Page 20 of Where There’s Smoke (Fire House Omegas #2)

Samson

“ F itz fucked the omega,” Elliot muttered, running a hand through his hair.

He seemed especially worked up, and I rolled my eyes.

This was a hell of a way to start a lunchtime conversation.

Still, I knew we’d all been thinking about it since yesterday, so it didn’t surprise me that Elliot had come and found me while I was having lunch in the kitchen.

“I know, lucky ass.” I chuckled, taking a bite of my sandwich and surprisingly wishing for yesterday’s company.

After lunch yesterday, Fitz had told us about their little “experiment” and how successful it had been.

It made a lot of sense, considering how pink Melody’s cheeks had been during her entire sandwich.

“But now she’s convinced that she’s an omega. That’s a good thing,” I insisted.

Elliot nodded but was distracted by the papers he’d brought with him, flipping through the stack without looking at me. “I suppose that’s something. Maybe she’ll be less reckless with her own safety now.”

Mr. Pack Lead seemed especially concerned about that one, his jaw clenching hard as he tried and failed to find something to do with his hands that wasn’t shuffling the papers.

Somehow, I doubted she’d be any less reckless. I had heard stories about the things Melody had done to rescue animals over the years. Caution wasn’t one of her strong suits.

That was okay, though. That’s why she needed a pack of alphas. They could watch over her and keep her safe while she did her amazing work. And I was very okay with that pack being ours.

“I need to head out. Errands to run, but, umm, just keep an eye on her, okay? There’s a lot going on, and we all need to be cautious.” Elliot nodded at me, and I did not like his tone in the slightest.

Still, there was little I could do about it. He was a grumpy, stick-in-the-mud alpha if I’d ever seen one, and unfortunately, his precautions usually paid off.

“Fair enough. I’ll let you know if anything develops with the fire or the shelter hunt.” Elliot stomped off, and I snorted, calling out, “Bye to you, too, then!”

It was about two and a half seconds later that Fitz sauntered into the room, going straight to the fridge and getting a bottle of water.

He was wearing his workout gear, glistening with sweat and stinking up the kitchen.

After chugging nearly half the bottle, Fitz sighed before joining me at the kitchen table, his shit-eating grin ever present.

“And hello, Sammy! How’s lunch?” He was annoying when he was this happy, but I could hardly blame the guy.

Knotting an omega like Melody, one that I knew we both wanted to get more of, had a way of making the sun shine out of the darkest corners.

Even for me, and that was saying something.

I was pretty take ’em or leave ’em with people in general.

Rolling my eyes, I stood up, taking my empty plate to the sink. “It’s over, Fitz. Sandwich done, and back to work.”

“We’re off for the afternoon. Or did Elliot change his mind?” Fitz’s too-bright gleam died for a moment.

“No, no. We are. He just had to run some errands, so we should keep an ear out. Tommy and Luke are down in the on-call room, though. I was going to chill in my bunk.”

“All right, all right. That’s fair. I think I might?—”

But before he could finish, Melody padded into the kitchen, wearing this fluffy sweater that was massive on her and chunky socks. She smelled delectable, that melony scent swirling around her and going right to my inner alpha.

Ever since I’d learned that she’d given things a shot with Fitz, I’d been thinking about how far it would go.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t interested in getting my hands on her too.

My hands, my mouth, my tongue, my cock. I wanted every inch of my skin to be coated in her scent, keeping me company for hours.

Looking up from the floor, she stopped short, her eyes widening. “Oh, hi. I was, umm, going to have lunch.”

“Kitchen’s all yours.” I smiled. Freaking Melody out or moving too quickly was most definitely not part of my plan, and with my limited social skills, I figured it was better safe than sorry.

But then I noticed her shoulders droop, and I froze in place a few feet away from her.

“Oh, okay. I was just thinking that maybe…”

Fitz sidled up next to her, ever the flirt who couldn’t be restrained. “Maybe what, firecracker? Something on your mind?”

Her cheeks pinkened, and dammit, it was so very pretty.

My dick twitched behind my sweats. How this gorgeous girl hadn’t realized she was an omega was beyond me.

