Page 54 of One for the Money
She’s simply spectacular. A more perfect Omega has never existed.
I want to hold her, to mark her with my scent so every fucking man in this circus knows she’s mine.
Once they get a whiff of her scent, they’re all going to want her.
Well, they can’t fucking have her.
A growl rumbles in my chest at the thought.
She’s mine! They can’t take her away from me. I’ve just found her, and she needs me.
“I need to…” she whimpers, wrapping her arms around her knees. She’s wearing one of my shirts that Matteo likes to steal, and I have to beg my cock to lie down for a minute and let me get my wits about me at the sight of her in my clothes.
“Do you need me to take you home, Doc?” Dario asks with a shaky voice. His pupils are wide, his face flushed, and I think he may be closer to a rut than I am.
Oh. That’s interesting.
Is Dario also a scent match? That would also mean his gloomy brother would be along for the ride. Honestly, I could think of worse people to form a pack with.
“I don’t trust any of you with her right now,” Matteo snaps.
“You’re not much better!” Dario points at Matteo’s crotch, where his cock is straining his sweatpants.
Huh. Are we all just standing around with our cocks pointed at Alex like she’s our true north?
It’s not unheard of for a Beta to scent match an Omega, but it is pretty rare. Not all Betas have strong enough pheromones to be compatible with Omegas. Maybe they’re a match, since I am? Wouldn’t that be lucky?
“Dexter,” she says through gasping tears. “Dexter can take me back.”
Rejection stings my eyes. Why would she want the one Alpha who wants nothing to do with Omegas over me? Her scent match?
Jude takes a step into the trailer, his massive body taking up way too much space. His dominance is off the charts right now, and I don’t appreciate him being so unleashed around my Omega. He’ll scare her off.
Maybe this is a pot calling the kettle black situation, but I need him to tone it back several levels before he scares her away.
“Not a good idea, Omega,” he rumbles, and she whimpers. “He doesn’t trust Omegas on a good day, and right now, you’re too potent. He won’t be able to be around you.”
“Besides.” Dario clears his throat and enters the trailer as well, pulling the door shut behind him. He’s wearing a pair of superhero pajama pants and a black tank top, all of his colorful tattoos on display. “I think you’re my scent match, which means you’re his too.”
Identical twins have identical DNA, which means that the differences in their pheromones are likely to be minimal. It must be weird growing up knowing you’ll share an Omega with your brother.
Scent matching is a biological chemical reaction that means our genetic compositions are so compatible that it’s almost impossible to resist being together, almost like soul mates, but on a chemical level.
Or some sciencey shit like that. I slept through most of biology class. My Omega can tutor me now.
Scent matches can help calm illnesses like what I have, Alpha Rot, but they also can be part of the cure for Foresaken Omega Syndrome, a degenerative Omega disease, and they can break an Omega out of Storm if needed. It’s magical, it’s scientific, and it’s undeniable.
So why is she trying to deny me?
She whines again, and all of us whimper in response, our instincts riding us to take care of her and fix whatever it is that is upsetting her.
However, how do we fix her when it’s our very presence that’s upsetting her?
“I’m not your scent match,” she says quietly. The placegoes so quiet, I think all of us are holding our breath. “I can’t be.”
Matteo, the gentle Beta that he is, knows that we’re about to overwhelm her with a shit ton of distressed Alpha pheromones at being denied, so he drops to the ground and crawls a little closer to her. He stops before he’s in touching distance, and she doesn’t back away from him.
Based on her lack of reaction to his proximity, I would wager that her trauma is isolated to Alphas. It upsets me that I’m not the one soothing her, but I’m happy to know our Beta can help calm her when I cannot.
