Page 41 of Want It All

My scent match closed the door behind him with a thud.

I stared at it, waiting for it to open again, waiting for Byron to walk back in with a smile and another I’m sorry – with a different meaning this time – and claim the little omega he’d wanted so desperately for months.

One heartbeat.

Two.

Three.

Byron didn’t come back.

A wordless whine cut through the air.

I turned in time to see Rose hug her arms across her chest. Her eyes were glassy, and all the colour had drained from her face. ‘Alpha,’ she said numbly. She looked across at Sebastian, but I wasn’t sure she really saw him. She was trembling. ‘Doesn’t want me.’

I almost reeled at her words, so similar to what I’d said the night of the scent party.

‘No, Rosebud, I’m sure that’s not –’ Sebastian broke off when he noticed her shivering. ‘Oh, fuck .’

I moved, grabbing the throw blanket from one of the couches and settling it around Rose’s shoulders, careful not to touch her.

‘Skin to skin, Seb,’ I said, struggling to keep my voice calm.

Research on rejected omegas was thin on the ground, because who the fuck would reject one?

But I did know that the symptoms mirrored those of an omega fighting an alpha’s bark, and the shock of it could literally kill them.

I inhaled slowly. I wanted to shout, wanted to roar , wanted to leave and find Byron, then drag him back by the scruff of his fucking neck.

I simultaneously wanted to tell Rose that Byron would never reject her, that something else must have been going through his mind, because I couldn’t believe that he would leave her – especially like this , bare and beautiful and wanting – without a very good reason.

I suspected I knew what that reason might be.

A sharp pain shot through my chest, as if my heart really was breaking.

Sebastian took Rose into his arms. She sagged against him with a soft whimper. ‘It’s all right, Rosebud,’ he soothed, but I didn’t think this could be solved with some supportive words. ‘It’s all right, beautiful.’

‘Left me,’ she said blankly.

She trembled violently, and Sebastian pulled her closer, shooting me a desperate look before pressing his lips to her hair. A rumbling sound filled our apartment, and a moment later, I realised what it was.

He was purring for her.

The noise eased the ache in my chest, but it couldn’t chase away the worry.

Rose looked up at me. ‘Alpha,’ she whispered, her lips tinged blue.

Oh, fuck .

Everyday Rose was hard enough to resist, with her quiet intelligence and warm brown eyes. But Rose when she was vulnerable and desperate?

She was alpha catnip, and I was seized by the impulse to make it better , no matter what, no matter how.

‘I’m here, omega,’ I heard myself say, and my own rough purr ripped from my chest. ‘We’re here. You’re safe. You’re wanted.’

She pressed herself against Sebastian as if she were trying to sink beneath his skin. It took me a moment to understand that the sound coming from her was keening.

‘Take her to the nest, Seb,’ I said softly. ‘Keep her wrapped up and warm. Make her feel safe.’

Sebastian glanced at me, his face creased in a rare expression of indecision.

‘Seb, baby. She thinks Byron rejected her. She’s in shock. She needs warmth, comfort, and she needs you . You’ve got this, handsome. Take your omega to your nest and make her feel better.’

He nodded, scooping Rose into his arms. The blanket slipped but didn’t fall, baring one of Rose’s smooth shoulders. My chest wrenched to see them that way, both vulnerable and hurting.

Usually, I would have waged a one-alpha war against anyone who dared to make Sebastian’s life even the slightest bit inconvenient.

But my scent match had done this to him. To them .

A fissure rent through my chest.

‘Will you come with us, alpha?’

I shook myself, realising that Sebastian had paused outside the door to his nest, Rose pressing her face into his neck.

I swallowed. ‘Are you inviting me into your nest, omega?’

‘I am,’ Sebastian answered quietly.

I’d never been in Sebastian’s nest.

I’d seen it, of course – from the doorway, handing Sebastian pillows and coverlets and watching as he fastened swathes of gauze to the ceiling and strung fairy lights over the low, wide bed.

But it was his space, not mine, so I’d never stepped foot in there, and as he was yet to have a heat, I never had reason to ask for admittance.

Which didn’t mean I didn’t want it, desperately.

My eyes pricked with tears. ‘It would be an honour.’

Sebastian carried Rose inside and laid her gently on the bed. He touched her lightly, carefully, rubbing the blanket on her limbs and chafing her bare feet and hands to warm them.

‘That’s it,’ I murmured. ‘She needs your touch, your skin. Your body heat.’

Another blanket lay folded at the end of the bed. It was one I’d bought Sebastian, so soft it felt like touching a cloud, and I draped it over them both. Rose was still worryingly pale, but her eyes were focused on Sebastian, which I hoped was a good thing.

The nest smelled like him, the delicious cherry scent making my mouth water, but my instincts protested that the scent should be stronger. It should have been on every surface, and so heavy that it pulled me under the moment I stepped through the door.

My scent should have been in here, too, but of course there was nothing. It wasn’t just the lack of scent; there should have been memories in this place, days of fucking and lovemaking, of comfort and cuddles and kisses in the dark, of falling asleep with limbs entwined.

I hadn’t realised how desperate I was for Sebastian to have a heat. Not until I was here, in the place it would happen.

‘I’ll make you both some hot chocolate,’ I said, because a hot drink containing too much sugar could never be a bad thing.

‘Don’t go,’ they said as one. My stupid alpha preened at the idea of my omegas needing me.

‘Stay, Tris, please,’ Sebastian added, and that settled it.

I wasn’t going anywhere.

‘Alpha,’ Rose croaked, and lifted her hand towards me.

I reached and took her fingers in mine, glancing at Sebastian for permission before climbing into the bed.

The omegas had snuggled on their sides, so I settled behind Rose.

