Knot Your Damn Omega (Slate City Omegaverse)

I flexed my hands before crossing my arms. It seemed the easiest way to keep them under control.

The little Omega now sitting between Ben’s legs was jumpy and skittish, just like he’d said. What he hadn’t made clear was how absolutely fucking beautiful she was. Her scent was already everything, but the combination of the two nearly put me on the floor.

Jealousy flared at the fact she was sitting with him and not me, even though there was no room for that here. She knew him the best, and the last thing we wanted was for her to bolt. If I had my way, she’d be sitting with me plenty.

More than sitting.

Riding.

My face, my cock, and any other part of me she chose.

I was glad my dark jeans disguised how hard I was, because the second I walked into her cloud of perfume, I was gone.

Even her skittish nature called to me, imagining her running and being able to chase.

“I—” Her swallow was visible. “I’m sorry. I’m not good at this. But you probably already know that.”

“Why would we?” I asked. Clearly, she was referencing what Ben had said, the media painting a picture of her. But I wasn’t going to let her think we came in with negative expectations.

Her cheeks colored, and my imagination took the color and ran. What other parts of her small, curvy body could I turn pink? Pinker than the giant hoodie which swallowed her up.

“I just… quite a few packs have approached my family for something like this, and it never worked. They expected someone different.” Her eyes were on the ground and then they snapped up to mine, rotating through the four of us she could see. “I’m not like her. You know that, right?”

“We do know that,” Luke said.

Esme blinked. “Where is Eva?”

“She left,” Rylan answered. “After I brought you back here. Said to call her if you needed. All our clients are gone too. The only one left is Daisy, our receptionist. She’ll field anyone who comes in.”

“Okay.”

All at once, she dropped her face into her hands. “Fucking hell, I am so bad at this. I don’t even know where to start except for the fact that your scents do things to me I’ve never experienced before—like climbing Bennett in the middle of the dance floor. And based on those hugs it would have been the same with any of you. Even you,” she singled out Rylan.

He shrugged, grinning. Being the only Beta in the pack had never bothered him. Not much bothered Rylan. He was eternally positive, which grated on my nerves sometimes, but he was the lightness our pack needed.

“And I don’t know where to go from here.”

Avery leaned forward, checking in with all of us silently one final time before speaking. We’d already decided, with the caveat we had to meet her first, but this little Omega was ours. I knew it. Deep down as far as I knew I was an Alpha, she belonged with me and this pack. Not everyone put stock in scent theory, that there was always a perfect match, a certain predestined thing which made people perfect for each other.

I’d been a skeptic until I put my nose in Ben’s shirt and my entire world turned upside down.

Now I knew it was true.

Who knew if every Omega had a pack which would be their mates, but this one had one, and we weren’t about to let her go. Not without trying first.

Avery cleared his throat. “We know it can be jarring, having something like this happen so quickly. But we’re all in agreement—we’d like to court you, Esme. What you’re feeling from our scents? It’s just as powerful on our end. And I’m pretty sure Luke, Kade, and I are all feeling the jealousy of you sitting with Ben right now.”

I nodded once.

Courting an Omega varied. There were different customs and different ways of going about it, but they all involved the same things—getting to know each other and spoiling the Omega absolutely rotten. I had no problem doing either of those things. There were no official rules, but given who she was, there might be more steps.

That being said, speed wasn’t uncommon in situations like this. When you knew, you knew. We would court Esme as long as she needed, but I knew on scent alone she could say yes to being our Omega tomorrow and I’d be happier than I’d ever been in my life.

But that wasn’t what struck me. It was her reaction. Her face was shocked and open, eyes glassy. “Really?” It didn’t sound like she quite believed anyone would want to court her, and I suppressed the growl building in my chest from wanting to know who’d made her think she wasn’t worthy of it.

“Yes,” Avery said. “Absolutely.”

“I’ve always wanted a pack,” she said so softly we almost couldn’t hear it. “After everything, I never really thought I’d have a chance.”

We looked at each other in alarm. “Why?” I asked, the question coming out too roughly. Shifting my chair closer to her and Ben, I leaned in. Fuck, that floral scent was so good. It was layered with her sharper tea scent, which I could already tell was the note which shifted with her mood. Consciously, I gentled my voice. “What made you think you’d never have a pack?”

