Page 48 of Their Knotty Pack (Starbrook City Omegaverse #3)

Bethany

M y second full day of unemployment, and I get to spend it…at the spa.

I had spent half the day yesterday trying to convince Lanie to not quit until she has a backup plan in place.

Then Cady called Miles and me last night, saying she's writing a piece on Omega Springs Day Spa , and the magazine was paying for her and four other omegas to have a full day experience—only if we gave our full and honest opinion after, of course.

She asked if we'd fill two of the spots, and we jumped on it.

Miles called out of work, which honestly, is probably for the best. He's been a little on edge recently, which probably means his heat spikes are going to start soon.

We could both use a day of relaxation.

Plus, what are the odds of running into Pack Hansen at an omega-specific day spa? They wouldn't be caught dead near one. Gods forbid their non-existent masculinity be called into question. I can't wait until the restraining order is approved and Hunter stops making me go everywhere with an escort.

I'm just pulling on my leggings and adjusting my cropped tank top when my phone pings with a text.

Cady

Ten minutes away!

"They'll be here in ten," I call out to Miles, who is in the bathroom, fixing his hair.

He comes to stand in the doorway, wearing a muscle tank that's too big for him, the oversized cutouts of the arm holes showing part of his toned chest. His joggers outline his muscular legs, his hair is pushed back, and damn, he looks good.

His eyes flash as he looks at me, and I step up to him, the front of his oversized shirt in my hands as I pull him down for a kiss. Lavender and spearmint tickle my nose as he leans down, grabbing my ass.

"You stole Kieran's shirt," I murmur into his lips, and he smiles. "Makes me remember…things."

"Hmmm," he nips at my lower lip. "I love things. Let's do more things. Two-person things."

I giggle as he takes my face between his hands and kisses me harder. "We only have ten minutes. Well, probably eight now." My voice is breathless, and his pupils are blown as he pulls back to look at me, his eyes darting back and forth between mine.

"I think you're underestimating just how hard I am right now."

Dammit. I'm powerless to resist him. If he's as ready to go as he says, then maybe we won't have any issue getting this done in five minutes.

"Then show me," I whisper, and the blink of an eye, he yanks my leggings off, pulls his cock out, and then puts his hands on my ass again, lifting me as he spins us so my back is against the wall.

He enters me swiftly, his head falling back as he groans.

"You're…so…efficient," I manage to get out as he pulls out and thrusts back in, shifting us so his body pins me in place while one hand lands next to my head on the wall.

"Oh yeah, baby, talk dirty to me." He smirks, but his voice is strained.

He leans forward, sucking on the bonding mark on my neck, his hips never ceasing their movements.

The sensation of his mouth on the silvery scar shoots lightning bolts of pleasure straight to my clit.

This will be the fastest I've ever come apart on his dick, that's for sure.

Less than thirty seconds later, I'm clamping down on him, and he groans his release, my own cries of ecstasy echoing in the room.

Less than five minutes later, we're heading downstairs, ready to wait on the porch until Cady gets here. We made sure to clean up really well, so there aren't any lingering pheromones, but that doesn't stop Miles from pulling me close again, wrapping his arms around me, and kissing me breathless.

I can't seem to pull myself away from him, even though I know our friends will be here any second. He tastes like blueberry, dark chocolate, and pure need , ready to consume me—

We're startled apart by the short beep of a horn, and the crunch of tires on the gravel of the driveway. "Come on, you lovebirds!" Cady calls out the passenger side window of a shimmery plum SUV. Past her, I can see Titus behind the wheel, smirking at us.

Miles presses a kiss to my cheek before grabbing my hand and leading me to the car, his bond alight with pure male satisfaction. When he grabs the back door and opens it, we're met with Hannah and Wren, waving to us from the seat in the third row.

"Hey guys!" I grin as I climb in, and Miles shuts the door behind me before getting in on the other side behind Titus. Cady turns to look at us, delight twinkling in her eyes as he backs out of the driveway and heads to the spa.

"Hope we didn't interrupt anything," she says coyly, trying to hide her smile.

"Nope, we already finished," Miles grins, and I reach over to smack him.

"Mi les!" I half laugh as Hannah and Wren giggle in the back seat, and Titus shakes his head.

