Page 21 of Their Knotty Pack (Starbrook City Omegaverse #3)

Bethany

M y eyes blink open, my body feeling heavy and used in the best way. Except my shoulder, on the opposite side of where Miles bit me. I must have slept wrong or something because that particular area is feeling pretty damn sore.

Nothing can dampen the perfection of this moment though.

The room is cast in a soft glow by the overhead lights, and Miles' sleeping face is only inches from mine.

He looks so sweet and pure like this, his eyes closed and lips slightly parted.

Some kind of wonderful scent swirls around me, making my head light and my thoughts a little blurry.

Mine, the voice in the back of my mind whispers. Duh. Of course Miles is mine.

I'm just about to reach forward and touch his face when a thick, strong arm tightens around my waist.

Instinctively, my hand runs along the corded muscle of the forearm, the skin a little rougher than I'm used to.

My stomach drops out from under me.

Not Miles' arm.

In a series of flashes, it all comes back. The heat clinic. The pain. Hours of not being satisfied. Miles' voice in my ear, telling me that my knots were here …

I'm scrambling out of the bed so fast I don't even register there are three other bodies besides Miles in the bed with him until I'm stood at the end, looking at all the naked men I could ever ask for.

Fuck, fuck, fuck .

The same naked men who are now blinking up at me, rubbing their eyes as they realize I'm clear headed and staring at them, not a writhing mess of need on the bed.

Breathe Bethany.

Taking a deep breath, I follow my own advice, immediately regretting it as a certain fact hits me.

My pack, my alphas.

The scents that were making me feel light headed and dizzy? They belong to my true scent matches, and not just Miles. Something is missing though, I just can't put my finger on what…

No, NO, Bethany. Don't even think about this pack or their delicious scents. It doesn't matter. It can't matter.

Why is it so hard to remember everything? Before I went on suppressants, the memories were hazy, but they were there. Why is it that I'm trying to play out how everything went in my mind and am coming up with barely anything?

"Miles?" I choke out, trying to sound as unaffected as possible as I ignore the three strangers in the bed, "How many days has it been?"

"Um, should we…?" the one with this sort of…all-American boy look, glances my way uncertainly.

Miles shoots him a look that makes my stomach turn before he turns back to me.

"Little nymph, how do you feel?" He doesn't answer my question, instead he gets on his knees and does this little awkward knee-walk to the edge of the bed so he can take my face in his hands.

I can tell that he's trying to flood our new bond with reassurance, but it just rolls off me.

"How many days has it been, Miles?" I can't stop the tears from welling in my eyes as my voice breaks .

"Baby…" Miles looks at me with shining eyes as he pushes a strand of wild hair behind my ear. "I really think we should talk about our—"

Why won't he answer the damn question?

"I really think we should give you two some space—" Mr. All-American says, standing and throwing on some boxers.

"How many days?" My voice is shrill as he blinks at me, and then finally, he answers.

"Five days."

There's shuffling behind him as I stare at my omega, my bottom lip wobbling. Five days. We've been with our true scent matches for five days. There's no way I can ever satisfy a heat without them again. My omega won't allow it. I'm going to have to go back on heat suppressants, and—

My eyes catch on the tall, muscular alpha with platinum blonde hair. I vaguely recognize him as the one who was right on my other side while I slept. It was his arm that was wrapped around me. He pauses after pulling on his boxers, fixing me with a damn smirk.

"Having second thoughts, sunshine?" he drawls, raising a brow, and his laid back attitude pisses me off so much, I nearly snarl.

But then, his voice pulls a memory from the back of my mind. His face…an image of this damn alpha, hair pushed back and motorcycle helmet in hand as he waves some half-assed apology to me flashes in my mind.

It's that guy.

The same one who had no business looking that good on a bike while simultaneously trying to run me over.

"Oh my gods!" I probably sound crazy, but I can’t bring myself to care.

Stepping around Miles, I stomp over to the burly alpha. "It's you! You almost hit me with your fucking motorcycle, you psycho! What the hell are you doing here? "

This close I can make out his individual scent of spearmint and lavender. It stirs something in me that I promptly shove deep, deep down.

