Page 12 of An Alpha’s Guide to Finding the One

I shake my head, amused but also confused. “Didn't you sit on it before you bought it?”

“Nah, Lucky furnished this entire room himself. I know Wyatt helped him get some of the heavier things up here, but he got a bug up his ass a few months ago about finishing this room and wouldn’t let any of us in here before now.”

If my mouth was open any wider my jaw would probably hit my knees. I try to speak, but he continues. “I guess now we know why he was so insistent. He spent enough at that little home decor shop in town that it probably paid several month’s of their rent.”

My eyes fill with tears, and Rhys sits up straight, immediately pulling me into his lap and cuddling me close. His deliciously sweet sugar cookie scent fills my nostrils and it relaxes me exactly the way it did in the hospital. “Woah, hey! I’m sorry. I’m sure it really wasn’t that much money. I was exaggerating because Lucky tends to go overboard.”

A hesitant, rattling purr starts in his chest and my body sags into it involuntarily. No one has ever purred for me before these men. Not even my dad when he was still around. “It’s not that,” I hiccup. “That was my store.”

There’s a break in the purr before it kicks up again twice as loud. Rhys soothes one large hand up and down my back, which does wonders to distract my system from the sudden deluge of sadness. “What do you mean when you say it was your store?”

I feel pathetic crying in his arms like this when he’s still little more than a stranger, but nothing about it feels wrong. I just feel like a needy omega, and being a needy omega was unacceptable in my house. “My mom opened that store after my dad left. I was maybe eight? I helped out from day one, but when I turned sixteen my mom gave me free reign to do as I pleased, and I all but took over. I did the ordering, inventory, I worked every day and did school right there at the front counter between customers. I was even set to take over after graduation. And I was obsessed with this stupid pink couch that felt like a cloud.” I glance up to gauge Rhys’s reaction, but he’s stoic. “That is actually how I ended up in the dorms in the first place,” I sigh heavily, turning my face into his neck for a less than subtle hit of his scent. Talking about my mom sends my anxiety through the roof, and I worry these alphas are going to agree with her. I’m too much, too needy, too omega. “She sold the store with no warning so she could retire to Florida with her latest shitty boyfriend. Only she didn’t just sell the store. She sold the apartment above it, too. The apartment we had lived in for the last eleven years. I had to move into the dorms and take whatever convenient last minute room they could find mid-semester.”

Rhys’s jaw is clenched when I finally gain the courage to look him in the eye again. There’s a muscle ticking there too, but his hand is still so gentle on my back. He clears his throat roughly, taking a deep breath. I know my scent is probably acrid right now, but being this close to him has it sweetening by the second. “So let me get this straight.” He grumbles angrily. “Your mother sold your future out from under you, sold your home, and you had to move into communal housing—all so she could chase some tail?”

I snort a laugh, but his expression doesn’t change. He looks truly angry. But not at me—for me. I nod slowly, placing one hand on his chest and rubbing small circles over the center. His purr has stopped, but his scent swells around us with each breath. “She did do all of that. And I was really angry, but…”

His head whips up, expression guarded. “But what?”

I sigh, not sure if I’m ready to admit this is probably the best case scenario in my current situation. “But, if none of that had happened, I wouldn’t have met Lucky. And if I hadn’t met Lucky…” I trail off, but place a hand on my bloated lower stomach. I don’t have a true bump yet, but it doesn’t stop Rhys from catching my meaning.

His blue eyes blaze as his tattooed hand covers mine. “So I guess I should be thanking your mom?”

“Oh god no,” I laugh, lightening the mood. “Don’t thank that woman for anything. She’s a nightmare on the best day. We haven’t even spoken since she left.”

Understanding dawns. “That’s why you don’t have health insurance.”

Oh, fuck.

Rhys must see my panic because those big hands immediately move up to cup my face. “We’ve got you, darlin’. You aren’t alone in this anymore. We’ll figure it out. Okay?”

I nod, and he smiles. “Good. Enough of the heavy shit. Ready to see the rest of your room?”

I nearly choke. “There’s more?”

He just laughs like I’m being cute again. I’m not sure how I feel about all of this amusement at my expense. I’m not cute, damn it. I’m a strong, intimidating, independent woman. Though that idea is almost proven false when he scoops me up like I weigh nothing and carries me across the room to two closed doors. Just as he reaches for the handle on the first one closest to the front of the room, a tentative knock sounds and Wyatt pokes his head in. When he sees Rhys’s hand outstretched, he grins shyly. “Oh good, I didn’t miss it.”

Rhys looks as confused as I feel. “Miss what?”

Wyatt’s teeth sink into his bottom lip, exposing a small gap between his front teeth I somehow didn’t notice in the hospital. “I wanted to be here for this part. It’s the one thing I didn’t let Lucky touch in here.”

Rhys steps back to let his packmate lead the way, and it makes me smile. I’ve seen too many alphas get territorial once an omega enters the picture, and the fact that Rhys is willingly stepping aside to give Wyatt the spotlight endears me to him even more. Maybe he’s not so scary, after all.

Wyatt nearly bounces on his toes, but I can’t tell if it’s from nerves or excitement. He opens the door to what I can only describe as paradise. A massive freestanding bathtub sits inside of a fully tiled open shower that could fit the entire pack easily. Where the bedroom is light and airy with bright colors everywhere, the bathroom is a serene mix of sage greens and light wood tones that match the rattan furniture in the bedroom.

I’m so busy gaping at the bathroom of my dreams that I don’t notice Wyatt until he’s right in front of me with a hand held out cautiously like he’s afraid I might bite.

Which, to be fair, I probably would if it was Lucky in front of me.

His sheepish smile is everything, and I can’t help but smile back as I place my hand in his. They’re not as big as Rhys’s, but they’re warm and calloused which makes sense if he works out a lot for football. “Come on, I’ve been dying to show you this.”

My curiosity is only piqued further when he leads me to the vanity and opens the doors beneath. “Lucky described your scent to me, so I tried to only get things I thought might complement it rather than clash. Plus all the usual scent canceling things for when you’re overwhelmed and need to be scent-free.”

He seems to be a nervous rambler, which is just another adorable piece to the puzzle that is Wyatt Hanna. “You did all this for me?” I can’t even pretend to hide the surprise in my tone. “You didn’t even know me. Or if Lucky would ever see me again.”

Wyatt shrugs, like this is no big deal. Like there isn’t an entire pharmacy’s worth of luxury bath products he bought based on the description of my scent. “Lucky has never cared about a hookup before,” he grimaces. “That sounds bad. He isn’t a total douche, I swear. He just always made sure they knew the score and never went back for a repeat. I have never seen him as twisted up as he’s been the last few months, since the night you shared. Lucky is basically my other half so I knew without having met you that you were special.”

“But what if he hadn’t found me?” My mind simply cannot wrap itself around the fact that Lucky created this space for me without even knowing if he would find me again, let alone bringing his best friend and pack mate into it. And for Wyatt to just jump in? No questions asked? It’s rewriting everything I thought I knew about alphas.