Page 8 of Knot Enough

“Down, boy,” Gabriel said flirtatiously before biting into his pizza. I tried my best not to stare when Gabriel practically moaned at the taste of his slice. Sorren made an effort not to look at Gabriel. Graham had a blank stare and tight smile, but I could tell by how his hand gripped his plate that he was affected, too. I glanced at Lydia and gauged her reaction. There was no way she couldn’t smell the change in our scents. She rolled her eyes at Gabriel and continued eating her own pizza. I carried on with my own food, doing my bestto ignore the sounds coming from Gabriel. We were just about done eating when Sorren’s phone went off. He quickly took it out of his pocket and looked at the screen. His brow furrowed a bit before putting it away.

“Don’t forget we have to go to that award party tomorrow night,” Sorren said to both Graham and me. I grimace at the thought. I had forgotten we had a previous engagement tomorrow night, which would leave both the omegas by themselves. We had several security cameras, locks, and alert systems to protect us, but if we went to the party, we wouldn’t be close enough to help if anything happened. At the same time, it wasn’t an option not to go. This party was dedicated to Sorren for winning an award related to being the best director this year. The event was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for him.

“Can we come with you?” Gabriel asked hesitantly, looking between all three of us.

Sorren, Graham, and I glanced at each other. We didn’t want to pressure the omegas into going public with us yet. Once the media got a hold of that information, they could be relentless in their pursuit of more information about them.

“You sure? You might have to face the media, which involves cameras, news articles, and whatnot. We don’t want to put you two through that if you're not ready,” I said, watching their reaction. Gabriel and Lydia looked at each other silently before looking back at us.

“We don’t mind. Media and whatnot don’t really matter to us. It’s not going to change how our relationship develops.” Gabriel confirmed. Lydia remained focused on her pizza but didn’t deny what Gabriel was saying. It gave me hope that this would work out. We just had to get her to trust us somehow.

“Welp, I think that takes care of that,” Sorren said, clapping his hands together. “Now, let’s finish unpacking.” He continued, grabbing Gabriel and Lydia’s plates. I chuckled at his antics and helped clean up the empty pizza boxes and cups. It took another several hours to finish the rest of the boxes. Graham, Sorren, and I decided to leave the omegas alone for the rest of the night to help them get accustomed to the new environment.

I went back to my room to shower and sleep for the night. That was the plan, until 3 hours passed by of me tossing and turning in my bed. Everytime I almost slipped into unconsciousness I would get a hint of one of the omegas’ scent and wake back up. The pattern repeated several times before I growled out loud and got up from my bed. I’ve read comments about how hard it is to resist the scents of a compatible omega, but I didn’t think it would affect me as badly as this. I wanted to be near them, bask in their scent, watch the happiness I provided fill their eyes. I wanted to know them and them me. It was crazy how these instincts from the past can still affect me to this day.

I tiptoed through the hallway stopping for a moment to listen in on the omegas’ room. From behind the door the room was quiet.Both the omegas must be asleep.Continuing my path, I entered the garage which was renovated into a work space for me. When I had time or felt restless I would make furniture or wood carve to ease my mind. It was one of the comforts and entertainment I had kept from my childhood. Coming from a poor family there was very little my brother and I could do in order to entertain ourselves. It was a bonus that I could also sell my creations for a little bit of cash.

I decided to continue working on a bear totem I had started several months ago. I had to stop working on it because my work hours had become longer. The bear’s head was roughly carved out while the rest of the body still hasn't been formed. I double checked my wood carving tools’ sharpness and got to work. I usually listened to music, but I didn’t want to chance waking the omegas up. As I carved, my racing mind calmed down. The repeated movements and my focus on the bear helped me process and get a hold of the emotions going through my head.

“I still can’t tell what it is?” Sorren’s voice called out from the doorway. I nearly messed up in my surprise. I looked up from the carving and glared at him.

“Sorry.” He said, moving from the doorway to my side. I handed him the carving to let him inspect it.

