Page 22 of They Love Me Knot (Starsfalls Omegaverse #2)

Sterling

I wait anxiously in the front hallway, hoping Kieran hurries up so we can get out of here before any of our packmates ask what we’re doing.

I pace back and forth, rubbing my hands together and wishing I were mixing cookie dough between them.

We’re going to meet with the stalker guy Kieran found, Roman, and see if he found out anything about our omega.

I know it’s not fair to call the investigator a stalker, but I think my mind is trying to project my own stalkerish feelings onto someone else.

If Roman is the one doing the actual stalking, then I’m not to blame for stalking my omega.

I’m simply requesting information about her so I can find her again.

I stop and bare my teeth at the thought of anyone stalking my omega but me.

I shake my head hard and resume pacing, though I can’t quite stop my lip from curling.

Okay, no one else is allowed to follow her around but me, but it’s okay that I’m trying to stalk her, I mean “investigate” her, because I think she should join our pack and we’d make her happy and she’s so perfect and we should be together forever.

Once Roman figures out who she is, we won’t need him anymore, and he won’t have anything else to do with our omega.

I comfort myself with that thought. He’s just a means to an end, not a threat to my omega.

If Roman didn’t already have a bonded omega of his own, I would have gone wild at the thought of him chasing after mine.

As it is, I’ve been very calm about the whole thing.

I glance at the clock for the twentieth time. None of our packmates are home, but I still worry about being caught. Feliks went on a ride this morning and will probably be out for a while. Ciro went to work early as usual, and Alister’s car is gone, so he must be working at the office.

I also went to work at the usual time, but cleverly snuck home after a few hours.

Kieran is supposed to be ready at nine so we can go meet Roman at Pen and Tellem Bookstore.

It’s still a few minutes until nine, and I’m sure he’s cleaning up after painting, so there’s no point in going up to remind him.

I continue wearing a hole in our rug while I wait downstairs like a normal person.

No one else is here, no one else is here , I chant to myself while I pace.

I can’t tell the others to know about our omega yet, because then I’ll have to tell them I lost her, and I don’t even know if she likes me.

I wring my hands faster.

“What are you doing home?” Alister says .

I jump and stagger backwards into the wall, trying to face the threat while also being scared out of my mind.

“Uh, um, nothing. Just came home to have lunch with Kieran,” I say, recovering quickly. I unclench my hand from where it’s clutching my chest.

Alister simply raises an eyebrow, making me want to spill my secret immediately. I don’t want to disappoint him by keeping things from him.

A door slams, making us turn, and conveniently breaking the authoritarian hold Alister has on me.

The man isn’t able to turn off his dominant aura, and it always makes me want to roll over immediately and give him whatever he wants.

Luckily for us, Alister only uses his aura for good, and doesn’t try to control us with it.

Not often, at least.

When he does give us “strong suggestions,” they’re about things in our own best interest, like don’t experiment with mercury paint without using protective equipment, or make sure you go to the doctor for checkups even though doctors scare you.

Alister always comes with me to my doctor appointments though, so I don’t mind too much that he makes me go.

Ciro stomps past without acknowledging us, headed toward his rooms.

Kieran appears at the top of the stairs, glancing at Ciro’s retreating form, before ambling down to join us.

“Ready to go pick up those books?” Kieran says to me.

“Yep. Yes. Ready. Let’s go,” I respond in a higher pitch than usual.

I edge around Alister to escape to the garage, but his voice stops me before I get more than a few steps .

“I thought you were going to get lunch,” Alister says.

I clear my throat before answering, hoping that will make my voice go back to normal. “Right, lunch after books. Kieran wanted to pick up some painting books, and I wanted to see if the bookstore has any new cookbooks. Then lunch at Miner’s Diner. Do you want to join us?”

I thought offering for Alister to come with us would make it seem like I wasn’t lying about what we’re doing, but I didn’t consider what we would do if he actually agrees. Surely he’ll say no.

Alister considers for long moments while I look at a painting of a beach on our wall (so I appear casual and unbothered about the invitation, like I’m not lying about the purpose of our excursion).

“Thanks, but I have a business meeting in an hour. You two have fun,” he finally responds.

I slump, relieved my ploy worked, but hurriedly correct myself and stand up straight. I subtly jerk my head at Kieran, gesturing that we should leave before Alister interrogates us further.