“It doesn’t matter,” she said too quickly. “Not right now, anyway.”

It obviously did matter, but I couldn’t push her today. Not during this first meeting, even if my instincts were screaming at me to dig into why, so I could help her release the line of thought. I didn’t care who the Omega was, male or female, no one deserved to truly believe they wouldn’t have a pack.

“You mentioned your family,” Luke said. “Do we need to approach them to make our courting you official?”

“Oh god please don’t,” Esme said with a laugh. “Then you’d have to deal with Katarina, and she’s the worst. She would absolutely not approve of you, which is only a plus in my book.” After a second, she remembered we had no idea who that was. “Katarina is a pack matchmaker my mother hired in a desperate attempt to find a pack for me. Because being a single Omega in my family isn’t okay.”

Luke chuckled. “What about your mother, then? I don’t want us stepping on any toes.”

She shook her head. “No. You won’t be. Frankly, I hope Mom will be happy a pack is actually interested in me for me and not—” she cut herself off and cleared her throat. “She’ll be happy. Maybe not at first,” she glanced at me and I couldn’t help but smile. I knew I wasn’t the kind of Alpha you brought home to mother. I looked the part of the intimidating and scary, which had served me well in my life. “But she will be. My mother is an Omega too, but she didn’t have a pack. Just one Alpha. And he died a couple of years ago.”

“I’m sorry,” I said.

While pack life was the norm, there were those who found a single person they wanted to partner with and were happy. Ben’s sister was one such person. For myself, even with the frustrations and trials of pack life, I couldn’t imagine myself without it.

“Thanks. But I think in the end she’ll be happy to have me happy, and that will be the end of it.”

“Does anyone have any more appointments left for the rest of the day?” Ben asked.

“No,” I said. “I’m done.”

Everyone else was the same. Knowing this might happen, we’d all kept our schedules light out of sheer hope.

“Would you like to come back to our house?” Ben gently pulled Esme back against his chest. “If you want to call Eva to come with you to make you more comfortable, you can do that. Or anyone.”

I saw her think about it. Of course we knew we wouldn’t do anything to hurt her, but I was glad she was taking it seriously. As much as I wanted to believe every pack in the world would cherish an Omega like her, I knew it wasn’t true.

“I think Eva will distract me,” she said. “But if it’s okay with you, I’ll ask if she can spare someone from her security team. Not that I think of you like that, I just—”

Holding out a hand, I stopped her from apologizing for it. “It’s a good idea. We would all rather you both feel safe and be safe. I could, and do, swear on my life our pack won’t hurt you, and I still think it’s a good idea for the first time coming to our home.”

She blushed again. “Thank you. What’s the address? I’ll call them now.”

Ben stood with her, scribbling our address on a piece of paper as she stepped out of the room to make the call.

“Holy shit,” Rylan said. “This is really happening.”

I was still watching the door where she’d gone. “You were right, Ben. She’s nervous as hell.”

Luke nodded. “Loosening up a little, though.”

Standing, Rylan stretched. “So what’s the plan?”

“I’m thinking we show her the house, then pizza and a movie. My gut says Esme needs to know we’re okay with her as she is. And as hard as it might be to only snuggle with her when she smells like that, I think she needs it.” Avery said it with finality.

I couldn’t agree more.

“Anyone need to sprint ahead to make us not look like complete shits when she sees the house?”

Rylan scratched the back of his head. “It’s not bad, I swear.”

We all laughed, and Esme came back into the room smiling. “Okay. Wes, one of Eva’s security, will meet us at the house. She’s very annoyed she’s not allowed to come, by the way.”

Avery laughed. “I’m sure she’ll see it soon enough.”

The briefest of shadows passed over her face. So there was something there with her sister. Something more complicated than we realized. Though it was clear she loved her sister based on what Ben said and her words in general.

“Let’s get out of here,” Ben said, gently turning her toward the back door of the studio. “Start thinking of questions to grill us with.”

She smiled, perfume still wafting away from her like a beacon to follow. A true, open smile with none of the shyness and nerves she’d shown before. “Don’t worry. I will.”