Knot Your Damn Omega (Slate City Omegaverse)
Knot Your Damn Omega: Chapter 10

The house was not what I expected. Granted, I hadn’t fully known what to expect, but the sprawling modern mansion on the edge of the city wasn’t it.

“Holy shit.” I stepped out of Luke’s car and stared.

“Let me guess,” Rylan said with a smirk. “You thought because we’re tattoo artists we lived in a dark basement of some kind?”

I shook my head. “Not at all. I just wasn’t expecting something this size.”

Ben winked. “We do okay.”

It made sense. Each of the guys were well known for what they did, and it was a fact people traveled from all over the world to have their ink done by one of the Nautilus men.

Wow.

A black car was already in the large gravel drive, and Wes stepped out as I approached, nodding. An older Alpha who’d been with Eva’s security for years, I trusted him with my life. I didn’t think anything bad was going to happen to me here, but the fact they’d encouraged me to bring a backup comfort person only made me feel better.

“I think I’m more nervous than I should be,” I said quietly.

“Nerves are good,” Kade said. “They keep you alert. And besides, would you be nervous if you didn’t want to be here?”

He was right. I was nervous because I did want to be here and a brutal hope was blooming in my chest. Once we went into the house, I was terrified there would be something which would make this fall apart. And I didn’t want it to fall apart.

The dream I’d always had of being loved and courted was so close it didn’t feel real.

“Okay,” I said, managing to take a breath. “Lead the way.” I followed them up the steps and Wes fell in behind me. “How are you, Wes?”

“I’m doing well, Miss Williams. Happy to help.”

“Thanks.”

Luke held the door open, and we all passed through. One glance backward showed me Luke shaking hands with Wes, and my stomach flipped. I remembered the pack of businessmen from a year ago whose home I visited. The farthest I’d gotten up until now. I’d had security with me then too, and they were so offended I would bring him that it ended everything.

They felt insulted by the gesture. So seeing them not only encourage me to bring someone but welcoming them eased some of my nerves.

The inside of the house was both stark and comfortable, though those words didn’t usually go hand in hand. But the clean lines mirrored the ones at Nautilus, combined with dark woods and plush white carpets which ran up the stairs. And here, in the entryway, was another painting.

More chunky paint, this one featuring an ombre gradient from a nearly neon yellow to a purple so deep it was basically black. “You have another one.” The words slipped out before I could stop them.

“You know Elyse Taylor’s work?” Luke stepped up beside me. “I’m a fan. We have a couple of other pieces, along with the one at the studio.”

I flushed hot, suddenly wishing I had more than a bra on under my hoodie so I could take it off. “I do know her work,” I said. “Very well. I can’t believe you have so many of her pieces. It’s…”

There were no words for it. And I couldn’t lie to them if we were really doing this, so I finally looked at Luke. “Thank you.”

The confusion crossed his face. “Thank you—” his eyes went wide. “Really?”

It wasn’t incredulous, it was awed. I nodded.

“What did I just miss?” Rylan asked, looking between us.

Fidgeting with the cuffs on my hoodie, I looked at the painting again, and then back at Rylan. “I’m Elyse Taylor. Or rather, that’s the name I sell my art under.”

“Holy shit.”

They were all looking at me now, but the way Luke looked at me made the floor drop a foot beneath my feet. Without warning, he reached out and pulled me to him, wrapping me fully in an embrace. This wasn’t an introductory hug. It was more than that. I gave in to what I wanted to do with all of them and simply breathed. His scent was stronger right now, floating around me like the air off the sea, and I was perfuming.

I pulled back because we were only in the entryway, and there was a hell of a lot more to see. “If we’re not careful, you’ll never get my scent out of here,” I said.

Bennett laughed. “You say that like it’s something we want to get rid of.”

My stomach swooped again. They were already so certain. I knew it too, down deep, but history had fucked me so many times, I couldn’t bear to give in only to have my hopes shattered. Again.

“Come on,” Avery said with a grin. “Let’s show you the place.”

