Page 27 of Their Knotty Pack
By the time we make it upstairs with Hannah's pack, Cady is leading a very rumpled looking Archie and Mattie into the room, both of them flushed and hair messed up. Huh. I guess they were fucking.
Unconsciously, I glance at Cady, just to see if there's a hint of jealousy. But all I see is adoration as she runs her hands through Archie's hair, attempting to tame it. She presses a gentle kiss to his lips and he chases her mouth, immediately pushing his tongue inside.
Well, shit.
"Cuciollo," Mattie chastises, running hands through his own hair. "Our friends are here."
Archie pulls back, totally unrepentant as he gives Cady a once over.
"Fuck, guys," Ollie says in Archie and Mattie's direction as he bounds up the stairs, followed by Titus and his brother Enzo before he flops onto one of the couches. "Did you at least get to finish?"
"Ollie!" Cady gasps, stifling a laugh.
Mattie just shakes his head as he fixes his cuff links, but Archie gives a wink. "Oh, we both did."
I give Miles a knowing look. "See? Sassy."
I don't miss the way his eyes linger on the three of them though. Archie, Mattie, and Cady. Something like longing fills his gaze, but then, as quickly as it appeared, it vanishes.
"What are we doing up here?" Titus asks from his spot where he's leaning against the wall. It's weird to see him out of his usual cargo pants and boots. "Ollie said something about 'the fate of the world'?" He raises a brow then spots me. "Hey Beth. Who's your friend?"
I take a deep breath, turning to face the room. I'm completely aware that I orchestrated this entire situation. However, I did not expect Ollie to gather the masses and require me to make a public speech.
"This is Miles. He's my true scent match, and he's also an omega."
Titus' eyes soften. "Ah, that's great, Beth. Congratulations. Am I missing something about the fate of the world then?"
"Why don't you all…take a seat?" Miles moves to go with the rest of them, but I hold out a hand, keeping him with me. Hannah, Cady, Ollie, Charlie, and Simon all take the couches while Noah, Austin, Arch, and Mattie sit on the floor, and the Mendez brothers stand sentry behind the couches, their arms both crossed in matching poses.
"So, seven months ago, I found my pack with another omega." I ignore the string of pitying expressions, and Titus' murderous one. "Miles…played a part in that."
There's a varying degree of shock that ripples throughout the group, and I quickly add, "But none of it was his fault. He blames himself though. So, I want to give you guys, an impartial party," Archie snorts, no doubt at my use of the word 'impartial', "to tell him that he has nothing to feel guilty about."
"I mean," Charlie shrugs from his spot on the couch as he addresses Miles, "if anything, you'll know at least Archie is biased towards Bethany, so ifhesays you don't have anything to be guiltyover…"
"Did you know the pack already had an omega?" Titus asks stiffly, and Miles quickly shakes his head.
"No, it was…it was an OMS date."
Cady frowns. "That doesn't make any sense."
"Let me start from the beginning then," I say, wrapping my arms around myself. "After I got matched with and started courting Pack Hansen, instead of throwing out their scent cards from the binders…I kept it. It was sort of a…a security blanket."
"I can understand that," Hannah says quietly.
Nodding, I continue, "But, one day, I must have left it in the room, or it fell out of my coat pocket or something. I'm assuming someone on the janitorial staff thought they were doing us a favor and put it back in its original binder—it was still in numerical order. So when I was out of town visiting Mom and Dad, Miles had his OMS appointment. I guess it wasmyscent that drew his attention—"
"Because you'd been handling the card for years." Simon nods.
"All I knew was that I had to meet the person who possessed that scent," Miles says, a wistful look coming over his face. "I thought maybe they had a female alpha, since it was so floral, but then I got to the date and…" and a look of pure loathing comes over his face, "I metthem.I thought maybe I had scented someone's shampoo. I didn't know who Bethany was when I saw her looking over at us, but I hadn't been able to get her out of my mind. She ran when one of them tried to kiss me, and I left the restaurant right after. It wasn't until last month that I went to the OMS again in search of a pack with a female alpha and…Bethany was working. The rest is history. But the fact remains, if I hadn't gone out with her pack—"
"Then she'd still be stuck with those condescending, narcissistic, elitist assholes," Archie finishes for him, then looks at my shocked face. "What? I never liked them, but Mom and Dad told me to keep my opinions to myself."
The rest of his pack murmurs in agreement.
"It sounds like Miles' unintentional 'stealing' of the pack was a fortunate accident," Enzo chimes in, nodding. "If this pack is anything how Archie just described, then I'd say you're better off without them. Especially if they agreed to meet another omega when they already had you at home."
"They claim they thought I was okay with it." I roll my eyes. "Since I work at the OMS, I must have known their card was in there." Shaking my head, I thread my fingers through Miles'. "So? All in favor of Miles needing to feel guilty for the part he played in me leaving my pack?" Not one person raises their hand. "All in favor of him letting go of his guilt because my life is better off with him in it?" All the hands shoot up, and I turn to Miles, who wears a relieved looking smile on his face. "See?"
