Page 31 of Worthy or Knot (Serendipity Omegaverse #3)

Thirty-One

MEGAN

C ole turns toward me as I ease out of my bed, drawn to me even as he sleeps.

I lean down and run my hand through his hair, luxuriating in his warmth and subtle softness.

His scent intensifies for a brief moment before dissipating.

With a smirk, I press a kiss to his temple, then step away from the bed.

I throw on a slip dress and twist my hair into a bun, not yet ready to wash off the scent of Cole and our locking from last night like I’m the damn Omega and not him.

When I close the door to my room as silently as I can manage, the quiet murmuring of voices fill the hallway.

I frown, trying to figure out what has both Charlotte and Marcus up so early after their date last night.

Sure, we’re all early risers, but this is even earlier than typical.

With a sigh, I follow them and then freeze for a heartbeat when I see them practically eating each other in the family room.

Well, that’s certainly one thing to see at five in the morning.

“Good morning,” I mutter, quickly crossing over to the kitchen and not watching them. I need coffee and something sweet, stat. And then I need to crawl back into bed with my Omega so he knows he’s all I could ever want.

“Oh! Good mornings, Megs.” Charlotte’s bright and happy, just like always.

I grab Marcus’s cold brew from the fridge, not having the patience to use the espresso machine today.

As I’m pouring some into a mug, Charlotte eases out of Marcus’s lap and crosses the space, sitting in one of the barstools that line the peninsula.

Her cheeks are flushed, and her sage scent clings to her along with Marcus’s nutmeg.

Marcus is slower to walk over, running his hand down his face as he stands from the couch.

“ Good morning,” he offers after a minute, a smirk on his lips.

I scoff. “Don’t you start with me. Again, I’ve gone over a year with never seeing your dick. Let’s keep it that way for at least a couple days longer.”

He laughs and runs a hand through his hair.

He’s been doing that more, laughing. Since Cole has moved in, he’s felt more… free. More like the guy I knew in college.

“Fine. That’s fine,” he says. Then he clears his throat, and the wry humor melts off of him. “Actually, I’m glad you came down alone. We wanted to talk to you about the match.”

I raise an eyebrow. “What about it?”

I’m not like either of them. I’m way more private about… well, most things, but especially partners. Sure, it’s obvious enough that Cole and I spent the night together. But I don’t really want to talk about it. At all. It’s just not who I am.

“Well, Marcus and I were talking last night,” Charlotte says, braiding her hair back from her face, “and we’d like to know how you feel about signing the paperwork early.”

Yes.

Before I can say anything, though, she continues, her voice gaining that lilt that says she’s nervous.

“I mean, only if you’re willing to, of course.

It’s just that it feels kind of perfect, you know?

I don’t think we really need the next two weeks to make sure the four of us work well together.

It’s clear we already do. And I’d really like to have it finalized before the season starts.

It’s going to be a lot of long days, and it’s not like I’m going to have a weekend off until practically Christmas itself, so?—”

“Of course.” I cut off her spiral, taking a long drink of the coffee. “I’m more than happy to have the finalization paperwork processing early. Have you decided what kind of stacking rings to get him?”

Stacking rings are the traditional gift a pack gives their Omega when they finalize the Council’s match, one for each person that belongs to the Omega.

The styles and shapes change depending on the Omega, adjusting for their taste and the pack’s budget.

I can already see the thin, decorative piece of metal I would pick for Cole in my mind.

Thank goodness we’ve been saving so heavily since becoming active with the Council.

“We’ve talked about it,” Charlotte says. “We thought maybe we could get them today or tomorrow during my lunch break.”

“Cole’s going to want to have a car pick us up.”

Not that I blame him. Any time we go out, it’s not long before a camera finds him. I’ve slowly adapted to them, but they still make my skin crawl.

Marcus purses his lips. “We were thinking about keeping it a surprise for him. I’ve talked with Johnathan, and he’s more than happy to help pay for it all if we’re interested.”

Nerves settle in my stomach. A… surprise?

I lower the mug to the counter and cross my arms. I hate surprises, the lack of control they give.

What if he wants more time? What if he doesn’t realize what we’re up to you and hates that we’ve sprung it on him?