The kitchen was first. Black marble floors and slick stainless steel made it look like one of those kitchens out of a design magazine, but still lived in. There was a kettle on the stove and mail on the counter. A tall bar with stools to sit on and a table next to a window which looked out over the backyard and the evening sky.

“Who designed this place?” I asked. “And the studio? ‘Cause so far everything is beautiful.”

“We did,” Rylan said. “Together. The studio too. A designer helped it all come together, the logistics and stuff. But it took forever, and I’m pretty sure Kade and Avery got into about three fistfights over things like tiles.”

I raised an eyebrow and Avery chuckled. “Not serious fights.”

On the pale countertop there was a crumpled pile of black fabric. “The infamous shirt?”

“I’m tempted to have you put it on,” Bennett said. “Another hit for when you have to leave.”

“Remind me later,” I said, smiling. Being here in their space was strange, but it would have to be for us to get past the awkwardness. “What’s next?”

The house was huge. There was a living room with a TV practically the size of the wall and a couch which looked like I could get lost sinking into it, and another one of my paintings. This one was fiery sunset colors.

Because the house was set on a hill, there was more room downstairs, where there was a gym and a pool, along with a room that contained a bar and pool table, another huge television, and a bunch of video games. That didn’t surprise me in the slightest.

“I think Rylan spends the most time down here,” Luke said with a chuckle. “But all of us at some point.”

“I think every pack probably needs a man cave,” I pointed out. “But I’ll kick any of your asses at pool.”

“You sure about that?” Kade asked. “Ben and I don’t play around.”

“Reasonably,” I looked between the two of them. “We’ll see.”

“Remind me to put it on the list of things to do,” Bennett said under his breath.

Back upstairs on the second and third floors were all the bedrooms. Because of the size of the house, everyone had plenty of space, and most of them had some kind of mini studio or work area in their room. Luke had a large drafting table near the windows, Avery had an easel, and Rylan had a mix of musical instruments along with his art supplies.

Each room felt like them. Clearly, when they’d designed this place, they’d taken a lot of time to make sure they loved it. This was a home they didn’t plan to leave.

“And, um…” Rylan cleared his throat. “Over here is the room we designed for our Omega. It’s still a blank slate.”

The ‘room’ was the entire right side of the house on the third floor. Rylan was correct—it was a blank slate. But it was beautiful all the same. Windows on the front wall, and an entrance to a bathroom I could already see was spacious. A walk-in closet. “There’s so much room.”

I was a little in awe. My house was lovely, but lay it all out flat and the entire thing was probably the size of this space.

“We wanted to make sure there was enough for whatever was needed.”

One wall curved near the bathroom in the corner. Nerves curled in my gut. “Is that—”

“The nest?” Kade finished. “Yes. There’s a connecting door through the bathroom, one from in here, and one from the hall.”

We went through the door in this room, into a hall pressed against the back of the house. The entire side of the hallway was a big window, leading into a circular room which also had windows curving around it. The space arched overhead, every curved wall except the windows covered in white cushions. The floor too.

“Here,” Luke said. At the entrance to the room, there was a panel of buttons. He touched one, and there was a soft whirring sound, a wall curving around into sight and blocking off the windows. It was covered in padded cushions as well. As soon as it settled into place, he flicked the lights on. They were dim and warm, and I immediately felt something click.

“The idea here,” Luke said, “was to be able to decorate it the way you wanted as well. Colors. Fabrics. Whatever.”

“This is amazing,” my voice was quiet. “It’s really beautiful. And you did it without knowing if you’d have an Omega.”

Avery stepped closer. “We’ve wanted one. Not just any Omega, but the right one, and we would always rather be prepared than scrambling.”

“Yeah.” It was an inadequate word, but it was all I had. Because I couldn’t stop staring at this soft, comfortable room and decorating it in my mind. It wouldn’t stay white, that was for sure.

“Why don’t you try it?” Rylan’s voice was soft.

My heart ached, and I took a step back. “Thank you, and I want to. But it’s not mine yet, and while I’m perfuming I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

They’d have to rip out the cushions to get the scent out.

“Esme, may I touch you?” The question came from my left, where Avery stood.

