Blossoming of Fate Collection 1

AN OMEGAVERSE MATES WORLD ROMANCE

ROSA SWANN

Blossoming of Fate Collection 1

An Omegaverse Mates World Romance

Copyright © 2021 ROSA SWANN

All rights reserved. No part of this story may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without express written permission of the copyright holder.

This book contains sexually explicit content which is suitable only for mature adults.

ISBN: 9789493139541

NUR: 343

Version: 20220223

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Blurb

Two best friends, one Alpha, one Omega, reunite after having been apart for the first time in their lives, finding out that everything they knew about the other has changed. Are they ready to face their future?

Destin

The plan was that I would pick my life-long best friend Seb up from the train station, we’d have a week of wild antics as he takes a break from his university work and that life would go back to normal after that. Of course, we all know what happens to plans…

Instead, the moment I catch sight of him at the station, my heart starts beating in a way that I’ve never felt before. We’ve always been close. We’ve basically grown up together, like family. But these new feelings are a different type of ‘familial’. I want to claim him. Mark him. Make him mine.

I try to fight it, to stay away from him, but that only brings more trouble…

Seb

Being at university is the longest I’ve ever been away from my best friend, Destin. He decided to stay at home to work at his daddy’s company while I pursue a degree. It’s been quite a change from seeing each other every day to not seeing each other for weeks, but that time is finally over as I’m home for fall break.

Only, once I arrive, things start to spin out of control pretty quickly. My body responds to Destin in ways that it has never done before, the way an Omega’s body responds to their fated Alpha, and it scares me. It scares me so much that I flee, trying to avoid Destin at all costs.

Which only brings even more problems, as when an Alpha and an Omega recognise their fated mate, trying to deny that connection can cause real harm…

This collection includes the first five novellas about Alpha Destin and Omega Seb in the Blossoming of Fate serial, My Omega’s Return, My Lover’s Resolve, My Mate’s Dilemma, My Parents’ Surprise and My Sibling’s Struggle which takes place in the non-shifter Omegaverse Mates World and contains mpreg (male-pregnancy).

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My Omega’s Return

BLOSSOMING OF FATE 1

Chapter One

SEB

The sun is bright and warm when I step off the train. I quickly shrug my bag over my shoulder and pull my suitcase behind me, going off to the exit at a slight jog.

It’s my first time back home since I went away to university in August. I didn’t realise how much I missed this city until the train reached the outskirts and I looked out over the fields and the farms.

This feels like home. Watching those fields pass by felt like coming home, back where I grew up, back where I belong.

My phone beeps impatiently and as I quickly glance at it, I see it’s a message from my best friend and long-time partner-in-crime, Destin Logan, or Destin for short.

He used to be known as ‘Des’, but once he hit puberty and he turned out to be one of those guys who are everything you’d imagine in an Alpha with ADHD, tall, broad, active and way too loud, the ‘cute’ name no longer fit him.

So, while I’m still ‘Seb’, short for Sebastian, he’s Destin, and no longer ‘Des’.

The message is so typical of him. ‘Hurry up. We’re getting hungry. What’s taking you so long?’

I grin as I pull my bag up higher and I make my way to the front of the station.

As I step out on the stairs down to the drop-off and pick-up area, the light from the sun nearly blinds me and I hold up my hand, trying to shield my eyes, while I’m trying to spot my impatient and always-hungry friend.

“Seb!” A duo of loud voices greets me, and I’m nearly run over before I’m enveloped in two tight hugs. My younger twin brothers are apparently here too, probably the ‘we’ Destin was talking about.

“Dan, Mikey.” I hug the twins back, a laugh bubbling up inside me, already feeling so much better, already feeling like I’m back at home. “What are you two doing here?”

Dan, always the Alpha, starts rambling about school being let out early today because someone pulled the fire alarm, and that Destin promised them that they could come with him to pick me up.

As Dan is relaying his story, Mikey adding ‘interesting’ details where needed, the twins speaking like they’re sharing a single brain, my eyes start to wander, until they rest on a beat-up truck and the guy leaning against it.

The guy laughs easily at something a cute Omega girl is saying, their bodies fully turned towards each other, like they’re the only people in the world. A stab goes through my chest but I push it away.

This is so typically Destin, always going after a new Omega girl. He’s such a flirt.

Let’s just hope that this girl doesn’t stop working at his daddy’s place when the two inevitably break up in a week or two, it wouldn’t be the first time, or probably the last. The girl comes our way, and she gives the three of us a quick wave before disappearing into the station.