Hell, how she didn’t realize that she was something special beyond everything else was a damn mystery.

She was too damn good, so sweet and charming and caring.

One of three people on this planet that I actually wanted to be around, even if Fitz tested that designation on the regular.

“Well, umm, yeah. I…You’d said yesterday that—” Melody didn’t finish, looking between my pack mate and me, and I did everything to keep my expression open and gentle. “Well, that we should have a conversation about this dating thing. So, I figured, why not start now?”

“Oh, we can definitely talk about that.” Fitz smiled, nuzzling into Melody’s neck, and her scent perfumed all the harder, filling the room with her potent fragrance of arousal and anticipation.

“Why don’t we take this somewhere a bit more private,” I added, gesturing out of the kitchen.

Melody nodded, and I led the way to our bunks.

Fitz brought up the tail end of our little train, and as soon as we got inside, I shut the door and locked it.

I wasn’t going to deal with any interruptions right now, regardless of what happened.

If Melody wanted to just talk, we’d talk. But if she wanted more…

No goddamn interruptions.

After a moment, during which Melody looked back and forth between Fitz and me, she turned and sat on my bed, her hands resting on her knees. Melody’s stare was pinned to the floor, but she cleared her throat, like she was gearing up to speak.

“Umm, so I’m guessing that you know about what happened between me and Fitz.”

She looked up at me, and I nodded. “Yeah, I learned about that almost right after it happened, sugar.”

Melody winced but shook it away. Still, Fitz walked over to her, sitting down on the bed next to her.

“We are a pack, there’re no secrets between us,” Fitz pointed out.

Melody’s face turned bright pink. “I know that. It’s just…”

“Taking a while to get used to the idea of being an omega around a bunch of alphas who want to knot you?” I supplied, thinking it was better to go with blunt than beat around the bush.

Melody’s eyes flared, but she nodded. “I’ve only ever been around betas, so this is all so new and confusing. I haven’t really dated anyone, either. Setups and blind dates, yes. But nothing long-term or with someone who wasn’t another beta, let alone an entire pack .”

“How can we make this less confusing?” I asked, moving closer and kneeling on the floor in front of her.

She chewed on her lip for a moment. “Well… Fitz sort of declared that we were dating after he and I well… you know.” She blushed as she danced around the topic.

“When he knotted you?” I said, making her red cheeks flush even darker.

“But do you guys want to… you know?” She looked between Fitz and me.

Her question was so absurd, I almost laughed at it. “I’m sorry, are you asking us if we want to date or if we want to knot you right now?”

The pink covering Melody’s face was everywhere now, moving from her cheeks and nose to her neck and disappearing beneath the wide, cowl-neck collar of her sweater.

That melony scent of hers was everywhere, too, thick and potent and making the tip of my cock drip with need.

She was still so bashful, her eyebrows at her hairline, but she blinked several times and then looked up at both of us again, a small smile lifting the corners of her mouth.

“Yes?” She chuckled nervously. “I mean, I guess I am curious about why you’d even want to date me and how that would work. But…I’ve also been thinking about both of you, about…taking your knots. Since yesterday, it’s been like I need to. Does that make any sense?”

Fitz was beaming, and I knew I was too. Elliot may have been resistant, but Fitz and I had wanted to do this since we’d met Melody.

And knowing that she was just presenting as an omega made all the little bumps in the road and confusion that much more understandable.

She had no idea what all of this was supposed to be like, and she was probably going to go into heat soon.

There was no way in hell I was letting anyone outside of Pack Wilder help Melody through that.

“It makes sense. You’re only now presenting as an omega.

There are going to be so many changes, things you weren’t prepared for or taught about.

” I reached up and cupped her cheek, meeting her beautiful blue eyes.

“I think I can speak for both Fitz and myself when I say that we would very much like to be with you. And if you’d like to try taking two knots, well, goddamn, sugar, all you ever needed to do was ask, and we’ll happily volunteer. ”

Melody was still shaking a bit beneath my fingers, but she quickly sucked in a breath, glancing at the floor and then back up, and leaned forward, draping her arms around my shoulders. “Kiss me.”

Oh, hell yes.