I nodded before he reached out and tugged me closer, arranging my back against his chest as he held me so I could still see the nest. Warm spices wrapped around me with traces of warm comfort. Like apple cider and hot chocolate in the fall. “There’s no right answer to this question, so you can’t get it wrong. But what does courting look like for you?”

Opening my mouth to answer, I realized I didn’t have one. When Eva’s guys courted her, it was fast and mostly private. I’d never gotten far enough to know what I liked or what I wanted when it came to it. “I don’t know. I’ve never had anyone interested enough to try.”

A growl came from my left, and I looked over to see Kade’s eyes on me, dark and direct.

“He’s fine,” Avery said. “Annoyed by the idea no one’s seen you for what you are.”

I didn’t know what to do with that. It was something so deep and so painful I didn’t want to think about it right now.

“Let me tell you what courting looks like for us.”

“You talked about it?”

“Not just when I met you,” Bennett grinned. “Long before that and after I met you. We have plenty of ideas.”

Avery’s arms tightened a fraction, and I startled, nearly forgetting he was holding me before I relaxed again into his warmth. It didn’t feel strange for him to hold me like this, despite only meeting him today. “For us, courting is more than just giving you gifts and asking the basic questions, though we want that too. But we want you to feel what it would be like to be in our pack and belong to us the way we would belong to you.”

Those words hit me in the gut, along with the same emotion I felt when they told me they wanted to court me in the first place. I closed my eyes so they couldn’t see how much I wanted it because it felt too vulnerable.

“Stay here with us if you like. Make this place your own. There are more important things than paint and cushions. Hell, if you want to paint your room every week, we’ll do it. But you don’t have to worry about something not being yours yet.”

I swore my perfume got stronger after hearing those words. This was all so fast, and it was too good to be true. It had to be, right?

“Just think about it,” he said gently. “We’re not going to force you. But know it’s where we stand.”

Glancing at the other pack members, I saw no signs of disagreement. “I’ll think about it.”

“Good,” Avery said, releasing me and turning me around. “Now, are you a pizza girl? We were thinking pizza and a movie. Something we can talk over if we need to.”

I laughed, appreciating the lighter topic. “Definitely a pizza girl. Meat lovers, cheese, whatever. No pineapple for me.”

“Good to know.”

I trailed behind them and looked back at the nest one more time before the lights flicked off. I’d never let myself imagine a nest. When my heats came I took the dampeners and holed up in my bedroom, just trying to get through them. Now I was afraid all I would see was the perfection of the nest behind me.

The guys were already halfway down the stairs, but Wes was with me. “What do you think?”

He looked surprised I asked, but Wes had been with my family for more than half my life. He knew me well, and his opinion mattered. “I think it’s a beautiful house.”

My heart started to sink, and then he continued.

“And I think even if these men lived in a dumpster I would have a hard time telling you to say no. You can’t see the way they look at you, but I can.”

“They don’t know me.”

He smiled gently. “It doesn’t matter, Esme. I knew Christy was my Omega the second I scented her. Jacob and Trey did as well. We didn’t need to get to know her to know that. And learning everything about her… not once did it make me question.”

Wes was happily mated, and it shone through him. If he said it— “How do they look at me?”

He chuckled as we descended the stairs. “Like the sun shines out your ass.”

I flushed, but smiled too. Having Wes say that made me steadier.

Avery was on his phone ordering the food, Rylan was flipping through movies on the giant television, and the others were missing, but I heard noises in the kitchen.

“What do you like to drink?” Luke asked when I entered.

“With pizza? I can do a beer. Or soda.”

Bennett’s head popped out from behind the refrigerator door. “We’ve got both.”

“Soda then.”

I didn’t want any part of this to be clouded. I just wanted them. “Bennett—”

“Ben.”

Blinking, I stared at him.

“Ben,” he said again with a smile. “Calling me Bennett is going to get exhausting, I promise.”

“Ben,” I said, not realizing how close he’d gotten. Now I was staring up at him, just like I had on the dance floor. His cupcake smell was swirling around me, and just like the rest of them, I couldn’t resist it. “You can’t do that or I’m just going to climb you again.”