Kieran nods back at me. “Right, we’re off. See you later,” he tells Alister.

I scuttle to the garage, eager to get away from Alister’s prying eyes, sure, but even more excited that with each step I’m closer to finding my omega.

Roman said he hasn’t felt the need to set up an office since moving to Starsfalls, going virtual for most of his work.

Hence, that's why we’re meeting him at the bookstore. It has small rooms you can borrow for a quiet place to read, or in our case, privacy for a meeting .

I presume our meeting location also has to do with the fact that Roman’s omega works part time at the bookstore. Kieran chats with Alice at the front desk while we wait for Roman.

I shift impatiently, and Kieran is getting a concentrated dose of my irritated feelings in the bond, since I’m hiding them from the rest of our packmates so they don’t get suspicious.

Kieran doesn’t let on, though, casually talking with Alice about her current read, some cowboy book.

I’m too keyed up to make polite small talk, though it’s not like I’m very good at that to begin with.

Unless it’s about food, I have a hard time making casual conversation with strangers or acquaintances.

Roman finally saunters up to the front fifteen minutes before our scheduled appointment time.

Kieran introduces us, and we shake hands.

I work to calm my breathing. Soon I’ll know more about my omega, maybe even her name!

Roman gets a room key from Alice, and we follow him up to the second floor.

He locks the door behind us and takes one of the seats arranged around a high coffee table. I hurry over to sit on the couch closet to him, hovering on the edge of my seat. Kieran joins me a moment later.

I’m practically vibrating by the time Roman opens his laptop and pulls something up on it. He turns the screen around to show us the photo from my security camera.

I lean forward to touch the woman on the screen.

“I take it this is the omega you’re looking for?” Roman asks in an amused voice.

“Yes, that’s her,” I say without looking away.

Roman takes the laptop back, and I try to follow it, almost falling off the couch. Kieran settles me back with a hand on my shoulder.

“I discussed this with Kieran already, but before we continue, I want to go over it again. I need to hear it from you directly, Sterling,” Roman says.

His stern demeanor makes me twitch, but he doesn’t have as much power in his order as Alister can wield.

“I understand wanting to find your omega,” Roman continues, “but are you sure she wants you to find her? I’m not going to help you harass someone, and I’ll be keeping track of you to make sure you don’t do anything untoward.”

He pauses to give us a hard look.

I sit up straight despite my nerves. If I can just talk to her one more time, then I can ask if she wants to go on a date. If she says no, I’ll leave her alone.

I would never actually stalk her if I knew for sure she isn’t interested.

“How did you meet and why do you think I should help you find her?” Roman says.

I take a deep breath to steady myself, so I’m coherent and can show that I’m trustworthy.

I exhale, and launch into describing the brief, bright time I spent with my omega.

I tell them how perfect she was, how amazing and sweet and precious.

However, I’m also forced to admit how I messed things up and almost got her hurt because I let her slip in cake, and lost her when I went to clean up my mess.

When I finish, Roman is watching me with an inscrutable expression.

I fret he won’t help us, but I told him the truth, so there’s nothing else I could have done.

While waiting to hear his verdict, I’m already thinking about the other ways I can try to find our omega if Roman won’t help us. I could get Kieran to draw her portrait, and we could print out posters with the picture saying we’re looking for this omega, and if found, please call us.

No, that sounds creepy.

And I don’t want a bunch of other alphas looking for her.

I could put up posters about myself and say the Flourist is giving out free cake to the customer who had to run out before we could serve her after a “cake incident.”

There, that sounds better.

“And if I find out who she is, what do you plan to do?” Roman eventually asks.

“I want to ask her out, get to know her. Unless you find out she’s already in a closed relationship. Then there’s no reason to bother her. I wouldn’t be able to be just friends when I want her to join our pack,” I say.

After another hard stare that I don’t look away from (so focused on my omega that I forget to avoid eye-contact like I usually do to show I’m unbothered and not lying), Roman nods in acceptance.

“Her name is Daphne, and she works at Queen of Hearts. She moved to Starsfalls about six months ago, which explains why you’ve not run across her until now. Flourist draws everyone in eventually,” he says with a chuckle.

Daphne I think dreamily. What a perfect name for our omega.