by AJ Merlin
And what did I want, even?
“What do you want? And what about Hades?” Noah asked, putting a voice to my thoughts.
I snorted, and a frown played at my lips. “What about Hades? He’s an Ahlleron. He’s allergic to people like me.”
It was Noah’s turn to frown. “For being allergic, he goes out of his way to talk to you a lot,” the raccoon shifter pointed out.
“He’s just being nice.”
“Sure he is. So I’ll ask again. What do you want with them?”
“I don’t…know.”
I did know. I wanted the fairytale romance. I wanted all three of them as my alphas, even after only knowing them for such short amounts of time.
I wanted them in my life for longer than just one night.
But so far, the only person who seemed like he was interested in more than just sex was Roman.
“I think I’m getting ahead of myself,” I replied with a quick shake of my head. “There’s no point in being typically me and falling over myself for them when there’s no signs that they want that.”
Noah still didn’t speak.
“So…I’ll keep it casual. That’s probably what they’re after, too. And we’ve been talking about me needing an alpha at least physically.”
My heat would be rolling around soon. And if I had the two of them, it would certainly be a lot better than it would be if I were alone.
“Okay,” Noah said at last, and I glared at him.
“That’s it? Just okay?”
“Yeah. That’s it, for now,” he said. “I don’t know-I think you’re not quite right about Hades, and I think Roman likes you.” He hesitated, then went on. “You know, some people say that if you react to someone’s scent really, really strongly and in a positive way when you meet them, there’s a good chance you’ll end up as their mate.”
“Okay, but I didn’t react to Wilder like that,” I pointed out.
“Didn’t you?” he raised a brow. “Didn’t you?”
“It wasn’t…his scent.” Because it was everything else about him. “And no one believes old wives’ tales like that, anyway.”
Mostly. Except-I believed it.
A little.
“Bill and Kendra believe it,” he reminded me, surprising me by pulling our foster parents into the conversation. “I think Bea does too.”
“Bill and Kendra are just hopeless romantics,” I snorted.
“Just like you?”
“Just like you, I think is what you mean.”
He scoffed, the levity of the situation gone. “Sure that’s what I mean. Are you hungry? We could make nachos.”
Chapter Twenty
The knock on the door at ten in the morning was an unwelcome interruption.
I paused the video of Hades on my phone, unable for a moment to tear my eyes away from the pretty picture of him on the bed, on his back and staring up at the viewer.
The heat curling in my belly drained out of me, and I couldn’t help the sigh that came out a little too loudly.
“I’ll get it,” I called, getting out of bed and crossing the apartment quickly.
Who the hell could it be on a Sunday? We didn’t have many-if any-friends that would come over completely unannounced. Especially not before noon.
A young-ish guy stood on the other side of the door, boredom etched into his expression.
“Are you…” he checked the little electronic pad in his hand. “Alek?”
“Yes?” I replied, head tipped to the side as I ruffled my hair that was messy from sleep.
“Here you go.” He handed me a box that had been under his arm. “And sign here.”
Perplexed, I held the large box under my arm and signed, managing to juggle both until I could hold onto the box again.
“Thanks?” My words still a question, I watched the delivery guy nod and walk back down the hallway before stepping back into the apartment and shouldering closed the door.
“Who was it?” Yawned Noah, walking down the hallway and into the kitchen.
“It’s a box. For me,” I replied, going to the kitchen table and setting the medium sized box down on its surface.
“From who?”
His words prompted me to check the label, and I found it was from a specialty gift company.
“I don’t know,” I replied. Already I was running my nail through the delicate brown packing tape, until I could finally push back the flaps of the lid and peer into it.
“Oh my god.” A grin spread wide across my mouth, and for a moment all I could do was smile.
“What is it?!”
Slowly, so that I wouldn’t get it caught on the paper that lined the box, I pulled free a maned wolf plushie with a ribbon wrapped around its neck.
“I love it,” I announced to both my roommate and his cat, running my hand over the stuffed animal’s comically large red and white ears. Noah stared at it, then down at the box.
“There’s a note,” he said, pointing but not touching.
“Oh-I didn’t see it.” Especially since my attention had been wholly on the stuffed animal that was definitely going on my pillow for tonight and the rest of my life.
The note was encased in a purple envelope, and my name was scrawled across the back in neat handwriting. When I pulled the white card free, I knew who it was from without having to see a name.
The paper smelled like Roman. Which made sense, as it had obviously been him who’d written the letter.
The card was white, with only a small silver heart on the front and his handwriting on the inside.
Just wanted to say I hope the rest of your weekend is a good one.
I hope we can get together again soon.
-Roman.
Unfortunately, the stuffed animal itself did not smell like him. It smelled too new for him to have actually touched it much.
What a shame.
I’d have to change that.
If it wouldn’t have probably made him laugh, I would’ve told Noah in that moment that I was pretty sure my insides had melted into goo.