“It’s going to be a bear.” I explained to him as I watched him examine it.

“I think I can see it.” He said, handing the piece of wood back to me. I nodded and continued my work.

“How are you doing?” He asked as I leaned against my work table. I flicked my eyes at him for a second.

“About as well as you are. Don’t you have an early morning tomorrow?” I asked. Like me, I doubted he was having an easy time sleeping.

“I can smell them every time I close my eyes.” He admitted. His face appeared boyish and younger than he actually was. In moments like these, he reminded me of my brother. Despite our distance he would also come to me for advice or support when he needed it. I sighed and took out a wood block I had outlined with a simple fox and tossed it at him.

“What am I supposed to do with this?” He asked, raising one eyebrow as he examined the piece.

“Figure it out.” I told him and returned my focus on my own carving. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Sorren huff while grabbing a stool and moving next to me. Withone of my carving tools, he started working on the wood.

“That’s the wrong one. Use this one.” I tell him, pointing at a different smaller tool. He narrowed his eyes at me, but picked up the tool I suggested. We worked in silence till dawn broke and we were too tired to keep our eyes open.

Chapter 4

Lydia

To be honest, I didn’t want to go to this party. Balls weren’t too bad and even the occasional dinner with friends or family was all right, but a fancy rich party with no dancing? No. Just no. I smoothed my dress down again, checking the mirror in case anything I was wearing was out of place. Events like these also reminded me of Connor. He would force me to go to these ridiculous dinners and parties and parade me around like a pet for others to see. I hated feeling like nothing more than an object people were supposed to ogle at, but the way Gabriel’s eyes lit up with excitement and longing, I couldn’t say no, not to him.

Thanks to the multiple courting parties I’ve been to, I had plenty of dresses to choose from. I went with my go-to dress, a dark blue cocktail dress that was loose at the bottom and reached just below my knees. The top’s chest wasn’t cut too low, so it didn’t show off much of my cleavage. I wore my hair in a high ponytail on one side with the strands curled for extra puffiness. I kept my make-up light not wanting to feel too uncomfortable right now.

“You look gorgeous, Lydia; come on, the guys are waiting for us,” Gabriel called to me, poking his head into the bathroom. I grimaced at the thought of the guys. Gabriel and I got into a slight disagreement about whether to put items that smelled like them into the nest. I knew Gabriel needed them to feel comfortable and have the nest smell like his scent matches, but he insisted on waiting until I felt comfortable with them being in the nest. We went back and forth on it till I relented. We would wait till I got comfortable around them before we started adding their things into the nest. I wasn’t entirely happy about the final decision, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it now.

“You're sure?” I asked, twirling around again to check. Gabriel shook his head and entered the bathroom completely. His tuxedo fit him perfectly. The dark green color complimented his own green eyes. He walked over to me and pulled me towards him with my back to his chest. I relented and relaxed against him, enjoying the support he was giving me.

“Yes, you do. I’d never lie about that.” He said as he lightly kissed the area of muscle that connected my neck to my shoulder. I tried not to squirm at histouch because of how ticklish I was. I felt Gabriel chuckle at my reaction before letting go.

“Fine, let’s go then,” I said finally. I pulled Gabriel’s hand, leading him out of the bathroom and down the hallway to where the guys waited. Two of the guys wore suits in varying shades of gray and black, with Sorren being the odd man out in a bluish tux. Finn looked uncomfortable as he fiddled with one of his sleeves. They all stopped what they were doing to look at us. I wanted to hide behind Gabriel when all three sets of eyes landed on me, but with Gabriel’s arm wrapped around me. I couldn’t move, the traitor.

“Well, alphas, don’t we look pretty?” Gabriel asked cheekily. I glared at him, knowing exactly what he was doing. He just smiled innocently back at me. I wanted to kill him at that moment.

“Damn, gorgeous, if I say so myself,” Finn said in a heated tone while he looked Gabriel up and down. His gaze softened when it turned to me.

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