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Chapter 17
Declan
It was time for my one-on-one date with Piper. I had been looking forward to this since the moment she said yes. If I was being honest with myself, I had been pining over her since I saw her behind the glass at my physical therapist’s office. In my opinion, it was destiny that she turned out to be the omega that Aiden had been obsessed with. Now I could get her all to myself, and also see if she really could fit in with us. Despite Dominic’s reservations, I thought we might have a fighting chance.
I straightened my sweater out and headed for the door after one last glance in the mirror. “Hold on, before you go.” Dominic reached for me, nuzzling me with his scruff before turning away. A warmth blossomed in me before I realized what he had just done.
“Hey - you didn’t have to do that!” He had just scent-marked me before I went on my date. Not that Piper would necessarily know the significance of it, but I wanted to smell just of me, a beta, when I met with her.
“What? If she wants to be with a pack she’ll need to get used to my scent all over you.” He replied without looking back. I sighed and turned to leave. Either way, according to what Aiden had told me her sense of smell wasn’t fully developed yet so I thought it might not matter. I set off to go pick her up, thrumming the steering wheel with my fingers to some music to calm my mind before pulling up through the gates of the Omega House. My anxiety was more about impressing her, but it didn’t help that I had to be ID checked at the gate and walked to a separate wing to pick her up. I understood why - most alphas who courted here would go crazy if they were anywhere near such a large group of unmated omegas.
Once I had officially been allowed inside the guest wing, Piper came out to meet me. Her face looked unsure, so I beamed at her until she visibly brightened. I held out my arm and she stepped toward me timidly to grasp it. “I’m so glad you came.” She said in an almost whisper, and I patted her hand reassuringly.
“As if I would be able to stay away from a woman like you! Come on, I have the best date planned.” As we made our way out of the building I noticed she was a bit more relaxed than the night we had officially met. Still no scent on her, which was good. I could take her somewhere semi-public and not worry about her pre-heat hitting. My date was going to be a little different than Aiden’s. He liked five-star dining, but Piper wanted to explore, or so I heard. I decided to take her to a food truck festival that popped up nightly in our town.
“Declan! This is so cool!” She practically sprung out of the car when she saw the variety of food trucks scattered about in the parking lot. There was something to fit every taste. “I don’t know what to pick!” She walked around, looking at each food truck and the plates people were carrying. I stood next to her and placed my hand on her shoulder. I didn’t fail to notice that she leaned into me without realizing it.
“Why don’t we try a bit of everything? I’ll get a few plates, you pick a few, and we can share.” She nodded, her eyes wide with all the options. But I saw that as we picked out food, she seemed to hesitate every time. She was holding back. Aiden had said that she might have reservations about money, so I knew there was some sort of financial hang-up that she was holding on to. Standing next to her, I handed her a plate from one of the trucks we had just visited. “Piper, everything is on me. Please, don’t argue.” I stopped her as she protested. “It’s my pleasure. And I don’t expect anything from you - if you walk away tonight and decide you never want to see me again, it would still be worth ten times this price just to have been around you.” She must not have had anyone treat her well in a long time, because her eyes teared up a bit at my words. It broke my heart - how could anyone treat her less than the princess she was? We weren’t even at a sit-down restaurant, something most omegas would consider a bare minimum. Wherever she was from, she clearly hadn’t been valued or taken care of. I decided for myself that if she stayed with us she would never feel that way again.
Several mini-meals later, Piper was in good spirits and getting more comfortable around me. “Thank you for the food. I’m sorry if I was awkward about it. Where I’m from, we don’t date like this.” I took a bite out of a grilled cheese sandwich.
“What is dating like in your world?” She chewed on some fries and frowned.
“Well, I guess itcouldbe like this. I only ever dated a few guys, and never really had time for it. The ones I did date, well, we never really went out.” Where she was from sounded awful. Who wouldn’t want to spoil her?
“What did you do then?”
“Well, not a whole lot. I was busy working all the time. My last boyfriend lost his job and was more than happy to let me support both of us. I worked a lot and was too tired and broke to go out, and he couldn’t seem to find the motivation to hang out with me. Anyways, with money so tight it just wasn’t worth going out.” She stopped speaking as a low growl erupted from my chest. Who would ever treat their female this way? Her world was awful. I cleared my throat.
“Well, things don’t work like that here. I don’t know if you have realized this yet, but omegas are revered.” I gave her a wink as I took another bite.
