Page 9 of Trick Knot Treat

The fight goes out of me as he steps back, revealing Khione.

She walks in, and my mouth goes dry. I stumble backwards, lost in the shock of seeing her. I mean, I wanted the match with Zaire because I knew that he was the way in with her, but having her here, in his home, suddenly, with no warning.

I am caught and held up by Jace. Just this once, I will forgive him for manhandling me.

“Hi, Zaire Bear,” she says, and her voice is like sunshine, her whole smile is like a supernova.

How the hell does no one see her?

Whenever she’s around, she’s all I see.

His cheeks turn red, but he doesn’t snarl. He steps back, retreating as she walks in with massive and cute eyes the colour of the ocean shores. Seafoam eyes. This unbelievable and incredible colour that I can’t stop dreaming about. She’s got long blond hair and tanned skin. I know she keeps that hair in a plait and under a cap most of the time. The clothes she wears are baggy and hide her figure. She keeps her smile hidden and her eyes downcast.

It still makes no sense in the world why no one but me has noticed her.

I glance around and realise that I may have miscalculated because there are three alphas and me staring at her like she’s fallen from some kind of paradise.

“Khione,” Zaire murmurs. “This is…these are…”

He clamps the words between his teeth, frustrated as he casts a furious glare back at me.

“Felix, Clint, and Jace, yes, I know all of you.” She bounces forward, but I don’t miss her hesitation or the hint of salty sadness in her chemically suppressed scent. “I’m Khione. Zaire’s neighbour. I apologise for running off, I thought I left the oven on.”

Liar, I want to scream.

Oh…this all makes sense now. So much sense. These two are close, really close. I’m not going to be able to just say hello to Zaire to win her over.

The flustered, grumpy alpha is helpless in front of the omega. Not the omega, his omega, I realise instantly. I’ve been around enough scent matches that I know what I’m looking at. But wait…does…no one else realise what she is?

“Sorry, Khione? You must be new to Sunshine Cove, I can’t recall us ever having met,” Jace says with perfect schmooze as he steps around me.

My snarl is loud and long. Jace’s eyes fall on me and stay there.

“She has lived here for a year,” I enunciate with a bite of rage towards Clint and Jace.

Khione’s mouth drops open. “You know me?”

I snap my eyes back to her. “Of course, I know you. Khione Witlock. You paint the rocks.” I pull out my hand, revealing the three stones. “You have incredible talent. You like Milo and vegetarian pasties with tomato sauce while you read magazines, and you like the street vendors and op shopping.”

The whole room is silent.

My skin crawls, but I don’t look away from her.

“You noticed that?” Khione asks hesitantly.

“Of course. I’d have to be blind to not notice you.”

She moves closer to me, and I fall into her strangely compelling gaze as I always do. I really have to quit stalking her. She smells like cinnamon sugar that is buried under thick chemicals, but I can catch a hint of it every now and then. I love that scent so much. I just need to convince her to stop hiding her scent under those ridiculous patches and let it out.

Lickable. Completely and totally lickable.

She touches the three stones, turning them over, smiling at each design as if it’s an old friend. When her finger brushes my palm, I jolt, electricity twangs through my hand.

“You have all three? And you didn’t find a match?”

“I found a match,” I say but don’t elaborate, and I definitely ignore the alpha who growls at me. I found one, it just doesn’t involve any alphas. Nope, just one painfully shy omega who caught my eye. A year ago. In fact, the only reason I allowed Mum to enter me into these stupid events was to be matched with her, but imagine my rage when mum didn’t add her to the list.

Even after I deliberately suggested it, she still left her off. So, I refused to join. But seeing Asher and Zaire, and remembering them walking towards me on the beach two nights prior, I saw my chance, and I was taking it.