Page 11 of An Alpha’s Guide to Finding the One

I watch a million emotions fly across her face before she finally settles on resignation. I can see why Lucky has been so obsessed with her; she’s surprised me at every turn thus far. This little omega is going to keep us on our toes, I already know it.

Lainey’s dorm is still under investigation after the fire when she’s discharged a few hours later, so we bundle her up and take her straight to the pack house. I was raised in an upper middle class family in Georgia, but Law and Luck were on another level. Their dad was a successful real estate developer and their mom was a nurse practitioner with old family money, so they were very well off when they passed, and our pack house reflects that.

It isn’t ostentatious, but it is a six bedroom, seven bathroom, New England style “cottage” with a pack bedroom overlooking the harbor, a home theater, hot tub, like four fireplaces, and a fully stocked library with floor to ceiling shelves.

Okay, so it might be ostentatious. But it’s our home. The place we’re bringing our omega home to and where we will hopefully bring our baby home to, as well.

We all took separate cars to the hospital and I got the honor of driving her home, which means I get to sneak peeks at her expression as we pull into the wraparound driveway. Her jaw drops and draws my attention to a little mole on her neck. The thought of kissing it makes my lips tingle and I turn away before she catches me staring like a creep. Putting the car in park, I turn with the gentlest smile I can muster. Which likely isn’t all too gentle given the piercings and tattoos. “You ready to see your new home?”

She nods and takes a deep breath, drawing my attention to the swell of her breasts beneath the hospital branded t-shirt we bought at the gift shop when we realized she didn’t have any clothes to wear home from the hospital. I feel like a bastard for looking when she’s so vulnerable so I turn away and exit the car as fast as I can, rounding the hood to open Lainey’s door for her.

“Oh! You don’t have to⁠—”

“I want to,” I interrupt her.

She doesn’t say anything else, and I lead her up the stairs to the front door, where Lucky is waiting with a stupid grin that takes up his entire face. I’m mentally writing my speech about him scaring her off when Lainey pipes up from beside me.

“Wow ball boy, kinda thought you would get lost on the way back. Not sure if I’m happy or disappointed you didn’t.”

I choke on a laugh, coughing into my fist as Lucky’s grin gets impossibly bigger. Now I’m starting to understand what Wyatt meant when he called her the dog walker. My pack mate is panting after her like a hungry puppy and Lainey looks all too reluctant to be the one holding the leash. Clearing my throat, I lead the sassy little thing past Luck and into the foyer. She’s looking around like she can’t believe what she’s seeing before she turns to me with wide eyes. “This is like… a real house.”

“As opposed to a doll house?”

She laughs quietly, eyes flicking around the space like they can’t decide what to settle on first. “No, smart ass. I just mean I thought you guys would be in an apartment or maybe the dorms. I thought Lucky lived in the football house…” she trails off and looks to him for confirmation.

He blushes as soon as her eyes land on him and shoves his hands in his pockets. “I do have a room there if I need to crash after a night out or a late game and don’t want to drive home, but no, we all live here.”

Lawson clomps down the stairs in his heavy work boots, drawing our attention. I can practically smell the stress coming off him in waves, turning his gingerbread scent so spicy it burns my nose and throat. I watch as his green eyes scan Lainey from head to toe once, then twice, before finally settling into something calmer. “Hey,” he murmurs. I’m not used to my best friend being so soft, but it makes sense. He has to make decisions all day, every day, some of which are in high stress, life or death situations. I hope Lainey can give him a soft place to land and be a source of comfort eventually. “Your room is ready upstairs. Double doors down at the very end. Tomorrow when you’re feeling a little more settled we can take you into town and get you everything you’ll need to stay here for a while, if that’s alright with you.”

The last bit is added almost as an afterthought, and I have to fight not to laugh. Law isn’t used to asking. At work he just barks orders and people hop to, but I think he knows as well as we do this omega is skittish and wouldn’t allow any of us to boss her around.

I wonder if that’ll change when we’re naked.

The thought of Lainey submitting to me sends a shiver down my spine, but I shove it away. Now is not the time to think about getting my omega naked. “Should we go see if we can scrounge up some soft blankets for your room until you can get a few tomorrow, darlin’?”