“Yea, revered and treated like a child.” Her bitter words gave me pause.
“You don’t like being an omega? I’m sorry, it's just, many people dream of becoming one. You can get your choice of a pack, and you never have to work again. Omegas are cherished.” She spun to face me, throwing her arms open.
“Yes, and also kept as a pet! I want to do things like this, live my life, but the only way I can get out of curfew is if I’m on a date!” Her words stung, and she realized what she had said. “It’s not that I don’t want to be here with you, I do. This is incredible. But I can’t do any of it alone. It’s like I finally got a chance to relax and do all of the things I want, except now I have to deal with all these hormones, these scents… It’s just a lot. And I miss my independence.” Her face looked so sad that I couldn’t help but pull her to me. My arm curled around her, and her heart was beating a bit faster once I had her against my side.
“Listen Piper, don’t ever feel bad about your designation. If you want to explore the world, you can. And if there’s anything I can do to help you, you say the word.” Her body started to melt as I held her, smoothing her arms with my hands. She was intoxicating. I had to end the hug before I got too excited. After all, we were still in public.
We moved to the line for some boba tea, which she hadn’t tried before. “You’re in for a treat. Also, we’ll get these to go - we still have to catch a movie.” She grinned as I handed her a purple tea with brown sugar boba pearls. “Well? What do you think?” She tasted the drink and her eyes rolled up as she moaned.
“It’s incredible!” I took a deep breath and turned to discreetly adjust myself. If she kept making that moaning noise I was going to have a struggle ahead of me trying to make it through the movie later. I pulled her in close and gave her a kiss on the top of her head without thinking. Her face blushed as she took another sip of her tea. She was adorable. There was no way I was letting her slip through our fingers, even if that meant taking her traveling every week to satisfy her urge to explore. I threaded my fingers through hers, leading her to my car. We still needed to get to the next part of the date.
The movie was another surprise for her - it was an outdoor experience at a local park where they projected the film onto a big screen. The place was usually filled with packs and families spread out all over. Normally we could watch from the car, or rent a paddle boat and watch from the small lake in the middle of the park. However, I had arranged for a small blanket with a gauzy tent to be set up, complete with a picnic basket, pillows, and fairy lights where we could watch the movie from a grassy hill. Her hand squeezed in tightly when I walked her up to it.
“This is for us?” Her voice hitched, and I led her to the cozy setup.
“Yes, well, it’s an outdoor movie, so I had to dress it up a little. A car might be too cramped.” Stars were practically flying from her eyes as she appraised everything. My chest puffed up with pride, happy to know I had pleased an omega. Someone soft and gentle like her would help balance out our pack. Piper also had an adventurous side to her that would compliment Aiden, and even Dominic - although he probably wouldn’t admit it just yet. That was where I would come in - we could bridge this. I didn’t think she would deny the pack dynamics once she was with all of us together. She didn’t know what she liked yet, but I knew from the way her pupils blew out when she saw Dominic and I kiss the other night that she was more interested in us than we all initially thought.
She snuggled up to me on the pillows as I poured us a glass of champagne and prepared a charcuterie dish from the picnic basket. I felt her nose graze me slightly as she breathed into my neck when we settled back to watch the opening credits. “Declan, you smell sogood. And different - are you wearing cologne?” I chuckled a bit. Some men wore cologne, especially ones who wanted a boost of artificial Alpha or Omega pheromones, but most people preferred to wear their natural scent. I wanted to smell hers so badly. Once she was eased off her suppressants, the Omega House would send us a sample of her developed scent. Aiden had said from the little that he could smell, it was mind-blowing.
“What you are smelling is a bit of Dominic on me.” Her eyes widened as her lips parted. “He does tend to scent mark me often.” I wasn’t going to hold back on the details of our relationship, she needed to know what he and I meant to each other.
“So… he puts that smell on you?” I nodded, letting her lean in again to take another breath. “It smells so good mixed with your scent.” Well, that was a good sign. Her face dropped slightly. “He doesn’t like me as much, does he?”
“He’s just got a bit of a wall around him. I promise once you get to know him, you’ll see his real side. We haven’t had the best luck with omegas in the past, and it’s hard to open up once you’ve been burned.” She nodded, sucking on her lower lip. I wanted to reach over and suck on it as well, taste her, and own her. But that would come later.
“Can I ask what happened?” I leaned back, running my fingers across her arm as she nestled in next to me. I suppose we had to have the conversation eventually.
