Page 8 of Knotting Before Them

“As usual! What’s going on?” Wylder ran down the stairs, already taking Theo’s side before even hearing mine.

I blew through my nose and took a swing from my beer. Not even them ganging up on me was going to change my mind.

“We don’t need the money,” I suddenly argued.

It didn’t even make sense. We never even talked about renting a room. Couldn’t the stranger go to Lana’s place like all the other tourists?

Wylder grabbed an apple and leaned over the counter. “Do we need money?”

“No,” I cut him off. “That’s the point. Theo wants to rent a room to someone. Are you in debt?” I asked Theo.

“He does like to play cards with good old Rhett,” Wylder added helpfully.

“It’s not about the money,” Theo breathed out. “She… She’s an artist, and she wants to paint the mountain—or sculpt the mountain.” He shook his head. “She needs to be around the mountain.”

“Not my problem.” I shrugged.

Wylder took a bite of his apple. “I hate being on Noah’s side, but I don’t get why would we want a tourist in our house.”

“She’s…” Theo started but stopped himself. “She’s different,” he finally finished.

I scoffed, but it seemed to grab Wylder’s attention. He straightened his spine, forgetting his apple for a second.

“Different how?”

Silence descended on the kitchen in a way that made my skin too tight for my bones. I licked my lips, watching before responding negatively for the first time in my life.

“I think she’s an omega,” Theo finally spit out.

Wylder whistled, his eyes going straight to me, like he expected some kind of reaction.

What reaction could I possibly have?

“I don’t think she knows it,” Theo kept going. “She didn’t act like she knew it, anyway.”

I couldn’t form words. We hadn’t seen a single omega for twenty years. Both of them were already part of my pack, but I was the oldest. Wylder was only sixteen when Marion mated, Theo eighteen.

Maybe being young helped them in some weird way. I was twenty-one at the time, and I understood more than the others about loneliness.

I only had one parent left. My mother lost her mates in an accident when I was ten, and I saw what being alone could do to someone.

I could taste her loneliness in the air. It grew thicker over the holidays, unbearable when she was around other people. When Marion mated, I was the only one who truly understood what our future looked like.

Hope never suited me.

“How can you be sure she’s an omega?” Wylder asked.

“I’m not sure.” He swallowed. “I just feel something, something I can’t explain…”

“So you’re saying she’souromega,” Wylder completed.

“No.” I couldn’t let him do it. I couldn’t let Theo tell that much of a lie to Wylder.

“Noah…” Theo started, but I was already marching to the door, ready to chase the girl away.

“We don’t have an omega, Theo. We’re meant to be alone!”

I roared, surprising even myself. My throat was raw, my soul hurting even at the possibility. Theo was being irresponsible by saying something like this after twenty years of pain.