He smirked. “Is that a promise?”

Kade placed a hand on my shoulder and guided me to the fridge. They had more than enough options to choose from. I grabbed one, still distracted by their scents. Would that ever get easier? Or would I always feel like their scents were perfection injected straight into my veins?

I needed to ask Eva.

Like I’d conjured her, I walked back into the living room and saw her face on the screen. The poster for one of her newer movies. “Feel like watching your twin?” Rylan asked.

“Umm…” I felt the divide in myself right now between the love for the woman who was my sister and the struggle with who she was. And watching her right now with the only pack who hadn’t preferred her to me? I didn’t think I could handle it. “No, thank you.”

He shrugged, not questioning it and flipping away to something else. I breathed a sigh of relief and turned to replace Kade watching me with eyes which saw too much. One corner of his mouth tipped up into a smile. “I won’t ask you tonight,” he said. “But I will ask.”

I swallowed. “It’s not that interesting.”

“On the contrary, I think anything about you will be interesting.”

Luke leaned against the doorframe and took a sip of his beer. “Elyse Taylor,” he said. “It’s like I knew what you were to us even through the paintings.”

The fact that they liked my work before they liked me meant everything. Now I knew when they complimented it the words were real.

“Why sell them under a different name?”

“Elyse is my middle name,” I told him. “And Taylor is my mother’s maiden name.”

“That’s not why you do it, though.”

I shrugged, moving to the couch and groaning as I sank into it just like I thought I would. “I want people to buy my paintings because they love them. Not because I’m a Williams sister or it’s somehow related to Eva. I get enough attention as it is. I don’t need more.”

“How about this?” Rylan asked. It was a generic action movie. I think I’d seen it when it came out, and it had Dante in it, so I was sure it would be fun.

“Sounds good. Though I’ll be honest, I’m not sure I’ll be able to focus on the movie when you all smell like this.”

Avery sat down on the couch next to me. “I’ll take that as a compliment. Now, the first of many questions.”

“Uh-oh,” I laughed. “The interrogation begins.”

His eyes sparkled with laughter. “Yes. But practical things first. Boundaries. Physical ones.”

Oh. Right. Because they’d all already hugged me, but Avery had asked permission to touch me. Luke hadn’t, but we’d both been so in the moment…

How much did I admit? It was embarrassing, but it wasn’t like they wouldn’t figure it out. “I’m pretty touch starved,” I finally said. “So touching is fine. And—” the fact that Wes was sitting in a discreet corner of the living room hearing me say this was burned in my brain. Thankfully, I knew he’d already been through a lot of this with Eva. “Kissing is fine, too. Great. Excellent.” None of the words sounded right and my mouth was suddenly dry. “Everything else let’s play by ear.”

“Perfect,” Avery said, pulling me across the short distance between us on the couch so we were pressed together. “Because I’ll say I know I’m not the only one having trouble keeping my hands off you.”

Luke sat on my other side, and suddenly I was drowning in warmth and perfect scent. “It’s a good thing I didn’t take the beer,” I whispered. “I’m going to be drunk on all of you in no time at all.”

Avery leaned closer. “I hope so, baby girl.”

My breath stilled in my chest, and I looked at him. I wasn’t completely sure why my whole body tingled when he said that, but I also knew it wouldn’t if it had been anyone else.

“It all right if I call you that?”

I nodded, unsure I could speak.

His eyes crinkled when he smiled, and I loved it. “If we’re overwhelming you, you need to tell us, okay? We don’t want you to run away from us because we came on too strong.”

“I’m not sure I could come on any stronger than literally climbing Ben on a dance floor, so…”

They laughed, and Rylan clicked play on the movie but kept it on low so we could talk if we wanted. But I didn’t want to talk right away. I leaned forward and put my drink on the table before cuddling down between the two of them.

It was like I’d run a marathon and was suddenly exhausted. Not sleepy, but tired in the way I just wanted to sit and feel that someone was touching me. Rylan was sitting on the floor in front of the couch, my legs brushing his shoulder. He curled one of his hands around my calf and squeezed, not stopping as he moved his hand up and down.

