Page 63 of Knot Your Sugar

He glances around the workshop again, at the other contestants absorbed in their own sugary creations. Then he looks back at me, his expression earnest, almost pleading. "Not here," he says, his voice so low I have to strain to hear him. "Can we… can we go somewhere a little more private? Just for a few minutes?"

Something about his tone sets off alarm bells in my head, but I nod, wiping my suddenly clammy hands on a towel. I’m alone at my workstation. James, for some reason only known to his mercurial alpha brain, decided to commandeer an empty station at the far end of the competition area this afternoon. But even with the relative privacy of my own little station, Cole is right. This conversation doesn’t feel like one for public consumption. "Fine," I agree, trying to keep my voice steady. "Lead the way."

Cole leads me to a quiet spot near the edge of the woods, just a few minutes from the competition area. It’s secluded enough that no one should overhear us.

"You’re scaring me, Cole." I cross my arms, trying to ignore the small pounding starting behind my eyes. "What's going on?"

Cole takes a deep breath, his hands flexing at his sides. "There's no easy way to say this, so I'm just going to be direct." He pauses, looking… adorably awkward. And utterly terrified. Which, in turn, terrifiesme. "Elena," he begins, his voice rough, his gaze fixed on mine with an almost painful intensity. "James, Dorian, and I… we’ve all noticed something different about you today."

My heart stutters, then plummets. My medication.They know.The thought hits me like a sledgehammer to the chest. "Different?" I manage, my voice a strangled whisper. "Different… how?"

"Your scent, Elena," he says, his voice dropping even lower. "It’s… it’s stronger now. More distinct. More… noticeable."

Ice, cold and sharp, slides down my spine. My carefully constructed world, my secret, it’s all… unraveling. "I… I’m not sure what you mean, Cole," I lie, the words tasting like ash in my mouth. "You know betas don't have a smell, or if they do, it's usually pretty neutral."

"Elena." His hazel eyes hold mine, gentle but unwavering. "Please. Just listen. We all smelled the same thing from you today. The same underlying notes. In remarkable detail. Which is impossible unless…" He hesitates.

"Unless what, Cole?" I whisper, though I already know. Oh, God. The air suddenly feels too thick to breathe.

"Unless," he finishes, his voice impossibly gentle, yet every word a hammer blow against my crumbling defenses. "Unless… you’re an omega." He takes another deep, shaky breath, his gaze never leaving mine. "And more than that… Elena, we think… that we’re your scent matches."

* * *

"What?" I manage to keep my voice level through sheer force of will.

Cole takes a small, almost hesitant step closer, his expression achingly sincere. "Elena, please, just hear me out. We all smell the same notes in your scent." He takes a deep slightly ragged breath, his pupils dilating as he practically eats me with his eyes. "And the way we’re all… drawn to you. The way our own instincts are reacting… Elena, we believe you are a late-blooming omegaandour scent match."

"Omega?" I scoff, the lie tasting bitter on my tongue, even as years of ingrained practice makes it soundalmostconvincing. "A late-blooming omega? Cole, that’s ridiculous! Don’t make me laugh." My heart is hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird, desperate for escape. "And scent matches? Allthreeof you, whom I'd never met until recently? Withme? Come on, what would be the odds!"

"Elena—"

"Look," I continue, the words tumbling out in a desperate rush, "I’m not denying there’s… something between us. Betweenallof us. An attraction. A connection. You all smell… good. To me. Really good… But I’m not irresistiblypulledto any of you. No offense intended. I’m still… me. Elena. The beta baker." Another lie, but a necessary one. I can’t let them know how much my body responds to them. Especially not now that my control's hanging by a thread.

"But we couldn’t all be imagining it, Elena," Cole insists, his voice still impossibly gentle.

Cold, stark fear, sharp and piercing, curls deep in my stomach. I need to shut this down. Now. Before it’s too late.

"You’re wrong about this, Cole," I say, my voice firmer now, colder, as I cross my arms over my chest. "You’re all wrong. Maybe the three of you have just been spending a little too much time together, sharing theories, letting your alpha imaginations run wild. Or maybe you’re all just… projecting. Projecting some kind of… fetish."

The hurt that flashes across his face makes me want to take it back, but I can't. I can't let them in, I can't let them know the truth.

"I need to stay focused, Cole," I add, my voice softer now, but no less determined. "Tomorrow’s final competition, it’s everything to me. It’s my future. I can’t get distracted by… whatever this is."

Silences stretches between us as he studies me for a long moment.

"I know this is hard to swallow Elena," he says finally. "But if you are just starting to present, then you’re likely to enter a heat cycle. Soon. Which could definitely affect your performance tomorrow. That’s why I felt,wefelt, you should know now. So you could… prepare yourself. Maybe take suppressants or something."

"My performance is none of your business," I hiss, just as another cramp twists through my abdomen, a perfect punctuation mark of irony.

"We just… we wanted to give you time," he continues, his voice still impossibly gentle, which only infuriates me. "Like I said… to get proper medical advice. Or suppressants, if that’s what you choose. We just didn’t want you to be blindsided during the final."

"We should talk about this properly, Elena, about what it could mean," he adds, his brows furrowed. "All of us. Together. Tonight, maybe? This way, we can figure this out. As a… group."

The thought of facing all three of them, discussing my biology like it's some sort of group project, makes something inside me snap.

"No," I say firmly. "I don't need a meeting. I don't need your concern. What I need is to focus on winning tomorrow."

Cole looks genuinely confused by my reaction. "Elena, this isn't something you should handle alone. If we really are your scent matches—"

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