Page 9 of Knot Enough

“You look beautiful.” He said in the softer tone that one would use for a lover or someone special. I could feel my face flush a deep shade of red. I wanted to hide my face behind my hair, but then I would ruin all the work I put into it.

“Thank you,” I somehow managed to squeak out. Sorren chuckled at our interaction before grabbing Gabriel’s hand and pulling him into a twirl. At the end, Sorren dipped Gabriel down. Gabriel chuckled as he let his head fall back, trusting Sorren wouldn’t drop him. My mouth curled in a soft smile at the exchange.

“I didn’t know you knew how to dance,” Gabriel told Sorren as he pulled him back up from his dip.

“I’m a box full of surprises.” Sorren mock whispered against Gabriel’s ear. Gabriel and Sorren’s smells deepened. Their scent caused the other alphas’ to deepen as well. A hint at the growing arousal between the two. My smile tightened a little at the smell. A part of me wished I could be that way as well. I couldn’t explain why I was the way I was. It just wasn’t in my nature to find other people sexy or hot. I never liked the idea of uncovering myself in front of a person. I’d experimented by myself a couple of times, but I never wanted to have another person like that, and I probably never will. Graham guided Gabriel out of Sorren’s hold and held him close to his chest with a hand resting on the small of his back.

“Do you mind?” Graham asked, looking at Gabriel for permission. I wasn’t sure what he was asking till Gabriel nodded his head. Graham had placed a chaste kiss on Gabriel’s cheek before pulling away.

“If we don’t go now, we’ll be late,” Graham said as he double-checked his wristwatch.

“Let’s head to the car.” He continued. After a few more longing looks from Sorren and Finn, we left the house and got ready to make our way to the event.The ride wasn’t long before we got to the place. As Finn had warned, the event was surrounded by news reporters and people with cameras or desperate fans trying to get at least a single word from the celebrities passing by. The alphas were, however, really good at keeping the attention away from us as we walked into the building. The inside was just like I’d imagined. The bright lights irritated my omega eyes, and despite the descenters, all the other people's scents filled the room, making it a bit hard to breathe. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw large tables filled with bite-sized foods and waiters running all over the place with plates full of drinks. Sorren and Finn stood on opposite sides of Gabriel and me while Graham held up the back as they guided us into the large room.

“Try to stick with us, alright? We are having a hard time being around this many people with you two since we only just got to meet you. We would have liked more time to settle ourselves before going somewhere this public.” Graham said, talking between Gabriel and I’s heads. I tried to ignore the tingles from his breath on my ear. Not trusting my voice, I simply nodded. Gabriel did the same, likely feeling overwhelmed by how many people are here.

“I’m going to go get food,” I said, with a tone that let the four of them know I wouldn’t be changing my mind on the decision. I needed something as an excuse not to talk to people, just in case.

“I’ll go with you,” Finn spoke, putting his palm at the small of my back to guide me towards the tables with the food on them. I was looking through all my options when I heard a familiar voice a little ways away. Despite myself, I turned my head to look in the direction of the voice. There he was. He was the same as I remembered, and that thought crushed me more. Brett stood at the end of the tables in a black suit. His scent hit me, almost bringing me to my knees. Sage and Jasmine. His dark brown hair barely touched his eyes, which made the icy blue color stand out more. Next to him, a tiny strawberry blonde laughed at something he said and touched his chest affectionately. I knew she was an omega immediately, and I hated the feeling of remorse my heart pushed on me. I pushed the taste of bile from my mouth as I wrenched my eyes away from them.He doesn’t look tortured at all.They were the reason I even had to be on suppressants. My heart remorsed at the fact. I was over them. They rejected me after all, but it didn’t stop the feelings of hurt from rattling my body. I wanted to cry and punch a wall at the same time. They cheated on me. They broke me. I wasn’t enough.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Finn asked, touching my shoulder lightly. I looked away from Brett to see concern flooding Finn’s eyes. I needed to get away from here before I did something I regretted. Gabriel’s face popped into my mind. The urge to go to him was so strong.

“I need Gabriel.” I choked out. I felt my tears threatening to spill out. I needed Gabriel. Gabriel always made me feel better. Gabriel made the hurt goaway. Finn looked down at me, studying me. His mind seemed to click, and a look of determination crossed his face.

