It takes us less than two minutes to walk the block and a half to the store, and thank fuck for the heater in here. I didn’t realize how cold it was until I started walking, but winter and I are not friends. The air inside is warm and a sweet smell tickles my nose in the most amazing way. From the way Garret groans beside me, I'm guessing he smells it too. I need to find the bakery in this place and get some of whatever the fuck that is.
Garret practically marches over me, headed down the main aisle—his head swinging from side to side, nose twitching as he searches for whatever's giving off that amazing scent. He stops suddenly, head turned to the right, and I plow into his back before I can catch myself. He’s like a solid fucking wall right now and I just bounce off him, ready to give him hell for stopping so suddenly.
But when I look at his face, all I see is hunger. His pupils are blown, and his nostrils flare as he takes in the source of the scent. There’s a woman down the aisle, omega if I had to guess from the scent, long brown hair pulled up in a ponytail, silver glasses perched on the end of her nose as she scrolls through her phone, adding things to her shopping cart. It feels like iron bands circle my chest, and I can’t breathe.
Garret growls low and deep in his throat and I can relate. The scent coming off this girl smells like spicy cookie heaven, cinnamon and vanilla with a tiny hint of something floral. Who the fuck let an unbonded omega go to the store alone? I know this is a small town, but come on people, safety! Anybody could show up. Case in point as I reach for Garret’s arm, trying to stop him as he marches towards the girl.
And sheisa girl, probably a few years younger than us. At most I'd say she's in her early twenties I would say at most. Where the hell is her guardian? I catch up with Garret halfway down the aisle and wrap my arms around his chest, trying to distract him long enough to come to his senses. “Dude, what the fuck! You can’t go around accosting random omegas. Her alphas are probably in this fucking store. Do you want your ass kicked?” His growl ratchets up at my statement about her having possible alphas, and we finally draw enough attention to ourselves that she notices.
She takes us in, a quick up and down, and then lowers her head and scurries away as fast as she can push her cart.Fucking hell.Garret shakes me off and stalks after her. “She’s ours. Can’t you smell it?” Unfortunately, I can smell it. I know exactly what he means. Everything about this scent screams out that it’s mine, and that’s not gonna work for me. I came to this town to get Teddy and no delicious smelling grocery store omega is going to change that. But I don’t want to fight with him right now, so I need to get this shit sorted out.
“Ok, I’ll look for her. You go find us some food. You’re acting a little nuts right now, man. You’ll scare her off if you keep this shit up.” His eyes squint at me, assessing if he can trust me in this, but eventually he just nods and walks towards the end of the aisle where she disappeared. He looks up, taking in the store map signs before nodding back at me and turning away from the direction of her escape. Hopefully, once we get some food in him, he’ll be less feral, and with any luck, she’ll be long gone.
Garret
Iknow Steve's gonna be pissed, but I can’t walk away from this. I make sure he sees me turn down away from the omega that just rewrote my fucking world, and I go down two aisles before doubling back behind him. I glance down the aisle I left him on, and he’s still there, staring intently at the ceiling. I don’t know what exactly is going through his head, but I don’t care right now. I know he loves Teddy. He’s always loved Teddy, and I’m man enough to admit that there were times when I felt like the odd man out with my own twin.
Maybe I’m being petty, but I just want someone to want me, not my family name, not our family money, not because twinsare a novelty…just me. I want to be enough for someone…just once. Teddy’s great. He was almost as close to me as Steve—I would have been happy to be in a pack with him. But I’ve never been attracted to him the way Steve has, and I’m pretty sure the feeling’s mutual. He’s my friend, but I can’t be in a pack with just the three of us.
I let Steve believe that I agree with Pops and Gramps, but the truth is, I don’t really care if we never have kids. I don’t hate children, I just never imagined my life with them. But while I don’t want to lose my brother, I can’t live the rest of my life feeling like a third wheel.
Hurrying through the store, I keep a watch out for the pretty omega. I can scent her, but I don’t see her anywhere. Heading towards the front of the store, I hope I can catch her before she leaves. Even if I can just get her name, I can try to find out more. Maybe somebody at the garage knows her. It’s a small town, everybody knows everybody else, right? I speed walk past the cash registers and see a light brown ponytail disappearing out the door—I run to catch up.