This was by far the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for me, and I had a hard time believing it was real.
Was I dreaming?
If so, I didn’t want to wake up.
Noah took the note from my hands and I let him, watching as he scanned the sweet note.
“Wow,” he said plainly, handing it back.
“Wow what?”
Noah blinked and fixed me with his blue eyes. “I just-well I don’t know. This just isn’t the level of your relationship I’d expected to wake up to this morning.”
“Next level?” I felt like an idiot, like I was missing something very obvious.
He blinked slowly, then one brow rose. “Come on. You aren’t this oblivious.”
“I’m not oblivious at all,” I agreed, holding the note in one hand and tucking the stuffed animal under one arm. “But what are you even talking about?”
“Roman’s an alpha,” Noah said slowly. “You know. An alpha.”
“Right, yes, I know this word,” I affirmed.
“You are an omega.”
“Shit, really? Are you sure? Well damn, I guess that would explain that whole heat thing and the way I swoon for Roman, Hades, and Wilder, huh?”
Suddenly my brain kicked into overdrive, connecting the dots.
“No,” I disagreed, just as he started to speak again. “No way. That’s…”
“Uh, that’s exactly what’s happening here,” Noah said. “He wants to be your alpha, Alek! He’s trying to court you.”
“But…” I trailed off, biting my lip. Now I really had to be dreaming
Not many alphas practiced traditional courting anymore. Not really. The tradition was for an alpha to get the omega he was interested in a gift, and if they liked it, things would probably escalate from there.
But that fairytale was lost in most people I knew.
Sure-I loved the idea of it. I’d always wanted that kind of lit
tle fantasy romance to happen to me.
However, I’d come to realize very quickly that it only happened to a few omegas. And certainly not me.
But here I was. In my kitchen, holding a stuffed maned wolf and a card from Roman.
An alpha who I had clearly fallen for.
And maybe, he’d fallen for me, too.
Holy shit.
“It’s so fascinating to watch your brain turn on,” Noah informed me sweetly, patting my arm.
I elbowed him quickly, making the raccoon shifter yelp and jump away.
“What do I say?” I asked, busying myself by putting the box by our kitchen trash and setting the stuffed animal on the little table like a centerpiece.
“Something positive? I would think, anyway. If you want to go on seeing him.”
That was definitely a good point.
Fishing my phone out of my pocket, I snatched the stuffed animal off the table and walked to my room, kicking piles of clothes away from the bed as I did.
Okay, so I really needed to do laundry. And clean. But no one was going to see my room, so it wasn’t a big deal.
Plopping the maned wolf on my pillow, I sat down on the other side of my bed, knees curled under me, and took a picture of the maned wolf on his throne of black pillows. Once I’d done that, I sent the picture to Roman, along with a short message.
Thank you so much. I love it!
As if it wasn’t obvious that I loved it, given that the maned wolf would forever occupy his throne of my pillows.
His response was quick, prompting me to wonder if the enforcer had a day off, or if he’d been possibly waiting for me to message him about his gift.
I’m so glad you love it. Is that your bed?
With a grin, I flopped down on my back, head on the pillow beside the maned wolf and my hair a messy mane around me. I took another picture, this time of me with the stuffed animal, and sent it back to him.
Yep. Amidst the chaos of my room, this is in fact my bed.
When he didn’t reply instantly, I picked up the maned wolf again to run my hands over it almost reverently.
It was well made. Not something he could’ve picked up at some little gift store. Of course-I doubted most places carried maned wolf stuffed animals. They weren’t exactly the most common of animals. Especially in North America.
Which was, of course, a point of curiosity when people learned about my animal shape. There were no maned wolves in the wild on this continent, and I’d never met another shifter like me.
Where had I come from?
Memories of my mother tickled the edges of my brain like seaweed wanting to drag me down to a place I so rarely went. With the effort born of long practice, however, I pushed them away before even her face could properly materialize in my head.
There was never any point in dragging up skeletons. Especially now, when things might actually be working out in my life.
With my luck, just thinking about my family from before the foster home would plummet my good fortunes down into the dirt.
Not to mention my great mood.
Thankfully my phone went off, signifying a reply from Roman.
Not going to lie. Wish I was there.
I didn’t even hesitate.
Me too. I need you to get your scent all over this stuffed animal.
I sent it without considering how that might come off. Needy, maybe?
Damn it, I really hadn’t wanted to sound needy.
Before I could get too doubtful, his message lit up my screen.
Name the time and day, sweet girl. I’ll gladly oblige you.
I didn’t even try to stop myself.
What are you doing today?
His answer took a few minutes, prompting me to second guess that he was off work. His reply confirmed that.
I’m working, unfortunately. Would you want to meet up on Tuesday, though? I’m off Tuesday and Wednesday.
I quickly messaged back that I would absolutely love that, and promised to let him know where we could meet up closer to Tuesday.