Only then, Destin seems to notice me and it’s like the sun shines just a little brighter as he smiles at me, making my heart skip happily.

He pushes himself off the truck and takes the stairs in a few long strides. The twins quickly get out of the way as Destin wraps his arms around me, lifting me up and spinning me around.

It looks like the guy has gotten even taller in the few months since I last saw him. When will he stop growing?

He puts me down and looks me over, a strange feeling settling in my stomach at his intense gaze. “Welcome back. You’ve not changed one bit, I see.”

“Neither have you. Hitting on some poor Omega girl.” I try to grin, joke about it like I always do, but I’m not sure it really works. My smile feels fake as the words make me anxious. What’s going on?

“Come on! Let’s get a move on already.” Dan grabs my suitcase, pulling it down the steps before I realise what’s going on.

“Hey! Careful with that!” Oh, hell. I’d almost forgotten how annoying the twins could be, always impatient.

“They’re right, though.” Destin laughs and tugs on my backpack, sliding it off and holding it in his arm as he wraps the other arm over my shoulders, steering me in the direction of his truck. “We’re hungry, but we wanted to wait for you. Our dads have been cooking all day. It feels like that anyway.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I grin, the conversation so familiar. “I shouldn’t come between you and food. You three never seem to be able to eat enough.” I finally relax, comforted by the same old banter as always.

Though his arm over my shoulders, something he’s done millions of times before, feels different today.

Destin frowns at the suitcase that the twins have abandoned at the side of the truck, in favour of arguing about the music they want to put on in the cabin. He rolls his eyes at me, but then sighs and straps the suitcase into the back of the truck with practised movements.

Yeah, the twins don’t have very long attention spans either, something the three of them have in common. Which is why I’m usually the one trying to keep them all in line, at varying levels of success.

Once Destin has strapped the suitcase in, he jumps off the back and turns to me. “Welcome home.” His voice is softer this time, and there’s something about the look in his eyes that has me swallowing hard.

The next moment, he takes me in his arms and my arms slip around him out of habit. What happens then is definitely not out of habit, as one of Destin’s hands slides to the back of my head as his other hand settles on my lower back, pulling me against him.

It’s like he’s fitting me against him perfectly.

My fingers curl into his shirt and I hold on tightly as I feel him take a deep breath, a soft sound as he both relaxes and tenses up at the same time.

We’ve always been pretty physical, but this is different, this is very different from any time he’s hugged me before. I don’t know what to do, how to react, as something starts to stir deep inside me.

A thought pops into my head. If I angle my head just a little, I could kiss him.

What?

I still, surprised by the thought. Destin is handsome enough, and he’s definitely good enough to look at, but I’ve never thought of kissing him before. A hug from him has never made me feel like this.

What’s going on? Where are these feelings, these thoughts, coming from?

Destin suddenly lets me go, stumbling back, his eyes wide, filled with surprise. He licks his lips, looking at my mouth, like he had the exact same thought as I had.

He blinks a few times and then seems to come back to himself, to where we are and he flushes for a moment.

“We should get going.” His voice is rough, and he quickly walks around the car, calling out to the twins that they better not be in the front seats.

The twins make a ruckus as they make their way to the back of the cabin, and I hear Destin turn the music down to a more normal level.

I also pull myself together as best as I can, still confused about what just happened, and then take my place in the passenger seat.

My seat, the place where I belong, where I’ve always sat. But today it feels different. Today everything feels different.

Destin doesn’t even turn the music off as he pulls out of the parking spot and makes his way to his dads’ cottage. Normally, he hates the music the twins put on, but as I glance at him, I’m not even sure he notices it.

After a couple of moments, Destin looks my way, meeting my eyes and electricity shoots through me. I quickly lean against the door and stare out the window. What the fuck? What’s going on?

We’re best friends. We’ve basically grown up together because my daddy works at his daddy’s company. The cottage his dads live in is as familiar to me as the apartment that my dads live in.

We’ve always been more like brothers than friends. Destin’s older sister and younger brother are as much my siblings as they are his, and the twins are as much his annoying little brothers as they are mine.

But these new feelings I have for him are definitely not ‘brotherly’ feelings. You’re not supposed to want to kiss your own brother.

Not that I make much of a chance that Destin and I would ever kiss, since I know that Destin has no interest in male Omegas, he’s always gone after female Omegas. So, no matter these new feelings, it’s not like I’ve got a chance, other than guaranteed heartbreak.