There she is, in the parking lot, just standing on the sidewalk, cart full of bags. I wonder if she needs a ride somewhere.
Shit, the SUV’s at the shop. I bet I could carry all those bags to the shop for her, then offer her a ride once the it’s fixed. Will she think I’m a creep if I offer? Fuck, that sounds creepy even to me. Ok, play it cool.
Still, gotta give it a try. “Hi, um, Miss, do you need some help?” She turns towards me and draws back. She’s bigger than most of the omegas I’ve met, but I’m still a good head and shoulders taller. I stop with several feet still between us. “Sorry, it’s just really cold out here, and well, our SUV’s down at the shop, but we can give you a ride once we get it fixed. That is, um, if you need one? I don’t know how long it’s gonna be, though, sorry.”
Fucking hell, I sound like a babbling idiot.
And she’s staring.
Great.
Her brows draw down, an angry look marring her pretty features. “Sorry, I’m waiting for my pack to come pick me up. And my name’s Kelly, not sweetheart.”
Steve’s right.
I am such a fucking asshole.
Chapter 24
Icall Teddy after I ate a quick sandwich at the diner. I feel better just hearing his voice. I have to apologize a few times for making them worry, since they know I should have been home already. Still, they agree to come by and pick me up to take me to the clerk’s office and then take any groceries I get back to the house. I don’t know how much longer my car’s going to be, but I don’t want to miss the clerk today and then have to wait until tomorrow or later to finish filing our pack registration.
The store’s pretty empty this time of day, and I can make it through the list that Sam sent fairly quickly. I don’t recognize everything there, but that’s why they make labels. I'm walking down the bread aisle since the list says bagels…but there are five different flavors. I message Sam and Teddy back to ask which ones they want while I grab a loaf of whole wheat bread off the shelf. I know Sam has his bread box with everything but the kitchen sink, but I feel kind of twitchy right now, and just need something familiar. Besides, if I get that and a jar of peanut butter I can take it back to the office for Xan, Ray, and Sal. Ok, probably not Xan, since Jacks usually packs him a lunch.
My phone vibrates with a group chat from Teddy and Sam. Teddy asks for both cinnamon and blueberry bagels, and Sam needs everything bagels. I look at the shelf and grab those, then toss in an onion bagel for myself, because I’m feeling adventurous. Marking bagels off the list, I hear a loud scuffle and hushed whispers. As I look towards the center aisle, there are two large guys that I don’t recognize standing there.
Both of them big, both tall…probably alphas going by the size and the pheromones coming off of them. The one in front's a classic pretty boy with tanned skin, short blond hair and big blue eyes. His pupils go wide as he stares at me, nostrils flaring. The face peering over his shoulder is identical in structure, but the similarity ends there.
His eyes are a vivid emerald green, his hair longer, and bleached white, the roots a darker brown than his friend’s blond. It seems to be pulled back into a short ponytail. Not as long as Teddy’s, but past his shoulders. The whole look combined with his pale skin and how gaunt he is almost makes him appear skeletal. It’s an unusual enough aesthetic that I would have remembered seeing him around town. His arms are wrapped tightly around the bronze god in front of him. And he has tattoos on both hands. Most of his body is blocked, but they look similar enough to be related.
Either way, I’m out. I grab my cart and hurry away, figuring Sam can come back to the store later for whatever I missed, but these two are creeping me out. Raised voices sound behind me as I make a beeline for the front of the store and the checkouts. It’s not a lot more people, but it’s something. Pulling up my phone again, I send a message to the chat asking how much longer they’ll be. I don’t mention the two guys. I don’t want to worry either of them.
Billy, the cashier, gets me checked out in record time, and I take my cart and bolt out the front. Teddy said they were lessthan five minutes away. I’ll just stay by the curb so Billy can see me from the register in case those creeps come back.
I wait for another couple of minutes, staring at my phone, willing a text or any sort of information to come in. But I know that wishing for my guys to be here won’t make it happen. My eyes flick back and forth from where I can see the garage and farther down the street. I think I see Sam’s truck coming up the road. Thank goodness. That skin crawling feeling is back and I was starting to wonder about the feasibility of taking this cart back to the shop and just returning it later.