It makes me glad Lanie kept me from confronting the asshole like I wanted to that night. One whiff of his scent, and I would have been all over him.

All heads whip towards us, and Miles grabs my arm. "What do you mean he almost hit you with his motorcycle?" he asks sharply.

The asshole just rolls his eyes. "Come on, you were wasted and walked right into the road, it was not my fault."

"When was this?" Mr. All-American asks, looking between us.

"Christmas Eve," I snap, "gods, thank fuck I didn't go into that bar an hour later or I might've left with you."

Mr. All-American, still standing on the opposite side of the bed, looks over at us with wide eyes.

I pointedly ignore his lean but muscular body, and the way his bicep flexes under his tattoo—a bar of music with notes lined up across it.

I especially ignore the one I can now pick out as a beta, his golden tan skin not lickable in the slightest.

Completely ignore. I don't care that these are my scent matches. I have Miles, and he's the only one I need.

"Not that it matters now," the beta mutters, and everyone goes silent…even Miles.

…Not that what matters now? His words obviously carry some meaning that I'm not privy to, and I hate it. Is he saying it doesn't matter that I didn't scent him then because I'm scenting them all now?

"What does he mean?" My voice is shaky again as I turn to Miles. "What does he mean it doesn't matter? Just because we're true-scent-matched doesn't mean we have to bond—"

"Too bad you already did that, sunshine." The white-haired alpha shrugs, and my eyes catch on the bond mark on his shoulder, one I didn't notice before. It's slightly silvery, but still red, and it doesn't look that much newer than Miles'…

"What the fuck?!" One hand flies to my mouth while the other blindly searches my neck and shoulders.

That's why my damn shoulder hurts. "You bit me?

" My fingers trace the marks of his teeth, a perfect row of indents on my shoulder opposite of where Miles bit my neck.

Why is Miles not outraged by this? Why is everyone acting like this is no big deal?

Why did Miles let him bite me? More importantly, why did he let me bite him back ?

"I did," the alpha in front of me says slowly, "but only because you bit me first and sent me into a rut despite the blockers they gave us."

My eyes shut tight as I take a deep breath. Miles doesn't refute him, and he's been here the whole time. Suddenly, the whole thing comes back.

My omega perking up at the mens' scents as they entered the room, the way I crawled across the bed and launched myself at the burly alpha before growling that he was mine —

"Oh no ," my hands raise to cover my face, "no, no no…"

"Oh, yes, " the alpha says, that damn smirk still pulling at his lips as he reaches his hand out like he wants a handshake, "It's nice to meet you, mate , I'm Kieran."

My hand flies past his, and my palm makes contact with his face. The loud crack of my slap echoes in the air.

"Oh, shit," the all-American looking alpha says, as the burly alpha—Kieran—doesn't break eye contact with me as his hand stays exactly where it is, his eyes darkening slightly. Miles pulls me back into his chest, his arm banding around my waist.

"You're not my mate, " I snap. "I only have one mate, and that's Miles."

I pretend to not notice the split-second flash of hurt in his eyes. What did he expect? That I would be happy about this ?

"Let's just take a second here," Miles says, his voice in my ear, "why don't we take a deep breath and talk about this."

It's at that moment the phone on the wall rings, and Miles' shoulders tense. "I should go get that." His grip reluctantly loosens as he goes to pick up the phone. I don't want to focus on his end of the conversation, but my ears automatically try to listen in.

Mr. All-American steps over though, standing right next to Kieran. "I think we all got off on the wrong foot here." He raises his arms in surrender, his pants now on. "I'm Brody, and this is Damien," he motions to the beta across from him. "He and Miles work at the same school."

Shit. Miles knows the beta? Did he know he was a part of the pack?

No, there's no way. But this does complicate things.

I catch Damien's eyes, my cheeks reddening as I notice the way they were traveling up my body.

I'm still very naked.

Scrambling to the corner with our overnight bag, I step over a discarded silicon knot, three knotted dildos, and a plethora of empty protein shake bottles.

By the time I've thrown on the first shirt I can find, which is one of Miles' favorite t-shirts with anime characters on it, I still don't know what to say to them.

How am I supposed to say "I'm doing my best to convince myself that I don't care that you're my true scent match, so please make it easier by not putting up a fight"?