Dan and Mikey don’t seem to notice the strange mood Destin and I are in. They’re so excited to have me back that they won’t stop talking, telling me about everything that has happened in the last months.

It’s not like I don’t already know everything, since Destin and I talk at every opportunity we get, but I don’t stop them. If they keep chattering like this, then I don’t have to think about what just happened.

I stare out of the window, trying to get my thoughts back in order.

I’m home for a long week, fall break. And I’m supposed to get some ‘fresh air’ and some ‘quiet time’ according to Daddy, he thinks I’ve been studying too much. Though, what else did he expect me to do? I worked my ass off to get into university, did he think I was going to slack off or something?

But why do I have the feeling that there’s not going to be any ‘quiet time’ this week?

My plans for the week included hanging out at the orchard with my laptop as I get some reading done for my essays and tease Destin, Dan, Mikey and the others while they’re working.

This was supposed to be my revenge for them teasing me about going to a prestigious university far away from home and always having to do way too much homework. This was supposed to be revenge for when they were going out and playing around every weekend, while I had to study.

This was supposed to be fun, relaxing.

But right now, I just want to get back on the train and go home. Bury myself in my studies and hide away from the world, never to be seen again.

I thought that when I got back here, everything would immediately go back to normal, back to how it was before I left. But it’s obvious that that’s not going to happen.

Something has changed.

I have no idea what, but something has changed and it scares me.

Chapter Two

DESTIN

Fuck. Fucking hell.

I need to keep all my focus on the road, to make sure that we’ll get to the cottage in one piece. My mind is spinning as I try to make sense of what just happened.

I was putting Seb’s suitcase away, and something happened in my head, and the next moment I was holding him in my arms, trying to tuck him against me as closely as possible.

My heart racing, my mind blank, and I couldn’t resist the urge to scent him. He smelled…

Fuck.

Just remembering the sensations puts me on edge again. My knuckles are white on the steering wheel while I take deep breaths, trying to relax my grip.

Seb is my best friend. We grew up together. We’ve always been together.

This has never happened before. I’ve never felt like this before, I’ve never had this urge before, not with him or anyone else.

When I saw him standing on those steps, like a bright spot in my otherwise boring day, my heart skipped a beat. At the time, I reasoned it was because I’d missed my best friend so much, but now I’m not so sure anymore.

No. I have to stop overthinking it. I’m just feeling odd because we’ve never been apart for this long.

Even the twins are acting all excited and hyperactive.

It’s normal to feel this relieved to have Seb back, it’s because no matter how often we spoke, I must have missed him more than I thought I did.

Yes. That’s it. I just missed him, and now he’s back, I’m just really happy to see him again. That’s all.

That’s all that’s going on.

I turn onto the gravel path up to the cottage where my dads live.

There are plenty of cars parked on the side of the road, but there’s still a spot near the door for my truck.

As I open the door and finally turn the horrid music off —really, the twins have no taste in music— I’m greeted by laughter and loud voices coming from the garden. The party must have started already.

The twins tumble out of the back of the cabin and are off to the gate to the garden, their stream of chatter never stopping, but Seb doesn’t move.

I slowly turn to him and find him purposefully staring away from me. “Seb?” I reach out to him, but then pull my hand back, not sure what to do when he’s ignoring me like this. “We’re here. We should get to the party.”

His nod is more of a jerk of his head and when he finally looks at me, my heart almost seems to skip a beat. The confusion in his soft eyes is a mirror of my own and I wish I could take it away.

He looks about to cry and I hate that I’m the source of that pain, that he’s in pain because of me, because of my stupid actions earlier.

I must have scared him. I must have scared him, holding him like that, scenting him, almost kissing him and then running off. I open my mouth, about to apologise, but don’t get the chance.

“Seb! Destin! Get your asses out of that truck. The party is has already started! You were taking way too long.” Seb’s dad’s voice booms from the gate to the garden and that seems to jolt Seb into action as he opens the door on his side and puts on his best smile before slipping out and dashing over to his dad.

Seb’s family connections are a little complicated. His Beta mum couldn’t take care of him, so Seb has been adopted by his Omega uncle and the man’s Alpha husband. He still calls them Daddy and Dad, and nobody who didn’t know the story would even suspect that they’re not his biological parents.

Seb looks so much like his Alpha dad, almost more than the twins do, and they are his biological children. He does see or talk to his Beta mum from time to time, but it’s not really that often, as far as I know.

