Chapter 3

Three

LIO

W hile we lay on top of the hood of my car, I looked over at Alana. She was staring at the sky, lit with different colors from the fireworks. She looked lost in her thoughts with her hands behind her head. I was lying next to her, one knee pulled up with my hand resting on it. I picked at the threads of my jeans ripping at the knees as I looked at her.

She was beautiful.

The way her hair fell in soft waves around her face, and her skin glowed under the lights, made me catch my breath. She had always been beautiful to me, and I always had dreamt that one day she would be the omega of my pack. In my heart, I thought she was my fated mate.

But those were dreams long forgotten. Dreams I had years ago until she distanced herself from me and all our friends after high school.

And that's when I gave up all hope of ever having an omega. I've decided to pursue an unorthodox career that guaranteed an omega would never want to join my pack. My job as a professional knotter ensured I would be lonely in my personal life. Sex had turned into a chore. Something that only happened at work. Every day, after I went home after work, the loneliness hit me like a ton of bricks. It didn't matter how expensive my home or my car was. There was always that need.

For years I would end up laying in a dark bedroom alone for nights on end and craving an omega to cuddle with. An omega that I could call my own. If Alana told me to quit my job right now and she wanted to be with me, I would do it in a heartbeat. Only for her.

But she hadn't shown interest in me since the campfire night and completely refused to talk to me about it.

"I like the red," she said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

My gaze turned to the sky. "The red fireworks, you mean?"

"Yes, and the silver just goes with it," she muttered, mesmerized by the lights. Even when we were children, she had always loved fireworks. And I loved to experience it with her and watch her face glow with happiness. It was the only time I'd see her let down her guard. But now, she was a fully grown woman lying next to me on the hood of my car, and she was breathtaking.

"I agree," I said, watching the lights crackle in the sky and the resounding boom that followed. "How have you been lately? I mean, really been."

"Just taking care of the shop, you know," she said. She always had that guard up. Talking about her business and never about herself. "How about you?"

"I've been struggling lately," I said, and she turned her head away from the fireworks, looking at me curiously. It had been a while since she looked at me with interest like that, and my heart thumped as our eyes locked.

"Why are you struggling?"

"I still want a mate, you know? An omega to have and a full pack of my own to cherish her too," I said, opening up. Maybe if I was open more, I'd get her to talk more about herself. I wanted to know what made her tick these days. I knew for sure she wasn't mated either.

"But don't you see omegas daily? Like knot them too?" she asked, biting her lip while her face turned pink.

"That's rutting for me," I explained. "There's no love, like, or even any sort of attachment there. But with you…I feel some of that."

There . I fucking said it.

I watched her expression carefully as she started breathing harder. She sat up, breaking eye contact with me. I got up and placed my hand over hers on her lap. Her hand started trembling under mine.

"I'm sorry, I'm just…" she started to say. Her scent began to rise with worry, tension, and…fear. Why the hell was she scared of me? Unless there was something…because I'd never had an omega be fearful of me. My job was to keep them calm.

"What is it, Lana?" I asked, using the pet name that I used to call her.

"I can't," she said, ripping her hand from mine and jumping off the hood of the car. She rubbed her palms on her shorts, looking regretfully at me. "I'll see you later, okay?"

"Please, you can tell me anything. What's bothering you?"

"No," she said finally. "There's nothing to tell."

I watched her walk away, her hair swinging down her back in her hurry to get away from me. I was starting to sense that something happened to this omega.

Something bad.