I couldn’t remember the last person to touch me—before Ben at the party—who wasn’t Eva or my mother.

Surrounded by them and their scents, my instincts were closer to the surface. I turned and slid my arms around Luke, laying my head on his chest. “I should ask you guys about boundaries too,” I said quietly.

“Touch me however you like, Esme,” Luke said. His lips brushed my forehead, and I whined. The sound was completely accidental.

Gently, Luke shifted us both so I was still holding him, but I was leaning more against Avery now so he could see my face. Blue eyes. A soft blue that bordered gray. Like the sea before a storm. “I’m going to kiss you,” Luke whispered. “Nothing more than that.”

He did, and I almost opened my eyes to see if I’d fallen through the floor. His kiss was confident and firm. Demanding in a way I wanted to respond to. Tender and easy, but not hesitant. This was an Alpha who knew exactly what he wanted, and it was me.

The kiss ended far too soon, but it was a good thing. Every pack member was staring at me, breathing in my perfume, which had exploded the second Luke’s lips hit mine. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize for that,” Kade briefly dropped his head into his hands. “You smell—fuck you smell incredible.”

“All right,” Rylan said, standing and stretching. “Move over. Time for some calming Beta cuddles before every Alpha in the room goes full rut before you’re ready.”

I felt the reluctance in both Avery and Luke, but Rylan wasn’t wrong. I was perfuming so much, it was a little shocking.

Avery moved to another seat and Luke slid away so he wasn’t touching me, and I missed the warmth. It was replaced by Rylan leaning back on the couch and pulling me onto his chest. His Beta scent was just as delicious as the others, if not quite as potent. Right now he smelled sweet like strawberry jam, and I sighed, relaxing into him.

Things were quiet as the action played out on the screen and my perfume calmed. Rylan’s hand stroked up and down my back, and I found myself relaxing so much I almost was asleep.

“Some date I am,” I mumbled. “Come over and fall asleep.”

Rylan laughed softly, the sound musical beneath my ear. “If we have our way, we’ll have plenty of time.” He pulled me up higher so my face was tucked under his chin. “This was probably overwhelming, especially since you didn’t know it was coming.”

It was. I couldn’t keep my eyes open now, fading down into comfort and Rylan’s summery scent. Even asleep, I was vaguely aware of voices. All of them, and Wes.

Finally, when I woke up, I was being lifted. It was dark outside the windows, and Kade was carrying me through the entry to Wes’s car.

“I fell asleep,” I whispered.

A rumbling chuckle. “Yes, you did, and I’m glad.”

“Why? You like boring?”

He set me gently on my feet next to the car, making sure I leaned against it and was steady. “No, because you felt safe enough with us to let yourself relax.”

“I had Wes.”

Kade inclined his head, his purr starting in his chest. The sound was heavy and loud, which had the effect of making me relaxed and drowsy again. “Yes, you did. But you still felt safe with us.”

“Yeah.”

“What I don’t want you to do is go home and think you disappointed us. You didn’t. This is the first step. All of us want to get to know you and everyone in your life. When we say we’re courting you, we mean it.”

I looked down at the ground, and he lifted my gaze back to his. “Like I said, I’m not going to ask you now. But whatever made you think you don’t deserve this is bullshit. Understand me?”

Out here in the nighttime darkness his eyes were black. Raw and hungry, and I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t quite believe it, because it had been too many times. “I’ll try.”

Leaning forward, he kissed my temple, and I leaned into it, savoring the rich scent of smoky oak. “Sleep well,” he whispered. “And we’ll see you very soon.”

“Okay.”

I was a little delirious as I slid into the back of the car, watching Kade as he watched me until we were out of sight.

“Thank you, Wes.”

“My pleasure, Miss Williams,” he said from up front. “They’re a good pack.”

“You think so?”

He smiled in the rearview mirror. “I do.”

I snuggled down deeper in the back seat, warm and comfy and surrounded by their scents. Imagining that kind of life? It was exactly what I wanted, and I didn’t ever want it to stop.