Seb’s dad wraps his arms around Seb and then he looks over to me, grinning, oblivious to the weird mood Seb and I had been in. “You moving? Or the twins will have finished everything off.”

“They’re not that fast.” I roll my eyes and get out of the truck, going over to them. Trying to look as normal as possible.

Our dads have obviously gone all-out for the party as there are decorations everywhere and there’s more food than fifty people would be able to eat in a week piled all over the tables.

Everyone is here. Our parents, our siblings, Seb’s uncles and aunts with their kids and those without kids. Everyone in our close family group.

It feels normal, way too normal. Our parents always throw parties like this. But today I feel different, I feel weird, like I’m not really here with them.

Fuck. No. I can’t ruin this for Seb. They’re supposedly throwing him this party to celebrate him coming home for the week, but they’ll use any excuse to get everyone together.

I don’t want to bring the mood down, or for anyone to find out that something is going on. So, I put on my best smile as I start to greet people.

I just have to get through the party, and I can figure out what happened when I get home later.

Just pretend everything is right. I can do that.

Right?

I glance at the twins and my younger brother in the back of the cabin of the truck. The twins are slumped against the doors while my younger brother, Leon, leans against Mikey.

They’re all out of it, fast asleep. They’ve had way too much to drink and they’re going to have a bad time when they have to get up early tomorrow morning.

Seb quietly closes the door on the passenger side and looks at me, rolling his eyes. “I had no idea they were this bad with alcohol.”

I laugh, glad we’re back to normal, looking after our younger siblings, as usual. I don’t know what it is, that if you’ve had one ‘good’ kid, that the next one is somehow supposed to be a big pain in the ass, or something.

“Normally, I have to drag them up to their beds or the back of the truck on my own. So having you to help me out is definitely better.”

“Seriously…” Seb glances to the back, shaking his head. “I’m away for a few weeks and suddenly they get a taste for booze. Hell. I’m glad Dad had already left or they’d be in even more trouble…”

At the end of the evening, most of the adults had already left, leaving us with Leon, the twins, my older sister and some of Seb’s cousins.

Of course, by then, the booze really started flowing, especially for the younger ones, and while my sister decided to just sleep it off in her old bedroom, the guys somehow ended up with us. Seb’s eldest cousin is also driving back home, his way too boozed up siblings in the back of his car.

I guess everyone was ready to party and it seemed that more than one person was drinking well over their limit.

I kept it safe and only had one beer when we arrived, not trusting myself with my weird mood and not wanting to do something stupid. And once I saw that the twins and Leon were digging into the booze, I knew that had been a good plan. They were going to need someone to drive them home if they didn’t want to just crash at my dads’ place.

Seb is quiet for a while, staring out the window as I drive through the fields, but after a while, I feel his eyes on me.

“Have they really been this annoying while I was away?” His voice is careful, sad.

“Not always.” I let out a short laugh, his worry about his siblings so obvious, even when he’s annoyed with them.

“This is definitely the worst I’ve seen them. But if they’re without adult supervision, like when they’re staying over at my place because they’re working in the orchard on Saturday, they do like to get into the booze on Friday evening. I guess it makes them feel grown-up or something.”

“Of course.” Seb sighs, rolling his eyes, then he looks more serious. “Why didn’t you tell me before?”

I shrug. “I didn’t think it was that important. They’re not a bother, and, as you can see, once they’re properly boozed up, they just fall asleep. They’re not annoying drunks. And it’s not like we didn’t do the same things at their age. As long as they weren’t getting anyone but themselves in trouble, I didn’t want to bother you.”

“But we never…” He glances back, pulling a face. “Never this bad. Right?”

“No.” I smile. “But that’s because I had you. You’re always the sensible one, the one who keeps everyone in line, the responsible one. I didn’t have the chance to get this drunk, or you’d be on my ass for months to come.”

Something passes over Seb’s face, too quick for me to be able to read it, but when he speaks, his voice is sad, almost cautious. “Have you drunk like this when I was away?”

“No.” I shake my head, slightly confused by the shift in mood. “You would have known if I had. We talked every night, you would definitely have noticed it if I’d been wasted.”

“You did it because you knew I wouldn’t approve? Even from the other side of the country?” His tone is clipped, almost angry for some reason.

I glance his way, not sure how to read his tone, but he’s pulled his hoodie up, not letting me see his face, not even in the reflection of the window.

“No.” I try to sound as normal as possible, even though my heart is racing.

Something is going on in his head and I can’t seem to read him, I can’t seem to read his mood. That’s no good. I have the feeling he’s angry with me and I don’t know why.

