Page 10 of They Love Me Knot (Starsfalls Omegaverse #2)

The omega takes a step and immediately slips, foot flying straight out in front of her. I quickly grab her again.

“If you steady yourself on the counter, I can grab some towels to clean your shoes off. Is that okay?” I say.

She nods, and after she gets a good grip on the display case, I let go. She doesn’t move, so I slowly get up myself, watching her the whole time to make sure she’s stable.

“I’ll get some towels and be right back,” I repeat.

“Okay.”

She doesn’t look at me, but that’s probably for the best. I don’t want her to lose her balance.

I keep one hand on the wall to steady myself as I walk back to the kitchen. When I’m halfway through the door, I take a long look at her before leaving my omega behind. Then I hurry to the cabinet near the sink (keeping a hand on a wall or table) and pull out several dish rags.

I wipe my shoes off, just enough to get the large pieces off and make sure they’ll have traction, and race to the front, avoiding my pink frosting footsteps.

I slide smoothly through the swinging door, not wanting to startle the omega, but eager to get back to her. My eyes immediately look for her where I left her behind the counter, but she’s not there.

I whip my head around, but she’s not behind me either. I double-check both sides as I walk past the counters to the front of the store.

She’s not here either. I thought maybe she came around to look at the desserts from this side and was crouched so I couldn’t see her. Or, even worse, she walked to the front and fell again, but this time I wasn’t there to catch her.

I pace around the store looking for her, even checking under the tables to make sure I haven’t missed her.

She didn’t follow me to the back, did she? I didn’t hear her follow me, but I don’t know where else she could have gone. I go back to check the kitchen, but before I reach it, I notice tiny pink footprints leading the other way.

I quickly spin around and follow the footprints as they move away from the counter, keeping my head down so I don’t lose track of them.

I follow until they end at a half shoe print, cut off through the middle. I furrow my brows in confusion until I look up and realize they end at the front door. I blink at the backwards letters on the window.

Did she—did she leave? Why would she leave? She didn’t even clean off her shoes or wait for me to come back! I wasn’t gone that long.

She couldn’t have gone far .

I try to rush out after her, but when I yank the door open, it hits me on the forehead. I sidestep the door this time and make my way out, rubbing my head to make sure it isn’t bleeding.

I look frantically up and down the street, but don’t see the omega anywhere.

I remember the missing footprint, and follow the frosting along the sidewalk, moving fast now that I’ve found her trail again. I glance up and down between the footprints and the road ahead.

But after a few blocks, I look down to find that the frosting has disappeared.

I backtrack, realizing the footprints were getting fainter and fainter. I check to see if they go down an alley or side street, but they just stop in the middle of the sidewalk.

I keep going straight, looking in store windows and down side streets as I pass, but I get to the other end of the town square without finding her.

I rub my aching forehead as I try to decide what to do next.

She could have kept going straight into one of the residential areas. Or did she stay in the shopping district? Should I go back and check the side roads more thoroughly?

Unless she got in a car and drove away. I stare at the cars passing by, peering in the windows to see if my omega is in any of them.

I end up spinning in circles, looking in cars and shop windows and down side streets. I’m just starting to feel dizzy on my fifth spin when a hand on my arm stops my turn, and holds on to keep me from stumbling.

That’s probably for the best. I shouldn’t be making myself dizzy right next to the road.

“What are you doing, Sterling?” Ciro asks .

I blink and try to focus on him, but my eyes keep tracking away, still shaken up from my whirling search technique.

“Uh, I was just—just out for a walk. Stretching my legs after baking all morning,” I say.

I closed myself away from the bond shortly after meeting our omega, not wanting my packmates to feel my embarrassment following the cake incident, which meant I didn’t realize Ciro was nearby.

I don’t want to mention our omega to the pack yet, and, not to be mean, I especially don’t want to tell Ciro about her yet. I don’t want to get the others' hopes up until I learn more about her and see if she’s interested. I don’t even know if she’s single.

I definitely can’t mention her now that I’ve lost her and don’t even know her name to find her. I should’ve asked her when I had the chance, but I was trying not to be too forward, despite having her sit on my lap, and getting her covered in cake…

I have to shift Ciro’s attention away from my strange behavior.

“Are you okay? You’ve been…out of sorts recently,” I ask, even though I know what he’ll say.

Ciro clenches his teeth, muscles bulging along his jaw.

“I’m fine,” he grits out, dropping his arm.

“That’s good. I’ll see you later then. I have to get back to the bakery,” I say.

I wish I could help him, but Ciro won’t listen to me. The best way to help our pack is to get back to my search.

I’ve barely taken a step when he grabs my arm and pulls me around.

“Hold on. You don’t usually take a walk in the middle of the day, and walking rarely entails spinning around in the street. What’s going on?” Ciro says.