"He's joking," I clarify, sending my wave of mortification through the bond straight to him. He grimaces a little.

"Yep. Totally joking." He deadpans, but I just roll my eyes. Miles approaching his heat is…different than regular Miles.

"Oh my gods, Bethany, it feels like it's been forever since we've seen each other," Wren leans forward, reaching over to give my shoulder a friendly squeeze.

Her hair is in two dutch braids, and I suddenly think about how cute I would have looked if I had thought to do the same hairstyle instead of my messy bun.

Maybe she can fix it for me when we get there.

"I know," I give her a smile, "a lot has changed since then. This is my omega, Miles." Miles turns to give her a quick smile and a wave.

"Oh!" she says, her eyes wide. "I thought they were fucking with me when they said that!"

Miles' mouth drops open slightly at the shock of seeing the adorable, pocket-sized omega swear. "Yeah, we get that a lot." Miles admits, running a hand through his hair.

"My parents are a scent-matched omega pair as well," I add, shrugging, "but they never found a pack."

"Huh. No shit?" She says thoughtfully. Then she shakes her head like she's clearing her thoughts. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Miles, I'm Wren."

"Wren's alpha works as a bodyguard at the OMS," I tell him, "he was actually Cady's guard when she was courting packs."

"Worked." Titus chimes in from the front, and Wren grins.

"What?" I ask, turning around.

"Brennan worked at the OMS. Past tense. He called me after that old crone fired you, asking if my employment offer still stands. So now he's working for Lone Star Security. I actually gained quite a few new employees yesterday." He smirks at me through the rearview mirror.

"Oh," I say quietly, not sure how I feel about that.

"It wasn't just because of you," Wren says quickly, sensing my discomfort at the fact I may have uprooted his life.

"It…well, apparently Lopez has been trying to make the bodyguards more vocal for a while, trying to get them to speak up and voice opinions on different packs, when Brennan didn't feel like it was their place to do that.

Even less so when she had a list of packs to talk up, the rich ones that would potentially donate more money. "

"Well, shit," I murmur. "Maybe Brody needs to look into my contract after all."

We sit in a comfortable quiet for a moment, music playing low on the radio before a thought occurs to me.

"Hey Titus?"

"What's up, Beth?"

"There are a lot of omegas in here."

"Yes?"

"Well, that's a lot of smells in a very confined space. Is it not bothering you?"

"Nah. I got this alpha-gel stuff to put under my nose. I can smell exactly zero things right now."

Huh. I hadn't thought about it before, but now I'm feeling a little surprised that everyone's packs were okay with Titus playing chaperone today. Though, if I think about it, he's both mine and Hannah's brother-in-law, Brennan is Ty's buddy, and Miles…well, Miles is with me.

By the time we get to the spa, we're all chattering again about which treatments we're going to get, and that's when Cady informs us that the magazine is paying for the 'royal omega' treatment for all of us, which includes two-hour massages, facials, body scrubs, mud baths, seaweed body wraps, and a trip to the sauna.

I don't miss the way Titus' brows raise, but Cady ignores him.

"Da mn. For five people?" Miles mutters to me. "They must be hoping for a lot of exposure with this piece."

"I also need to post on The Knotty Omega social media account," Cady adds, pulling out her phone. Ah, there it is.

"Okay everyone, smile!" She holds the phone up and turns so she's in the picture, capturing us all in the selfie.

"Send me that," Hannah says, stretching her arms behind her.

"Me too!" Wren pipes up, raising her hand in the air.

"I'll send it to everyone," Cady waves her off before going to the check-in counter.

"Ready for some pampering?" I ask Miles, leaning into him.

He wraps an arm around my shoulders. "Am I ever."

Eight hours later, we're all a boneless mess, and my head is so heavy I wouldn't be surprised if I passed out on the way home. The robes they gave us to put on in public areas are soft and plush, the beta masseuse I had must have had magical fingers, and my skin feels fresh and glowy.

The five of us have been talking all day, and Miles confided in the girls about how he still hadn't told his parents about Pack Song, and how he's been passing as a beta every time he's seen them the last seven years.

His parents do know he found a "girlfriend", and I've even spoken to them on the phone with them a few times with Miles, but not since the pack moved in.