“I didn’t drink like that because didn’t feel the need to do so. The nights they would drink like this, I just kept an eye on them, made sure they wouldn’t do something stupid, that they got to their beds safely. Things like that.”

He doesn’t reply, keeping silent.

I try to keep my voice steady, like he’s not getting my insides all twisted up with his quiet anger and silence. “It’s just a phase they’re going through, and it’s better for them to get it out of their system now than when they don’t have an older brother to look after them. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before, I just didn’t think it was that important.”

Seb finally nods, but doesn’t say anything. He just stares out of the window, his face in the shadows, his arms wrapped around himself and it takes everything in me to not reach out and hold him, scared that it might freak him out.

What the…? No. We’re best friends. We often touch and hug. Wanting to reach out to him to comfort him is normal for us. Why would it freak him out?

But I know why.

Everything has gone strange after I hugged him at the station.

No, when I cradled him against me, that’s the only way to describe what I did.

All evening, we’ve sat a couple of seats away from each other, and things felt strange when we spoke. Everything has changed, gone weird, and I have no idea how to deal with that.

I want things to go back to normal, back to how they used to be. I don’t want this confusing feeling in my chest every time I look his way. I want my Seb back, the Seb from before, the Seb I grew up with. The easy friendship, the easy way we were together. Not this confusion.

When things go wrong, he’s the one I always turn to, he’s the one with the answers.

But if he’s the source of the confusion, who can I turn to?

I have no idea, and that scares me even more.

Chapter Three

SEB

The apartment over the cafe is still the same as ever. I spent a lot of time here before I went off to university.

Last summer, Destin and I lived the good life here. Away from our parents, away from adult supervision, having a sense of being ‘grown-up’ and having our own house. We felt like life couldn’t get much better.

I worked in the cafe with Destin’s older sister, Maddy, while Destin worked in the orchard. He’s always been more physical, and I’m better with customers.

But any time we could sneak away, we would hide away in the trees or go off and walk through the fields around the orchard and house. It was easy and comfortable and the best feeling in the world.

My heart becomes light and painful at the same time as I remember it. We had so much fun, we called it our ‘last summer of freedom’ even though we worked six days a week, but we felt so grown-up, having just finished our exams and not having other responsibilities yet.

Maddy has been living in the apartment over the cafe ever since she graduated high school. She wanted the freedom of living on her own and this is much closer to the city than their parents’ farm, so it was easier to get to classes.

Since she finished college, she’s been running the cafe and everything connected to it full-time.

I don’t know how Maddy puts up with it, but for the last couple of years, Destin and I would crash here every weekend, just like the twins and Leon are doing now, to work at the orchard or at the cafe.

It’s easier to get to work on time when you live right above it, or right next to it. Though, it was by no way a guarantee that we’d be on time for our shift, for various reasons…

Since the summer, Destin also has moved into the apartment full-time, instead of just on the weekends, since it’s closer to his work, and because it means no longer having his dads on his back all the time.

They did not agree with him staying behind to work for a year instead of going to university or college. So, I totally understand why he moved away from them.

I quietly close the door behind me, smiling. Dan, Mikey and Leon are fast asleep in their beds, after we managed to get them to drink a glass of water each.

Their room is a mess and I nearly tripped over something soft, something I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know about, when I tried to get Leon to his bed. Their clothes and things are all over the floor and it looks like they’ve not cleaned up in there for weeks.

Dan and Mikey share a bunk bed, while Leon has his own bed on the opposite wall. It reminds me of how all our families would sometimes go on holiday together, and we’d have to rent whole hotels or we wouldn’t all be able to all stay together, at least not at a decent price.

That’s what happens when you’ve got a lot of siblings and close family, I guess.

“Want something to drink?” Destin is leaning against the doorway to the kitchen, his voice quiet and low.

I nod, surprised for a moment, not expecting him there. “Sure.”

“Hard cider?” He flashes me a quick grin and I can’t help smiling back. “I grabbed us some bottles from the first batch.”

“Is this the batch we made last summer?” I go over to him, walking past him into the kitchen and I sit down at the table.

“Yep. It’s a little early, but they looked done. I wanted to make sure we were the first to try.” He goes over to the fridge and pulls out two bottles, putting them on the table as he sits down across from me, opening them easily.

“Cheers.” He holds up his bottle and I tap it with mine.

I take a small sip of the cider and then a bigger one. “Okay, definitely not bad.”