It's not exactly a conversation I want to have wearing only a shirt, but at least it covers my ass, so it'll have to do for now.

"Bethany," Brody's tone is pleading, and I almost soften.

Almost. If it weren't for his enticing leather and cedar wood scent, reminding me of why we're in this mess to begin with, I might have been inclined to listen to him.

"I'm so sorry things happened this way, but would you at least give us a chance—"

"Listen," I turn, shaking my head, "I know that this bond complicates things—"

"Complicates things?" Kieran barks out a laugh, his large arms crossing over his chest, "Sunshine, this isn't complicated at all. We're bonded now. If we separate…" he shakes his head, "are you really that selfish?"

My head rears back as if he's slapped me. Words from Pack Hansen fill my mind, telling me I'm selfish in bed. That I pit them against each other. That I can't be greedy with their affections. "Excuse me? How can you call me selfish? You don't even know me."

"You're right, I don't," Kieran lobs back, tilting his head. "And it'll stay that way as long as you have anything to say about it, right? But even someone who knows nothing else about you aside from this situation would call you selfish. You wanna know why?"

I swallow, wanting to answer, but I'm not able to find the words I'm looking for since each word he says has my stomach dropping further and further.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see the droop of Damien's shoulders as he goes to sit on the bed. At the same time, a visual invades my mind of the beta's head between my thighs while Brody fucked me…shit.

Kieran doesn't need a response, because he continues, taking another step towards me.

"Because you bit me first. Which means you took the decision out of my hands.

And not once have you expressed remorse for anyone but yourself, nor have you uttered a single word of apology.

You're selfish because you broke it, but you don't want to buy it.

You don't plan on sticking around, but what other omega is going to take me now that you've made me used goods? "

An instinctual growl rips out of my chest at the mention of him with another omega before I can tamp it down, and Kieran's eyes look at me knowingly. "See? You don't want me, but you don't want anyone else to have me either. That's why you're selfish, sunshine."

Kieran's words, as true as they may be, have anger thrumming in me, and my hands tighten to fists.

"Well excuse me for not apologizing for something you seemed all too smug about a moment ago!"

"That was before I knew you were planning on dining and dashing, sunshine."

I know I fucked up.

Well, first my omega fucked up by biting him, and then I fucked up by not considering how this whole thing would affect him. But between his well-being and Miles? I have to choose Miles, every time.

"That was the moderator," Miles says as he comes over, interrupting mine and Kieran's staring contest. "They are kindly reminding us that we have an hour after your heat breaks to get the hell out.

Honestly, I think she's anxious to get us out of here before any more unsanctioned bonding takes place. "

Right. We're still in the heat suite, and there's someone watching our every move from the camera in the corner of the room.

"How about," Damien drawls, coming up on the other side of Kieran, his rainforest signature making my breath hitch, "we stop bickering like a pack of hyenas, pack our shit, and talk once we're checked out of here."

Sounds good to me. Wordlessly, I turn back to the overnight bag, hike it over my shoulder, and drag Miles with me into the bathroom.

The door shuts forcefully behind me, and it's not until Miles wraps me in his arms that I let myself cry.

"I'm so sorry," my voice chokes out, tears getting his bare chest wet. "I've ruined everything."

"Nymph…" Miles sighs, pressing a kiss to the top of my head, "there were too many factors at play.

There's no way that we could ha ve prevented it from happening.

Their scents were overwhelming to me , and I wasn't even the one in heat.

It was a shock to your system when you were at your most vulnerable, and your omega was desperate after being unsatisfied for too long. If I had called for help sooner…"

I sniff, resting my chin on his chest as I look up at him. "There's no point in playing the 'if only' game, Miles."

"I was going to say the same thing to you," he smirks, kissing my nose. "Listen, these guys…obviously I haven't known the alphas very long, but from what I can tell, they aren't anything like Pack Hansen. I do know Damien though. He's a good guy."

"I choose you, Miles," I tell him fiercely, needing him to not question where my loyalty lies for a single moment.

"I know, baby," he murmurs, brushing a kiss across my lips, "and I choose you too. But…maybe we should consider choosing them too."