“Alright, let’s get Gabriel," he said, softly taking my hand and pulling me in the direction of the pack. I looked down at the wall, resisting the urge to look back.

“Is that who I think it is?” I stiffened as I heard a voice call from behind us. I felt Finn’s hand tightened around my hand.

“Do I know you?” Finn asked, turning away from me. I kept my head down, not wanting to look at Brett.

“Hmmm, no, not you. I was talking to the omega next to you. Lydia, isn’t it?” Brett responded. I quickly hid the hurt that stabbed me in the heart.He almost forgot my name.I took a deep breath to try and steady myself and looked up.

“Brett, I wish I could say it is nice to see you, but it isn’t,” I said, keeping my voice even. Brett’s face turned sour at my tone, but he quickly recovered from it.

“Who’s she?” The girl I originally saw Brett with asked. Brett wrapped his arm around her. Giggling, the girl touched his chest and kissed his cheek. My eyes involuntarily looked away from them.

“No one special, just someone I met once or twice,” Brett answered before kissing her deeply. I watched him look at me like he was trying to prove a point. A point he made pretty clear when he cheated on me.

“I hate to interrupt, but we were just leaving,” Finn said, his face stone cold. His hand had moved from my hand to the small of my back. He pressed closer to me, his scent giving me a small comfort. Before Brett could respond, Finn turned me around, and we started walking back to the pack. Finn’s pace was fast, but he paced himself well enough for me to keep up. Within seconds, we had come back to the pack. Immediately, I threw myself into Gabriel. His arms wrapped gently around me, squeezing me tight.

“What happened?” He asked me softly, brushing a strand of hair out of my eyes. I didn’t answer and instead pushed my face further into his neck.

“What happened?” Graham asked Finn. Gabriel’s neck obstructed my view, but I thought I saw Finn shake his head.

“Do you want to leave, Lydia?” I lifted my face from Gabriel’s neck to find Sorren crouching down to look me in the eye. His eyes were filled with concern and worry. Yes, I wanted to go. I didn’t want to be anywhere near Brett, but this was an important event for all of us. We couldn’t just leave because I can’t handle seeing an ex.Though he was more than that.I shook my head at Sorren’s question.

“You sure? We can go. None of us will mind. I can always have them ship me the trophy they plan on handing out. It’s not even real gold anyway.” He continued, his eyes never straying from me. I nodded firmly.

“This party is for you. You should be here to receive it. We can go once they give it to you.” I tried to say with confidence, keeping all my emotions at bay. This entire thing was for Sorren; he deserved to enjoy it at least for a minute. Sorren stared at me for several seconds before standing up to his full height.

“Fine, but we're leaving as soon as that trophy is in my hands.” He said in a tone that brokered no argument. I nodded, relenting to his decision.

“Okay.” I agreed quietly. As if on cue, a large man walked up to the stage. He stopped at the microphone in the middle of it and adjusted it to his height. After he cleared his throat, he started talking.

“Alright, Ladies and Gents. I think it’s time to finally get to the main event of this party.” He said, taking out a small card from his tux pocket. Everyone’s attention was now on him as he continued to speak. “For starters, I would like to thank you all for coming. As all of you know, this party and celebration is dedicated to Sorren Beckett. With his latest film, he earned the trophy for the best-directed movie of the year. Now, without further ado, I’d like the man of the night to come to the stage so we can officially do the handoff.” The man finished and looked around the crowd, trying to find Sorren.

“Looks like it’s my time to shine,” Sorren said, winking at me and Gabriel. He walked through the crowd with poise and confidence. I almost found it hard to believe this was the jokester and flirty alpha standing next to me moments before. He walked on that stage without a hint of the nervousness that I surely would have had if I had been up there. He said a few words of thanks to everyone and to the man who shared the stage with him before he was handed the trophy. He showed it to the crowd then walked off stage, waving to several people as he went. It only took a handful of minutes for him to share a few words with some of the guests before he managed to get back to us.

“Alright, let’s go. I’ve had enough people for today.” He said, shaking off the past few interactions he’d just had. We were about to leave when a brunette omega came up to us.

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