“Hey!” Destin laughs, his eyes twinkling. “By now, we should know how to make hard cider. We’ve been helping out with it for years.”

“Helping out is not the same as being in charge of the whole process.” I lean back, taking a few more sips of the cider. It’s fresh and just sour enough, exactly the way I like it.

“Talking being in charge, how is it to work here full-time while the rest of us are in classes? Do you still think it was a good idea to work for a year instead of going to college?”

As long as I keep our conversations normal, maybe we can go back to how we were. Maybe this strange feeling I had, the strange way we reacted to each other, was because we’d not seen each other for a long time and are just not used to being around each other anymore…

Destin nods. “Yeah. It was the right decision for me. I like working here and I feel like I’m doing something useful with my life.”

“What do your dads think? Are they okay with it yet?”

He grins, taking a sip. “They’re not happy, they want me to go to college. But we might be able to compromise.”

“Compromise? How?” That’s new. When did he come up with that?

“I’m thinking of going to college part-time next year. Maybe evening classes or something like that. It’s not that I don’t want a degree, I just… I want to do things with my day and the thought of going to class and doing homework all day, it’s not for me.”

He looks out the window over the sink, thoughtful for a moment. “I’m hoping that Daddy might give me a higher position next year. I’ve been working here for years, I want more responsibility.”

“Does your daddy know of the plan yet?” It’s interesting to see Destin like this.

He looks… He looks like he’s grown up a lot in the last months, even when it’s hard to spot at first.

“I might have dropped some hints, but he didn’t seem open to the idea yet.” Destin frowns, then focuses his eyes on me and my heart makes a little jump.

Fuck… That was unexpected.

“What about you? What is it like living with Mia? Is she ordering you around yet?”

I laugh, shaking my head. “That would imply I see her enough for her to do that. We do see each other regularly, and usually eat together, but I don’t spend a lot of time with her otherwise. She’s always off studying or going to classes.”

Mia is my cousin and an Alpha, like Destin. She’s only a few months younger than us, but with how she acts, you’d think she’s three years older or something.

While we’re close in age and our families get together all the time, we’re never actually been that close with Mia. I like her, she’s nice enough, but she’s way more bookish than we are, so we never spent that much time together.

But with Destin staying behind, and Mia and I going to university in the same city, our dads got us an apartment together. That way we could ‘keep an eye on each other’, though I think it’s more because our dads don’t want to let us go yet.

“Right. ‘Studying’.” Destin grins. “With lots of cute Omegas, I bet.”

I shrug, smiling. “Well, if she has her eyes on a cute Omega, I’ve not met them yet. Her study group is mixed gender, but I’ve not seen her pay any special attention to anyone.”

“What about you?” Destin’s voice drops, and while he seems to try to keep his smile, there’s an obvious tension in his body now. “Have you met anyone you’d like to go out with?”

I swallow hard, quickly taking a couple of sips of my cider. This feels uncomfortable and my heart is racing, painful. I’m not sure if it’s from the tone of his voice, or the question.

“No.” I shake my head slowly. “I’ve not met anyone.”

For some reason, I feel like crying and I quickly get up. “I’m going to check on the guys.”

I almost flee from the kitchen, my eyes burning as I’m trying my best not to cry. What the fuck? Why would I react like this? It wasn’t like the question wasn’t expected.

Of course, he’d want to know things like this. That’s normal. I’ve seen him with Omega girls all the time, I know he’s dated Omegas in the past. We were just talking about dating. I should have expected the question.

But I did not expect my reaction to it…

Opening the door to the room where Dan, Mikey and Leon are sleeping, I let out a shuddering breath, trying to get myself back under control. The three are fast asleep, just like I left them.

Then I slip into the bathroom and look at myself in the mirror. I have to pull myself together. I can’t just randomly start crying over some innocent question. What’s wrong with me today?

I take out my phone. Maybe I’m just emotional because I’m about to go into heat or something, that can mess with your head. But as I check the app, I shake my head. I won’t have to worry about going into heat for another three weeks. So it can’t be that.

Maybe it’s just because of the long nights studying and I had a busy day today.

Yes, that must be it. I’m just so glad to be back home again and it’s been a long day. That’s why I’m so emotional. I’m just tired and I’m finally back home again.

I send off a message to Mia when I see she’s still online. ‘Don’t stay up too late.’

Her reply is fast. ‘You’re telling me? You’re obviously also still up. How was the party?’

Mia didn’t come back with me because she insisted that she has too much homework and that the essays she has to hand in after fall break are so much work that she can’t take the time off.

