Page 19 of Knot Mine

Zale

In a world where Fated Mates were a myth, a dying legend, it was normal for most people to ‘settle’ for Chosen Mates. Like my parents. With a higher alpha population, there was more competition for omegas–-marriages became more strategic, centering on money, status and power. If they were lucky, there was happiness, but there were always tainted by that lingering hesitation of ‘what if?’.

What if they chose the wrong partner?

What if they met their Fated Mate later?

The Vos’ family were different. They might have wealth and influence like my own parents, but that’s where the similarities ended. At the front door of their grand sprawling home on the outskirts of town.

Samuel Vos had been the one to birth the twins, but that didn’t make him any less intimidating as he poured me a glass of wine. Rachel, the alpha in the pairing, sits at her husband's side as if there was nowhere else she’d rather be. Watching the couple, they seemed to gravitate naturally towards one another. Small touches, secretive smiles.

I wanted something like that, something that felt…real. As if she can hear my thoughts, Millie slides her hand across the backof my chair and slowly snakes it into my hair as we make small talk with her parents in their ornate and lavish dining room.

Tonight, she’s wearing a red wrap dress that makes her look amazing, and with her sitting so close, her sweet now familiar scent envelopes me. Something in the back of my mind whispers that the smell isn’t quite right, but I ignore it. I can’t detect anything wrong, she looks the same as she always does, her perfume is the same. It’s just me, and the awkward tension with Shiloh getting inside my head. Making me nervous.

“Have you given any thought as to what you’ll do when you finish college?” Rachel asks me, with a wide smile. I can see where Millie, and Shiloh get their dark hair and full lips from. Their mother is beautiful, in a very classic way.

I know she’s just making polite conversation, and trying to make an effort with me as their daughter's boyfriend, but my mouth goes dry. I’m glad I made an effort to wear a shirt, and black trousers because at least that was one thing I didn’t have to worry about.

Millie has decided she wants to become a lecturer and stay in academia. She’s been talking about it for weeks now, trying to drop subtle hints about wanting to settle and focus all her efforts into a PhD program here at Oakley. She might be talking about her future plans, but really, she’s pushing me for mine. She wants to know if I’ll be by her side, if I’m committed to this relationship like she is.

What am I doing after college?

Whatever my parents want is the honest answer. I don’t have much choice, not when I was born a Blackwood. Maybe if my omega father had come from a less affluent family or if my alpha father hadn’t been a tycoon, then maybe all they would want for me was to be happy and settle down. Maybe.

“Um, I’m going to work at Blackwood Tech. With my father.” Millie’s nails rove over my scalp, sending a full body shiver through me.

“It sounds like you have a solid plan,” Samuel says gently as he begins to clear the plates away. He’s already explained earlier in the evening that once dinner had been served, they’d instructed their staff to finish for the night. This was an intimate meal for the family to spend some time together and get to know me a little better. The thoughtful omega is where the twins have inherited their green eyes, and when they’re fixed on me, I feel myself relaxing a little.

Shiloh sits at the head of the table, saying nothing as he twirls his fork between his slender fingers before he pushes to his feet. “Let me help, dad.”

Wearing a black oversized turtleneck with the sleeves pushed up to his elbows, a pair of black jeans and his hair half tied up, he looks like he might be the twin in academia rather than Millie. I admire the way he doesn’t seem to give a fuck about what others think, including his parents. My parents expect me to be dressed smartly whenever we meet for dinner, even if it’s only at home.

All evening, he’d been polite. Frustratingly polite. Well, polite boarding on stone cold. He’s only made conversation with his parents, including me or Millie only when he couldn’t avoid it.

“Your mother and Millie are going to get some of the family albums out in the sitting room. Perhaps I can help them with that while Zale here helps you clear the plates.” He gives me a knowing look, throwing me a bone so I can try and get the prickly beta on my side.

“Of course. More than happy to help.” Millie detaches herself from me with a small huff of annoyance, but her eyes shine with approval as I clearly win over her parents.

Shiloh continues to ignore me as we enter the huge kitchen. Ignores me while we put the leftovers in the fridge. Ignores me while we rinse off the plates and stack them in the dishwasher. The silence continues to stretch as we do the same for the cutlery and I hate it.

I watch, leaning against one of the counters while he roots around in the cupboard for a dishwasher tablet, before tossing it in and turning the machine on.

Sighing, I run a hand through my hair. “Look, I want to apologize?—”

Holding up a hand, he cuts me off. “Don’t worry about it. Save your breath.”

Pushing off the counter, I grunt with frustration. “Why have you always gotta be so…”

“Charming? Delightful?” Shiloh tilts his head at me, peering at me from beyond his fake glasses as if he’s daring me to say something. I realized pretty quickly that they weren’t prescription lenses, it was one of the reasons I felt less guilty about taking my time to hand them back.

“Fucking infuriating and you know it.” There’s a hint of something buttery and sweet lingering in the air, spiking as he glares at me and I have the strangest urge to grab his hair and pull him to me. Make him submit. Make him understand that I am the alpha here.What the fuck?

He scoffs, as if I’m the one being difficult. “Let’s just get through this evening and play nice.”

Shaking my head and the odd alpha haze that seems to have crept its way into my brain, I step back. Away from the danger. “Yeah. Fine.”

Shiloh blinks, long, dark eyelashes fluttering as he’s clearly taken aback by my easy concession. “And when the project is done, we won’t even have to email anymore. How does that sound?”

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