She nods reluctantly, but as soon as we’re halfway up the stairs and away from the prying eyes of our pack, her hand lands on my arm, squeezing so tight I think it might actually bruise. My wide eyes find hers only to see panic filling those pretty brown eyes. “Rhys, I can’t afford to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe! Not to mention replacing all of my nesting materials, textbooks, supplies, my phone, laptop. Oh my god, how am I going to⁠—”

My omega is spiraling, and the acrid scent of rancid berries drives my alpha to do something stupid. I slant my mouth over hers and seal our lips together, desperate to distract her and stem the flow of terrified pheromones seeping from her body. I keep it short, but it does the trick anyway. Her body melts into mine with the familiarity of two lovers that have been together for decades rather than two strangers who fell into a scent match less than forty-eight hours ago. Her lips are soft against mine, breath sweet like her scent, and it takes everything in me to pull away and be the steady presence she so desperately needs in this moment. “Listen to me very carefully, Lainey.” The use of her real name gets her attention, eyes snapping to mine even as her chest heaves. “First of all, the phone is a nonissue. Law found it at the scene and snuck it out for you in case you needed to get ahold of anyone.” I hand her the shitty little brick phone which somehow came out of the fire completely unscathed. “Second, Lawson and Lucky are very well off. I won’t go into specifics because that’s tacky and not my story to tell, but know that they could buy you a damned house in the Bahamas and it would be less than a drop in the bucket of their combined net worth. We aren’t asking you to pay for a damn thing. In fact, I will personally make sure you don’t. You don’t know us yet, and I know it’s scary to rely on strangers. But you said it yourself, you don’t have anyone else close enough to help, and you’re carrying our baby. Let us do this. Let us help you, help this little bean.” I place my hand on her belly, immensely pleased when she melts into me. “Please, darlin’.” I’m practically begging, but I couldn’t care less. The need to care for her is a driving force behind everything right now. Every single one of us would rather walk across a parking lot full of angry rattlers before letting her lift a single finger right now.

It feels like I’ve won a battle when she quietly agrees and leans into me, allowing me to wrap my arms around her waist in a gesture that’s soothing me as much as it is her. God, it’s almost unbelievable how well she’s handling everything. We’ll have to keep an eye on her the next few days and make sure she isn’t repressing her emotions about it all. It seems like our little darlin’ has been on her own longer than we know, and she won’t ever have to be again. Lainey Ryan is our omega, and I’ll make damn sure she knows it.

I should be feeling something bad, right? I mean, there’s obviously the metric ton of guilt for even the thought of allowing this pack to buy me things. But what about everything else I should be feeling? Devastation over my dorm burning down and losing all of my worldly possessions and my nest. Suspicion over this pack of strange alphas that showed up and claimed to be my scent matches. Being “invited”, but actually ordered, to live in their home with no end date in sight. Any one of those things would send an omega into a full blown meltdown, so why am I following Rhys around like a lost puppy with butterflies in my tummy after that kiss?

Maybe I have finally cracked. All the stuff with my mom, losing the store and my home, and now all of this? My brain has just decided we don’t have the capacity to be process any of it so I’m coasting along like a perfect little trophy omega for them to pose as they please.

But that’s not true either, is it? Because I was mean to Lucky — again — and they just laughed like I was being funny. Not a hint of disappointment or irritation at me being rude to one of their pack mates. Just genuine amusement, like my ire was cute.

It’s kind of irritating, if I let myself think too much about it.

But I don’t, because Rhys is opening a set of double doors to the most beautiful bedroom I’ve ever seen in my life, and I forget all about my budding irritation. On the back wall in the middle of the room is a massive rattan bed that looks like it could fit five or six grown alphas comfortably, outfitted in plush bedding that’s the most gorgeous soft butter yellow. There are just enough pillows that the bed looks like a cloud, but not so many I couldn’t hop in for a nap right now. And on either side are matching rattan nightstands in a beautiful light oak.

The walls are white, but not offensively so. More of a gentle cream color than a true white that would hurt sleepy eyes in the morning. Massive picture windows line said walls and behind the gauzy curtains is a view better than any painting I could imagine. The house sits at the edge of a private beach, meaning this room looks out over the ocean, with a large lighthouse just visible from the edge of the window.

Further into the room is a cozy seating area and when my eyes land on the couch, I gasp, hurrying over to it. That’s my couch. I turn to Rhys with wide eyes to find him already watching me. There’s a quirk to his brow and a small smile on his lips, but I have no idea what he’s thinking. “This is my couch.”

He cocks his head, that brow inching higher and making his piercing glint against the afternoon sunlight. “What do you mean, darlin’?”

I sink down into the plush pink cushion, squealing in delight. Rhys follows me over, taking a seat next to me and groaning as he does. “Holy shit, is this thing made of clouds?”