She rested her head on my bicep and I tentatively lay my other arm across her waist, my hand cupping Sebastian’s hip.

A purr rumbled in my chest as Rose nestled against me.

There was no way to stop my cock from hardening – it had softened after Byron left, but apparently it loved being pressed against Rose’s plush ass – but I held myself still.

Even so, I caught a hint of Rose’s scent in the air, with the undertone of mint my senses seemed to find in her perfume.

The mix of chocolate and cherry was closer to how the nest should have smelled, but it still wasn’t perfect.

My vanilla should have been here, too, entwined with Byron’s salted caramel.

The nest looked slightly different to the last time I’d seen it.

It had previously been a mix of navy blues and silvers, simple and elegant.

Now, there were some sea-greens, creams, and golds added into the mix, with a splash of white from some new star-shaped lights hanging from the net above the bed. Beach colours.

I wondered why Sebastian had made the changes, and why now , when his nest had been the same for the six years I’d known him.

‘She’s asleep.’

I looked down to see Rose’s eyes closed, her lashes shadowing her cheeks. Her lips were slightly parted, her cheeks stained with dried tears.

‘She must have been exhausted,’ Sebastian added, his voice hoarse. It was understandable; he wasn’t used to purring for any length of time, and he’d been shouting with pleasure before that. I made a mental note to brew him some tea with honey.

I shifted, careful not to disturb Rose, and studied him. He was pale and tired-looking, but his eyes were bright with emotion as they fixed on his mate’s face.

This must have been what a heat was like, a pack giving their all to keep their omega from the cramping pains, working to keep them satisfied. ‘What do you need, Seb?’ I said softly.

‘What she needs,’ he answered. ‘Byron back.’

Pain rent my chest once more, but I nodded, slowly pulling away. Rose murmured in her sleep, shivering. Sebastian cuddled her close, and I draped another blanket over them.

It was difficult to leave the nest, too difficult. Everything in me fought against it. I should have been with my omegas, keeping them warm, purring to help them sleep peacefully. But if Rose needed Byron, then it was my job to make that happen.

I called him from the kitchen; he didn’t answer. I waited, listening to the ring tone, tapping my fingers on the smooth, cold bench. It went to voicemail. I tried again; this time, the call cut off instead, as if he’d hung up. I dialled a third time; the same thing happened.

I sent him a text. I’ll come to your room if you don’t pick up .

He answered immediately when I called again. ‘What is it, Grace?’ he said wearily.

My throat went tight. He sounded exhausted – ruined , even. ‘You need to come back.’

‘Yeah, that’s not happening.’

My nostrils flared. ‘I didn’t take you for a coward, Griffiths.’

‘Fuck you,’ he said, but there was no fire in it; perhaps he didn’t have the energy for anger. ‘You don’t know me.’

‘This isn’t about you,’ I snapped. ‘It’s about Rose. So alpha up and get your ass back to your omega.’

He was quiet for a moment. ‘I can’t,’ he said at last, and I could hear his heart break in the words. ‘I’ll hurt her.’

‘Byron, the sky would fall down before you’d hurt Rose.’

‘You saw the video. I can’t risk that.’

The video of Byron turning another alpha into a whimpering mess of bruises and blood.

‘This is not even remotely the same,’ I said impatiently.

‘You’re in love with her. You want her. You want her for yourself, and you want her for your alpha.

She thinks you rejected her. And if you don’t come back, you’ll make it true. ’

There was another silence, one so long that I began to feel triumphant. I’d convinced him.

‘I can’t,’ he said, and hung up.

I stared at my phone.

‘No,’ I said to it, softly.

It buzzed, as if in response. I opened my messages immediately, hoping against hope that it was Byron and he’d changed his mind.

Instead, the message was from an unknown number.

9pm beneath the clocktower , it said, followed by a banksia flower emoji.

I inhaled in shock.

I hadn’t heard from the Revels since the day they’d abducted me in the maze. I’d assumed I hadn’t done enough, that I hadn’t compromised the omega to their standards.

It seemed I was wrong.

I stared at the words. My hair fell into my eyes, but I didn’t bother to push it back.

This was everything I’d wanted. I could make Sebastian’s dreams come true.

But this didn’t feel like triumph .

I’d never been particularly affected by guilt before, but I’d gained this – the privilege of possible membership to the Revels – by manipulating Rose. Suddenly, that notion didn’t sit well, not when she was sleeping in my omega’s nest, not when she was Sebastian’s.

Not when she was mine .

I’d used her attraction to Sebastian to bolster my own ambition before I’d really known her. It didn’t matter that she’d never been at risk, nor that I’d done it for Sebastian’s benefit.

Byron was right to hate me for it.

I pushed my glasses up my nose, swallowing.

Things had changed. Rose wasn’t just another student who happened to admire my omega. She was Sebastian’s scent match, and she was pack .

I had to fix this. I had to make amends.

I exhaled unsteadily. Byron’s past was his own business, but he’d let it hurt Rose. And if Rose was mine, then it was my responsibility to make sure she had everything she needed, always.

The omegas were my priority, even at the expense of my feelings. Especially at the expense of my feelings.

And even at the expense of my scent match.

They were my sun. They were my pack .

‘Sorry, Byron,’ I murmured to myself. My heart gave a heavy throb. I rubbed my free hand over it absently, trying to soothe the hurt, but it didn’t diminish.

I didn’t think it ever would.

I deleted the text from the Revels without another thought, then grabbed my laptop, bringing up the videos I’d saved so carefully.

I walked into the nest.

Rose was awake, cradled in Sebastian’s arms. Her face was puffy and her eyes were red.

‘Omega,’ I said, and fell to my knees next to the bed. ‘I have something to tell you, and then I have something to show you.’