"I think that your parents will surprise you," Wren says thoughtfully, as we all walk to the lobby, back in our regular clothes. Hannah and Cady give her incredulous looks.

"Hey, just because my parents literally sold me off," she points to Hannah, "your mom and step-dad emotionally were absent until you had an inheritance, then tried to manipulate you, and your parents," she points to Cady, "tried to knowingly match you up with a busive assholes doesn't mean that Miles' parents will be the same.

Look at Bethany's parents. Those guys are amazing. "

I smile, shaking my head, even though, yeah, my parents are pretty great.

Cady shrugs. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I'd tell them, sooner though, rather than later, because once it's done, it's done. You don't have to wonder anymore, and no matter the outcome, you can just…move forward."

Hannah jumps in. "Cady and I shouldn't let our own past experiences with our shitty parents influence how you handle yours, Miles. But you'll have to tell them eventually."

Miles frowns, still wearing the little terrycloth headband they gave each of us to keep our hair out of our eyes and he looks adorably sleepy.

"I mean…yeah. I can't keep dodging their calls, I just…

I don't even know what to say. It's not like they would actively speak out against the existence of male omegas, but they wouldn't exactly defend them, either. "

Before anyone can answer, we're stopped by the voice of the receptionist as we approach the counter.

"Mrs. De Lucca, Mr. De Lucca already called ahead to settle the balance, so you're all set." The receptionist tells Cady as we check out. My head snaps up.

Mattie settled the bill? She said her job was paying for everything.

"Cady?"

Cady gives the receptionist a frustrated glare. "Thank you," she grounds out, and the receptionist seems to shrink in on herself.

Cady…did Cady just pay for all of this? Why? I don't want to even think about how much that all just cost, and Miles goes even whiter than I'm sure I am.

She signs the receipt and approaches us, her hands up. "Look, the magazine really did pay for me to come here—"

"But not us," Hannah finishes for her. "Cady, what did I tell you about paying for your friends without asking them?"

"I wanted to give everyone a nice time!" She drops her hands.

"You were fired for a fucking dumb reason, and I thought a day out with other omegas who care about you and see your worth would be helpful.

And I couldn't just pay for you, otherwise you would feel like I thought you were a charity case or something, and I just wanted to make my little sister feel not so shitty.

" She sniffs at the end of her sentence, her voice rife with emotion.

Her…her little sister? Is that really how she views me? I'm only like, a year younger than her, but…something warms in my chest at her words. I mean, I have an older sister, and half the time it feels like she can hardly stand me.

"Angel…" Titus sighs. "I told you it was a bad idea."

"Yeah, after we got here!" She rounds on him as tears well in my eyes.

"Only because I didn't realize that's what you were doing until you got here." He holds his hands up in surrender.

Cady turns to me, but in the next instant, I've launched myself at her, my arms wrapping around her neck as I sniffle.

"Wha-okay, okay. It's okay Bethany," she soothes as her hands smooth down my back. I can't believe she did this for me. Cared about me so much that she crafted this whole plan just to make sure I wouldn't feel left out or singled out. She even invited Miles.

"Thank you," I pull back, sniffling again. "You didn't have to do this, and yeah, if you had called and said that you wanted to pay for us to come, I probably would have declined on pride alone. But…I've never felt lighter. And just knowing how much you care…it means so much. So thank you."

Giving an embarrassed smile as I back away, Miles wraps me in his arms, his chin resting on my head. "Thank you," he says, his voice more subdued than usual. "You would have let us just go on thinking you didn't pay a dime, wouldn't you?"

"What good is all this money if I can't do anything with it to make my friends and family happy? Plus, I can't take all the credit —when I originally approached Mattie with the idea, he told me to," she clears her throat, doing a deep Italian accent, "'spare no expense, tesoro mio .'"

I can't help but smile, feeling loved by all my family.

As it happens, I do fall asleep on the way home, my head resting on Miles' shoulder and a feeling of contentment in my chest.

That is, until I'm startled awake by panic in our bond, and my omega cursing up a storm. "Fuck! Shit, fuck shit!"

"What!?" Titus nearly slams on the brakes, making everyone "oof".

"What's wrong?" I grab his arm and try to send soothing emotions down the bond, but his eyes are trained on an unfamiliar red truck in front of the house.

"My parents are here."