s upper body sported a white tank top, tight enough to curve around her breasts and give us an unfettered view of her sumptuous figure. She was stretching, warming up, her body flowing through positions without falter. Her the balls of her feet were wrapped, cushion against the roughhewn floorboards.Fuck, we need to give her better than this. We need to give her everything.

I heard Levi's breath catch. A glance in his direction showed his glasses slightly fogged, his hands fisted, knuckles white. His usual analytical reserve was shattered by the sight, and I couldn’t blame him. If we’d thought Nelly was beautiful before, then she was incandescent now.

Gazing back through the miniscule break in the barn wall, I watched every movement our Omega made. She arched her back, then swooped forward, one arm moving with her, fingers nearly brushing the floorboards as she dipped impossibly low, bending her body nearly in half.

When she straightened, she raised one arm in a half circle, fingers gracefully extended. She began to raise her leg inch by inch. Higher. Higher, until her thigh threatened to press against her side. When she lowered her leg, she began to move in earnest. Everything else shimmered out of focus until Nelly was the only thing that existed.

Her dancing was storytelling; there was no other way to describe it.

She spun and leaped, the uneven floor a challenge she adjusted for with each skilled movement. Each time her feet landed on solid boards, the impact echoed through the barn. When she flew into the air, she seemed to momentarily float before touching down again.

As Nelly danced, our bodies responded of their own accord. Our individual scents grew stronger with each passing second, weaving together as they always did, creating our pack’s signature cologne. It was a collective reaching, an unconscious calling, to the Omega who moved before us in such an ethereal way that she had me wondering if she was even real. No human being could dance the way she was.

Our pack scent cloud thickened. It swirled around us and began pushing outward, a dome expanding towards what it truly wanted to enclose. Nelly. Nelly. Tendrils of longing, ribboning closer and closer to our ballerina.

I wanted her. I wanted hersobadly.

An almost painful constriction formed in my throat. She wasn't just performing. This wasn't for an audience. Nelly was reclaiming herself, piece by piece and movement by movement. Determination and joy flashed across her features in equal measure. She poured everything into the way she twirled and shifted and curved her form.

The potent cloud of Alphas pheromones was overwhelming. She’d smell it soon. She’d know we were here. It would be better to admit we were watching, rather than surprise her.

Yet none of us moved. None of us spoke. None of us were willing to break the spell of this moment. It was a privilege to witness her hard-won, hard-lost talent.

I wished there was a way to make her understand that I didn’t want her to stay just because she was an Omega,or because she was our scent matched mate. I wanted,nay needed, her to stay because she was Nelly. Complicated, defiant, resilient Nelly, who could transform an abandoned building into a sanctuary through sheer force of will.

Pressing my forehead against the weathered wood, I struggled to breathe through the sudden onslaught of desperate need.

For days, I'd told myself I was being practical. That maintaining emotional distance was the responsible thing to do. That expecting her to leave was simply acknowledging reality. But the truth crashed through me now with the force of a flash flood; I'd just been protecting myself from the pain of wanting someone who might not want me back. Wade had given me shit about it a couple days ago, said Nelly didn’t even think I liked her. But how the fuck was I supposed to crack my chest open for this woman who might disappear tomorrow?

Nelly’s body curved and twisted.

There was anger in some movements.

Sharp, staccato jabs that punched through the air.

Grief laced through others.