16. Meggie

16

Meggie

T he size of their house shouldn't surprise me, but it does. A wide stone driveway leads up to a beautiful three-story home that should be on the cover of some expensive magazine. The house is a soft white with dark accents around the windows and trim, looking fresh and new aside from the ancient oaks shedding leaves on the rooftop. A multi-car garage snuggles to the right side of the house and a motorcycle gleams in the morning sun.

Their home looks new, but not without personality. Large, but not ostentatious.

The front door opens into a large open room that they've set up with comfortable couches and the biggest television I've seen in my life. It's clear men live here. The room smells of leather, hardwood floors, afternoons spent watching sports, and them. But there are blankets draped over the arm of a couch and books on the side table, little touches of the lives I'm intruding upon.

I can't help wondering which couch their omega prefers. I know I'd like the one closest to the big front windows so I could bask in that southern sunshine.

Off to the right, there's a wide staircase that leads to the second level and directly ahead, there's an open archway that looks like it leads to the kitchen and another living space.

"We'll take these things up to your room," Harrison says. "McQuinn, give her a tour."

Good. I'm about to go crazy with all six alphas around me. Splitting up sounds great. Their scents combine in a way that screams summer. The perfect summer day. Fresh grass. Ocean breezes. Sunshine. Citrus. Mint. Midnight skies and bonfires. Secrets and stories and promises. It's intoxicating.

McQuinn leads me through the living space into a kitchen half hidden by the stairs. It's massive, with white countertops and top-of-the-line appliances. Clearly, someone in the pack likes to cook.

They've got a large wooden table that seats eight, an island with six barstools, and another little sitting area tucked over by a window where a game of dominoes has been left out half finished.

Off to the side of the kitchen, there's something like a home office and library combined. There's a computer on the desk facing the window, a laptop left on a leather couch, and a stack of serious-looking textbooks taking up the bookcase.

"This is where Harrison comes to hide from the rest of us when he's annoyed," McQuinn says with something like a laugh. "And where Nils studies."

"Studies what? Is he still in college?"

"Nah, he's graduated, but he wants to go back to med school after the Olympics." There's a puff of pride as he speaks of Nils's career aspirations outside of professional sports.

He picks up a biography of a former Secretary of State that's fallen on the floor and puts it back on the desk. "Harrison wants to go into politics someday. I think he has his eye set on being state senator, but Governor Hart has a nice ring to it, too. The two of them are the most studious. Which is good because we won't always be able to play water polo. No matter how much I wish we could."

"You really love the sport, don't you?"

"It's all I've ever wanted to do."

"Have you been to the Olympics before?"

"Yeah, Harrison, Dante, and I went to the last Olympics. That was before they had rules about teams having to compete as a pack. Harrison hadn't officially formed Pack Hart yet, but the three of us had played together for years, and I think deep down we knew we'd be pack eventually." He runs a hand through his red hair and scratches the back of his neck. "It was Ellis who changed things, though. Harrison may have created this pack, but Ellis was the glue that brought us all together. He and Harrison were friends from school and when Ellis and Dante bonded, everything just clicked."

"What about Oz?"

"He's only been with the pack for a little over a year. But he and Ellis were friends before that." Turning, he gestures out of the room so we can continue the tour of the house, but neither of us move yet. "We needed another player for the team, so he tried out. He fits in well, but he's always been the odd man out. He doesn't have the emotional connections with the rest of us that Harrison has, and he doesn't have…" He pauses and smirks as he looks me over, sizing me up like he's trying to decide if I can handle what he'll say next. "Well, to be blunt, the sexual connections with the pack that Dante, Ellis, Nils, and I have."

I'm no prude, and I already knew about Ellis and Dante's relationship, but the thought of all four men being together makes a tingling sensation fly across my skin and settle into a flushed feeling at my neck and cheeks.

I imagine a tangle of strong masculine limbs, myself at the center. The image is thrilling and obscene. A quiver becomes an ache deep in my core. Taking deep breaths, I turn away from McQuinn and focus on the books on the shelf, trying to keep from getting worked up.

"Did I scandalize you?" He asks, sounding amused.

I get the feeling he's testing me, or trying to make me uncomfortable, but maybe I'm just over-analyzing everything. Living a life of lies can make someone do that.

"No, of course not." I can't look at him, but it's not for the reason he probably thinks.

"I'm surprised." Even though he's a few feet away, I can feel his eyes on me, his presence at my back. "It's not like you're a Virgo and private about sex or a snobby Sagittarius."

That makes me smile, remembering my grandma. Not just how into astrology she was, but also how much she loved to joke about sex. I turn to look at him, and ask, "What's your sign?"

"Aries."

"Oh, no." I can't help my laugh. "No wonder Em warned me about your temper."

"That's a stereotype and you know it."

I can't tell if he's teasing or serious. But the atmosphere in the room changes as we stare at each other. The lightheartedness of a few seconds ago is gone.

"As long as you stay out of my way and don't cause problems for my team…" It's not exactly a threat, but it's clear that McQuinn cares about this team. Which I respect.

"I'm here to work and go to the Olympics. I don't plan on causing any problems."

Even as I say it, I know there's one big problem I could cause and I harden my resolve to keep my designation a secret. Not just from the IOC, but from these men as well. Telling them anything would just make them accomplices and cause drama.