What if he had a specific dream for how signing his paperwork would look and we mess it up because we didn’t talk to him about it?

Marcus leans a hip against the counter and palms the nape of Charlotte’s neck.

“What are you thinking, Megs?” he asks. “I can see the gears turning over there.”

“Are you sure a surprise is the right choice? We haven’t discussed any of the particulars about finalization with him. Some Omegas wait their whole lives to do it.” I grab the mug of coffee and take another long drink. “I don’t want him to hate what we come up with.”

Charlotte’s smile is soft and supportive. “He won’t. Marcus came up with an idea, and his dads think he’ll love it.”

Hurt slices through me. “I’m… the last person to know?”

Her cheeks flush, but it’s Marcus who answers.

“It was an impulse thing while we were out last night. By the time we got home, you were already asleep. We didn’t mean to keep you out of the loop.”

“You’re sure he won’t mind being left out of the discussion? Surprises aren’t for everyone.”

Marcus nods. “I think he’ll love it.”

I push down my own unease and trust Marcus on this. He’s the one with a direct link to Cole, after all. My stomach clenches with the need to go back upstairs and bond him, too, so I can know him as intimately as Marcus does.

“All right. What were you thinking of doing for him?”

If we’re doing this, I want to be part of every step. He’s mine just as much as he is theirs.

“Johnathan’s put me in contact with a local acquaintance of his,” Marcus says, pulling out his phone. “We thought we could recreate the yacht experience over in Seattle.”

Yes, please .

My scent explodes out from me, and Charlotte laughs. “He’ll have the yacht available early Saturday morning for us. He thinks we’ll be able to find a pod or two of minke whales if we’re patient.”

“Saturday means we won’t be able to actually file the paperwork until Monday.”

Marcus nods. “Right. I figured I could file it before heading into the office early Monday morning. Or we could drop it off after everything on Saturday at their after hours office down in the Financial District. It won’t be officially filed until Monday morning, but at least it’ll be in the pile.”

I nodded. “I like that idea way more. If we’re going to do it early, there’s no reason to hold onto it for a couple extra days.

” I poured a bit more of the cold brew into the mug and took another long drink.

I needed to eat something before all the coffee made my stomach hurt.

“Let’s grab rings tomorrow, then. I have a couple ideas.

Did you want to go with that jeweler we talked about last week? ”

We’d had a lot of time last week before Cole moved out here to go over potential ideas. When Marcus nods, some of the tension loosens from my shoulders. I’m still not in love with surprising Cole, but that’s probably just my own preferences bleeding through.

“You’re still going to Hadestown with him Sunday?” I ask Charlotte.

Then I force myself to put the mug down and head to the fridge so I’ll eat something. Much longer, and my hands are going to get jittery.

“Yep!” She’s all excited giggles and flushes.

“They’re getting him a matching present,” Marcus murmurs as I pull out eggs and then grab bread from the pantry. He sets a mixing bowl in front of me, knowing what I’m going to make.

“They?” I crack the eggs into the bowl and then turn on one of the stove burners. “You both want some?”

Charlotte nods, as does Marcus. Then he answers my question.

“His fathers. They said they’ve done it for each of their children, gotten them something to celebrate the finalization.

” He tucks his hands into the pockets of his warm ups and leans beside the sink.

After a moment, he grabs my half-finished second mug of his cold brew and drinks it.

“I gave them permission to deliver it while we’re out on the yacht Saturday morning.

I’ll get everything arranged in the front room tomorrow night. ”

I start to ask what it is that it’ll need furniture rearranged, but before I manage to, the stairs creak.

Cole walks down the hallway a minute later, his chest still bare, the warm ups he’d been wearing yesterday slung low on his hips.

There’s faint bruising on his wrists from the rope.

God, seeing them makes me want to ride him again. Raspberry bleeds out from me.

“You all right?” Marcus asks, noticing them immediately.

Cole flushes, and his scent pulses out from him.

“I’m great,” he murmurs.

I reach out to him, and he closes the distance, wrapping an arm around my waist.

“Good morning,” I whisper, kissing his cheek.

He laughs and then grabs Marcus’s hand, running his lips over the knuckles. Nutmeg joins our scent cocoon. His voice is warm and happy when he says, “Good morning.”