I shift around nervously. I’m not a very good liar, and I don’t want to lie to my packmates, but I can’t tell them about our omega yet.

If I say something that’s similar to the truth, I should be able to pull off the lie and avoid telling him what really happened. At least for now.

I rub the back of my neck and look off to the side. This pose makes me appear cool and confident, like this is no big deal, I’m not worried about it.

“While I was restocking the display case, I looked out the front window and saw a giant scaled bird flying by. I was so startled that I dropped the cake I was holding. I wanted to see where the bird was going, so I rushed out after it and followed it down the street. Except I lost sight of it, and I was turning around looking for it when you found me.”

Ciro stares at me, but I continue avoiding eye contact and look up at the sky, like I’m searching for the bird.

“You ran out of the bakery. To chase after a bird?” he says expressionlessly.

I nod vigorously and rub my neck again. “Mhm, that’s right. Big bird. Huge. Interesting color.”

I tap my foot a few times.

“That story explains the cake on your shoes at least,” he says.

“Yes,” I confirm.

Ciro believes me completely.

I almost feel bad about fooling him so easily. It’s a good thing I don’t like lying. Since I’m getting so good at it, I could do some unscrupulous things if I were that type of person .

“Do you want me to help you look for this ‘bird’ instead of going back to the bakery?” Ciro asks.

“Ah, no. I should get back to work. I’m sure the bird has flown far away by now,” I say.

“I’ll come with you. I want to grab some cookies before I go back to the farm.”

“Oh. Sure. Of course.”

I wasn’t sure if I was going to keep looking for the omega now or not. Maybe she’ll come back to the bakery later to get her desserts when there’s no risk of falling. Then I won’t have to track her down.

We walk back to the bakery, and I surreptitiously scan our surroundings just in case. Ciro glances over at me, and I quickly look up at the sky.

I make sure to step on the omega’s footprints on the way back, smearing them so Ciro doesn’t notice how small they are and realize someone else was with me.

When we’re halfway back, I gasp and start walking faster. Ciro also quickens his pace to keep up.

“Is something wrong?” he asks.

“No, nothing. Just eager to get back,” I say.

I just realized I left the bakery unlocked and unattended!

I powerwalk the rest of the way. I doubt anyone would steal from the shop, but no one can buy anything if no one’s there. I don’t want to keep my customers waiting, even if it’s for a good cause like finding your omega.

I relax when we get close. There’s no line forming outside or people milling around. That happens sometimes when we’re really busy, customers lining up outside the store.

Just as we reach the door, it swings open and a group of people come out. Before I can say anything, they greet us and thank me for the delicious new pistachio frangipane and magnolia cookies.

“You’re welcome—” I reply, but they wave and walk off before I can finish.

I decide against chasing them down so I can explain my absence, which would leave the shop unattended again. We go inside just as a large shadow passes overhead.

“Here you go. Enjoy!” Saige says to a couple at the counter.

I hold the door as they leave with their bags of desserts and hurry over to Saige.

“When did you come in?” I ask.

“About 10 minutes ago. I found the store wide open and no one was here. Is everything alright? Did something happen to Arlo?” Saige asks.

“No, everything’s fine. Arlo took an early lunch break, so I was covering on my own,” I say.

“You left the store unlocked and unattended?” Ciro says, sneaking up from behind to interrogate me, using the element of surprise to get me to confess.

I’m made of stronger stuff than that. I won’t be fooled into confessing with cheap tricks.

I look over my shoulder at him, tossing the loose strands of hair out of my eyes like I don’t give a care, before nonchalantly answering, “I wasn’t gone for long.

Like I told you, I had to check on something. ”

“Right, you had to check on the giant bird,” Ciro says, quirking an eyebrow.

“That’s right.” I jut my chin out defiantly. He won’t break me with sassy interrogation techniques either.

“What big bird?” Saige asks with interest.

I’d forgotten he was here.

“It’s nothing, just forget about it,” I say, deflating.

I can’t keep up a strong front against two people. I have to get Ciro out of here so I can strategize in peace and quiet about how I’m going to find our omega again.

“What cookies did you want?” I ask Ciro brusquely.

He gives me a hard stare. I avert my eyes so I seem unconcerned, looking at everything but him to show that I have nothing to hide and this conversation isn’t stressing me out.

Finally, Ciro relents and tells me what he wants, and I pack up his desserts and send him on his way.

Then I have to wave off Saige’s questions. I didn’t realize he was so into birds, otherwise I would have come up with a different lie.

Eventually I get away to the safety of my kitchen.

Now, to figure out how I’ll find my omega again. I could put cookies at strategic nearby locations to lure her back to the shop…

I grab a piece of paper and a pencil to draw up my plans, so I don’t forget all the good ideas I’m coming up with.