"Good. Should we go see the rest of the house?" He motions for me to go first, and I leave the office behind. Before we even reach the stairs, he's back to his fun-loving attitude and telling me about how he and Ellis tried to surf down the stairs on pieces of cardboard when they first moved in. The impulsiveness resulted in three stitches across the bottom of McQuinn's chin.

When we get to the second level, McQuinn points out which rooms belong to him, Nils, and Oz, as well as the three empty guest rooms, including mine. It's clear they've thought long term, with room for their pack to grow if they ever have children.

My room is at the end of the hall. It's bigger than my room at my apartment. With a large king size bed that practically makes me drool. I bet I could fit a lot more pillows on it than I could on my old bed.

All of my boxes are piled in the middle of the room, but the rest of the guys are nowhere in sight. There's a large bay window that looks out over the pool in the backyard and a bathroom off to the right.

Maybe this was a good idea after all. This place is like a fancy resort compared to what I'm used to.

"How do you afford all this?" I blurt out without thinking.

McQuinn leans against the door frame. "We pool our resources. And Harrison is good with money. Doesn't hurt that he also has quite the trust fund." His laugh is dark, but I can't tell why.

"It's gotta be nice to just focus on water polo and not have to work a job, too. I've been doing temp work for the past few years and it's miserable. It's hard to know what I'm gonna get." I run a hand over the top of the dresser, taking in the newness of the furniture. "The job I'm at right now is simple data entry stuff, but this guy in the cubicle next to mine always eats kimchi and egg salad for lunch and keeps taking my stapler."

"Good thing you don't have to do that anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you're here. You're part of the pack."

"I can't just freeload off of you guys."

"Believe me, there's no way Harrison and Dante are gonna let you spend hours working when the Olympics are just around the corner."

Huh, I guess that makes sense, but I don't like the idea of depending completely on them and not contributing anything. I'll have to talk to Harrison about it later.

After taking the stairs to the third floor, McQuinn points to a closed door. "That's Ellis's room." His finger swings to the next door. "That's Dante's." Another swing and he points to the room across the hall. "That one's Harrison's. The one next to it is a nursery. And the one at the end of the hall is our nest."

"Will I get to meet your omega today? Is she," I tilt my head at the confused look he's giving me, "around?"

His eyebrows furrow and the corners of his lips turn down. "We don't have an omega."

Wait, what? My brain screeches to a halt.

"You mean… I thought…" Why did I think they had an omega? I didn't see anything about an omega when I looked them up online, but lots of packs keep quiet about their omega. It can be safer that way. Ellis never mentioned an omega. So why… oh, no! Emily's party! She said Ellis had a family emergency, and I jumped to the conclusion they had an omega in heat. Stupid!

This just got way more complicated. An alpha bonded to an omega doesn't put off as many pheromones. Six unbonded alphas, though? I'm asking for trouble. Just when I was thinking this could work, I'm reminded how risky it really is.

McQuinn, clueless to my inner conflict, opens the door to the damn nest. Seeing the lovely space they've created for their omega does not help me out. There are layers of curtains over the window, from thin and gauzy to thick, heavy material that would block out all light. Perfect for whatever mood you're in. Soft carpet lines the floors and the bed in the middle of the room is clearly custom made. It's got to be as large as two king beds combined. There are pillows everywhere. A comfy hammock swing. A massive armchair. A cushy bench seat just perfect for bending over.

I don't dare step into the room, but from the doorway, I can see an open archway off to the left that leads into what seems to be a massive bathroom. Glimpsing a shower with multiple shower heads, I picture McQuinn in there with me, soap suds covering his body, water sloshing down his chest.

My mouth waters as I take in the room and an entirely different part of me gets slick, too. I want this room. Oh god, I want to cocoon myself right in the middle of that nest with alphas that adore me.

My swimming career has been my primary focus for years. A family like this—a pack—isn't something I've been thinking about. But seeing it right in front of me like this…

A longing twists in my gut as a smidge of loneliness comes to rest beside it. I want this someday. All of this. With a pack. But this is cruel and unfair punishment to see it on a silver platter right in front of me and know it doesn't belong to me. No, that's not really true. I'm sure I'll deserve worse punishment if they ever find out I've lied about being a beta.

"We've submitted our pack to the Omega Registration Office, but they haven't found any scent matches for us yet—none that Harrison likes." McQuinn sighs as he closes the door. "It's probably for the best. We wouldn't be able to take care of an omega right now with the Olympics just around the corner. But it'll happen one day."

The hope in his voice makes my throat feel tight.

"We just need Harrison to stop being such a picky bastard."

I can't help wondering what Harrison would think of my scent. Would he like it? Would any of them? I've never smelled anything I like as much as the six of them, but that doesn't mean they would feel the same about me. We might be scent matches, but that doesn't guarantee anything.

It doesn't matter. I'm never going to let them catch a whiff of me. Especially now that I know they aren't bonded to an omega. If they catch my scent before the Olympics, they won't let me go. And if they find out during or after, they'll never forgive me for lying to them and putting them at risk.

Like a wave I wasn't expecting, it hits me that I've just eliminated the potential to be with my scent matches. They won't want me as a beta, and if they find out I'm an omega—

No, these alphas won't ever be for me. No matter how good they smell.