But I just think she likes being on her own, the calm and quiet.

‘Party was pretty fun. Oliver, Destin and I were the only sober ones at the end.’

‘Sounds like it was a good party. Anyway, I’m off to bed. Need to get a lot of work done tomorrow. And, luckily for me, I won’t have to worry about being bothered by family members the whole time.’

‘Yeah, yeah. Have a good night.’ I smile as I put my phone back.

She’s got a lot of siblings, and, unlike me, she doesn’t have a place away from her parents’ home where she can crash to get some quiet.

I laughed so much the first weeks we lived together, at how happy she seemed with just how quiet our little apartment was. She was definitely not used to it, and now she loves the quiet.

I take a couple of deep breaths, trying to clear my mind. I’ve been working so hard lately, on top of then travelling back home and everything to do with that.

Plus, of course, Destin and I have changed in the last months, that’s normal when you’re starting a new part of your life, whether that’s going to university or working full-time.

Yes. I’m just feeling like this, this confused, these new feelings, because of how we’ve both changed in the last months. Our lives are so different from before, we just have to get used to the people we are now, not the people we were before.

The way I’m responding to Destin is because I missed my best friend and that’s all.

That’s all.

Chapter Four

DESTIN

I grab a new bottle of cider from the fridge and also put a new one for Seb on the table.

Now we’re home and don’t have to drive, we can drink a little without being irresponsible. And it’s not like one or two bottles would get us drunk anyway, at least not after the food we’ve had all evening.

I take a sip and stare at my hands. I couldn’t help looking at Seb’s hands as he was sitting across from me, holding the bottle. I hadn’t realised how much rougher my hands had become since this summer, how my body has changed since I started working at the orchard full-time.

His hands are so much softer and smaller than mine, not as calloused, much more elegant. Part of that is because of how differently physically we already are, but me working here and him studying has made those differences even more obvious.

What else has changed? What other ways have we become different? What other ways have we grown apart?

When I asked him if he was dating someone, I felt this bubble of anger in my chest and my voice had come out much rougher than I’d intended. I’d surprised myself with it.

But the look in his eyes… I don’t know. It’s like the question hurt him, and that hurt me. He seemed genuinely upset and then he fled out of the room.

I wish I could explain why, but I don’t understand why I felt that anger inside me… Just another strange thing to happen since he returned.

Seb quietly slides into the opposite chair again and looks at the second bottle, giving me a careful smile. “Thanks.”

He quickly downs the last of his first bottle and then opens the second bottle. “How is it to live with Maddy and not having any of us around to keep you from clashing all the time?”

His voice is lighter, but there’s still a darkness in his gaze that has gotten worse all day, a pain, a confusion.

I love my sister, but she’s a lot older than I am, and our personalities tend to clash a lot. She likes to be in charge, like an Alpha, even though she’s a Beta. And I sort of get it, she’s my older sister and always had to deal with all of us, but at the same time, she still treats me like a kid.

It’s… It can be frustrating.

“We’ve been getting along better. We’re usually too exhausted to fight at the end of the day and we’ve settled into a rhythm. No more bickering over chores.” For us, that’s definitely progress.

Seb’s smile seems more genuine now. “But nobody is cleaning the bedroom of the twins and Leon, I saw.”

“Nah.” I grin. “When Maddy sees the state it’s in right now, she’s going to go off on them. It’s not as bad as it was four weeks ago though.”

Seb’s eyes go wide, raising an eyebrow at me as he takes a sip. “Do share…”

“When the guys got here on Friday evening, the room stank. Turned out, they’d been gaming all night the weekend before and had left some opened bags of snacks in the room while they went back home for the week.”

I shudder, remembering the stench when they opened the door to their room, the way the stench had floated all around the apartment for hours. “She made them clean the whole place, top to bottom, that weekend, on top of them working at the orchard. I think they might have finally caught on to the ‘don’t leave food around all week’ thing.”

Seb rolls his eyes, grinning. “Sounds like them. Sometimes they really have to learn it the hard way.” He shrugs. “At least chores don’t seem to be a problem for Mia and me.”

I laugh, trying to imagine their apartment being a mess, and not being able to. “Yeah, but you don’t have to worry about a whole house full of clothes covered in mud and other substances.”

“True.” He nods, then he looks at his bottle, his eyes going soft. “It feels good to be home, though. It’s nice living with Mia, and how quiet it is, but it still feels strange.”