“I can feel you breathing,” I called to Noah, who stood in the hallway between our rooms.
He popped his head in the room, and then leaned on the doorframe in an attempt to look deliberate. “How did it go?” he asked curiously.
“Really well. We’re going to see each other on Tuesday.” When he didn’t answer immediately, I sat up and searched his face. “What’s up?”
“I’m going to see that girl again,” Noah said in a rush. “You know, the one who ran into my car.”
“Oh?” I smiled at him. “That’s great, Noah.”
“You really think so? I don’t know…normally omegas go for alphas, you know? And I’m…not.”
“Not alphas,” I denied. “A lot of omegas would rather date a beta.”
“Present company excluded?”
“Very much so. But I’m serious. And she seemed really nice. Plus, you guys hit it off really well, right?”
“I mean-yes? I think so?”
“Where are you guys going?”
“She wants to take me out for dinner, actually. She says she really wants to do at least that, for hitting my car, even though I’ve told her it’s fine and she doesn’t have to.”
“Let her,” I advised sternly. “Let her like you.”
He sawed on his bottom lip, then spoke again. “By the way, Bea texted me earlier this morning.”
“Of course she did. Because she’s never heard of sleeping in or having lazy Sundays,” I groaned, getting to my feet. “Did she lecture you?”
“No, actually. She wants us to come visit her. She says she’ll pay for it and everything, but she misses us.”
I gave him a look while piling my hair into a bun that I secured with no less than two hair ties. “Do you want to go see her?”
“I miss her,” Noah admitted. “It’s been, what? Four months now since we visited?”
It’d been more like five, but I wouldn’t say that.
It wasn’t that neither of us loved our large family. Though none of us were related by blood, we’d banded together as abused, forgotten kids that had been pulled-or in my case dumped-out of bad circumstances.
All of us had our own issues, our own fears, and our own unique circumstances, but those had only served to make us cling tighter to one another.
As kids we’d been a terrifying little army bent on taking over the sandbox.
And Bea had been our playground-legion commander.
Things had changed since then, of course. Two of our brothers, Oliver and Zak, now lived in California, though they were always sending memes through the group chat so we knew they hadn’t fallen into the ocean. Our second-oldest sister, Trisha, lived in Washington with her mate and new baby. Meg, who was the same age as Noah, still lived with our foster parents. I doubted she’d ever leave. Her childhood before joining our family had left her with a fear of open spaces and new people. Our parents didn’t mind, of course. They loved having Meg with them, and would never push her to do something she wasn’t comfortable with.
Beatrice, who had just turned thirty, lived only a few hours south of us. She had been the first to move out, and had been incredibly supportive of most of us doing the same.
Though, she’d also found a great love for religion lately. And sharing that religion with the rest of us enthusiastically. We knew she meant well, but…
“She’s going to preach to you about your life choices,” I informed Noah.
“Not just me,” he pointed out. “But I bet if you brought Roman, she’d get distracted enough to forget all about where we work.”
I made a face. “Don’t joke. The more he-or anyone knows-the quicker he’ll ask about everything else.”
Noah had been almost out of my room, but now he paused and turned with a slight grimace. “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” he pointed out.
“I know.”
“And it’s not like-“
“Don’t therapy me,
Noah,” I warned. “I’m not Meg.”
While there had been a time not too many years ago that I needed the kind of reassurance that my roommate was gearing up to give, those days were mostly gone.
I could take care of myself now, without anyone else stepping in front of me to take the brunt of an angry alpha’s anger.
Or a mother’s hallucination-fueled hatred.
“We should visit her,” I conceded, sifting through piles of dirty and clean laundry on my floor. “When does she want us to come?”
“She didn’t say. Just ‘soon.’ Maybe we could go in a couple of weeks or so?”
“I’d like that. It’d be nice to get out of the city. Maybe we can convince her to get some sheep to go along with those chickens she has.”
“She really needs sheep,” Noah agreed. “You want to go get some ice cream?”
Did he really have to even ask? Of course I wanted to get ice cream. There was no time of day when that didn’t sound divine.
Chapter Twenty-One
For a moment, I wasn’t sure what I was looking at.
Well, that wasn’t precisely true. The styrofoam cup in front of me definitely held coffee.
More than that, it held my favorite flavor of coffee. I could smell the sweet caramel and caffeine even without opening the lid, and my mouth watered at the thought of what it tasted like.
Not only was it my favorite flavor, the coffee didn’t have that basically-burned smell that so many cheap places tended to emit.
Which probably meant that I wouldn’t be splurging on coffee from wherever this was from.
So why in the world was Hades Ahlleron holding the cup of coffee in front of my face in offering?
“It’s okay if you don’t like it,” the panther alpha was saying, while sending me his trademark sassy grin.
“You got me coffee?” I asked finally finding my words.
I’d barely walked in the doors of Prowl with Noah before Hades had swooped in, cup in hand, to present it to me.