His eyes go over the kitchen, as he softly smiles. “This place is my home, even when none of my things are here.”

My chest constricts and I almost reach out to him, stopping myself at the last moment. What the…?

Oh, fuck it. Not touching is not normal for us.

My hand awkwardly shoots out and I put it over his arm.

“I’m glad you’re home too.” My voice is tight and I clear my throat, trying to put on a more upbeat tone. “It’s much harder to keep the kids in line when you aren’t around.”

His smile is warm and he puts his hand over mine, squeezing a little.

My next words are stuck in my throat and I feel my cheeks heat up, so I quickly take another sip of the cider.

Oh, hell. I’ve never felt this awkward touching anyone. My heart races and I find it hard to keep his gaze, so I don’t, glancing away instead.

How am I going to survive this week without totally losing my mind? I don’t want things to change between us, but it’s obvious that something has changed.

I don’t want to lose my best friend, but I don’t know what this sensation means, if it’s just part of growing up or if there’s something else going on.

“Those crates need to go on the back of the truck!” I call after two guys as I carry another crate with apples in the same direction. “And be careful with them! They want to sell these apples, so they need to stay unblemished.”

I quickly avoid a puddle in the middle of the path and frown at it. Maybe we should do something about that, or maybe I should just drive the truck closer to the barn. I slide my crate on the back of the truck and take a moment to breathe.

When Seb and I woke up this morning, we found Maddy, Dan, Mikey and Leon sitting at the kitchen table, all nursing a large mug of coffee, all obviously hungover.

We had a little too much fun with being a little louder than strictly needed, just to piss them off more. Well, they shouldn’t have drunk too much. It was kind of their own fault.

Last night, Seb and I got buzzed enough that we stopped acting so awkward around each other and we both crashed on my king size bed, like normal.

And, this morning, everything seems back to how it’s always been.

I didn’t get a weird feeling in my stomach when I looked at him and he didn’t look so uncomfortable anymore either. I guess we’re just not used to being away from each other for so long.

We’ve gotten so used to our different worlds, our new worlds we live in, that we needed some time to get adjusted to our old friendship again.

I grin as I slip my keys from my pocket, opening the truck. I really should just drive it closer to the barn.

“What are you smiling about?” Leon calls out to me as he pushes his crate on the back of the truck.

He might be an Omega, but he obviously takes after our Alpha father in his build, he’s tall and broad, like our Alpha father and me. Lots of people mistake him for an Alpha or a Beta, and he doesn’t really seem to mind.

I can understand why, but it still makes me worry about his future sometimes. Of course, I know that just because he’s an Omega doesn’t mean that he should have to live differently, but I also know that the world isn’t that simple.

Our Omega father runs a very successful business growing veggies and fruits to sell at the market or to have made into other products. The orchard and the fields around it are part of the business, just like the cafe next to the orchard, which is a newer addition.

And even after more than two decades, people will still address our Alpha father when they want to talk business, even though he’s got nothing to do with it, just because he’s an Alpha. So, yeah, I get why Leon finds it easier to be seen as an Alpha or Beta, fewer prejudices about his abilities.

“Nothing.” I shake my head quickly, trying to clear it. “Hop on in. I’ll drive you back to the barn.” I start the truck just as he opens the door on the other side and jumps inside.

“Fine, keep it to yourself.” He holds onto the handle above the door and the dashboard as I turn the truck and drive to the barn.

I’m going to have to talk to Daddy about getting the path evened out. It wasn’t this bad over the summer, but the rain of the last weeks has made the holes a lot worse, and that makes it harder to drive around, and we really don’t need the extra mud. I’ll ask him about it when I drop the crates of apples off, because this is getting quite bad.

After I’ve parked the truck, we all make quick work of the rest of the crates with apples and the back is stacked full in a matter of minutes.

As the others walk off, since there’s always enough to do around here, especially during harvesting season, I go to find Seb.

I know he said he had to study all day, but he might want to come with me to drop off the apples. He’s not seen the revamp of the main offices yet, and I know that his daddy will be in the office today, so he can show him around.

Last I saw him, Seb was sitting at one of the tables in the cafe, annoying Maddy by blatantly using two tables for all his work.

She was mumbling something about the cafe not being a library and that she needed the space for customers, even though more than half the tables were free and he was sitting at the back, where barely anyone would notice him.

For a moment, my stomach feels funny when I catch sight of Seb sitting at the table, studying hard, the light from behind him making him look almost angelic, but it’s gone as quickly as it was there.

Right…