Knot My Pack

Chapter 1

Talya

I enjoyed being an omega. Growing up, it had never occurred to me that it was something that should bother me, yet I’d met other omegas who hated their designation. I didn’t understand why.

We were special. Cherished. Protected. Everyone wanted an omega or wanted to be an omega.

Me? I mostly wanted to be me.

I grew up in a small town where kids tended to stay once they grew up. Generations had lived in the same neighborhood, growing up with the same families, for ages. For the past four generations, an ancestor of my pack had lived in my house. To me, that was pretty awesome. There were pictures in my attic of my great-great-grandmother and her pack of big alphas.

As far as I was concerned, there was nothing better. I wanted the same thing. To find my pack of alphas and live right in my ancestral house with them while we raised our own family. That was my dream. Since I was a child, that was what I fantasized about every night as I fell asleep.

I was a fifth-generation omega, which I took a lot of pride in. The likelihood of one omega birthing another was higher than average when the omega came from a long line of the same. But not all offspring were omegas. Omegas were too rare for that to happen.

That was really cool to me. That meant I was basically guaranteed to have an omega child. Probably a girl, but to have a boy omega!

All omegas had the same dream, though it was rather simple—survive in the world until you found your pack. We always found a pack. There was always one out there that was meant to be ours, like fate had created them just for us. 

I just needed to bide my time.

We grew up listening to fairy tales about how the perfect little omega found their alphas. How they moved into a great house with a warm, cozy nest and lived happily ever after. Because an alpha meant protection. Meant safety and love and knots. And a whole pack of them meant happily ever after.

Yes, I knew about knots, though I didn’t know about knots until I was older. But anyway, an alpha meant forever. It meant pack. It meant a bond that would complete everything in me.

That was all I wanted. I wanted the dream.

The town I lived in was called Stony Creek. It was a small, clean town with a population of 6,000. It was an idyllic place because of the picturesque rural neighborhoods filled with kids playing in the streets and parents drinking tea on their front porches.

I was the only omega in my grade and one of three in my entire elementary school. There were seven alphas in my grade, twenty-nine in the school. The only reason my grade had so many was because the Jenkins triplets were my age—three alphas.

And all seven alphas were always close to me.

They were there before I knew what a growl was supposed to do to me, though they growled plenty. They didn’t have a bark, but their confidence and strength made their words commands. And, of course, they didn’t have a bite, which was fortunate since Dapple Jenkins had bitten me when we were seven.

I was so furious, I kicked him in the crotch. After that, I made it known to every asshole alpha that they were fine to bring their big attitudes and whatever, but they were not to touch my body without my permission. And that sure as fuck included a goddamn bite.

No one tried to bite me again.

The days were long and fun. I wasn’t in a hurry to grow up, even with the promise of a happily ever after on the horizon. I was going to get it no matter what. That was just what it meant to be an omega, so I wasn’t in a hurry to get there.

I enjoyed learning about my biology, even when the idea of it became a little daunting and frightening. I also enjoyed learning about alpha and even beta biology since there were plenty of betas around. 

Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for their jealous animosity toward me to become apparent. I thought I was ten the first time a beta outright ignored me, and when I called him out on it, he spun around and called me a spoiled princess because I expected him to fall at my feet.

I just wanted the courtesy of a reply when I asked if he’d pass me the green marker.

It was then that I realized beta resentment was a real thing. Real and potent. It was also then that the isolation from my beta peers began. I almost cried when he yelled at me because it wasn’t fair. I just wanted the green marker. No one was even using it! But crying would call attention to me. It would turn the two alphas in the room in our direction, and then the betas would really hate me, simply for existing how I was meant to.

Instead of reacting, I stood and reached across him. Holding the marker in his face, I said, “It’s not hard to pass a marker. Maybe you’d attract an alpha if you weren’t mean for no reason.”

That didn’t get me any brownie points with the other betas at the table, either. Although I was convinced that I had a very valid point, their glares were chilling.

I didn’t try to make friends with betas after that, but I made sure I was always kind and approachable to everyone, especially them. That way, if they wanted to talk to me, they could.

For years, alphas were the only type of “kind” company I had. Although, ‘kind’ was a little bit of an overstatement. They were already vying for me, already trying to show me that they’d make a good alpha. A good mate who could provide me with a good pack.

Their hormones were exhausting. Seriously, I was still a kid. I’d barely started puberty. I didn’t need an alpha yet!

But finally, my tactic of always being kind and approachable paid off. Fenton and Basil were siblings from a mock pack—a household of betas living as a pack. Society didn’t refer to them as an actual pack because there was no alpha bond involved, and no bonds meant no true pack ties.

Anyway, their family was new to Stony Creek ten years ago. The siblings had grown up with me, though they’d never been in my class. Basil was my age, but she was like all the other betas who didn’t like me because of my designation.

Fenton was a year younger, so we didn’t have any interaction in school, but my thirteenth year changed that. One of my favorite things to do was watch our school’s sports teams. I wasn’t sure if I was truly interested in the opportunity, but I liked to watch and cheer the players on. Omegas didn’t play sports.

Basil played soccer, and she was pretty good. In fact, she was better than the alphas on the team, which I secretly loved to see. Alphas tended to think they were the best just because they were alphas, so they thought their only real competition was other alphas. I loved to watch a beta beat one of them and to see how irate they got!

There was a skirmish going on right now. I was watching when Basil made a really spectacular goal against one of the alphas. I cheered with the rest of the bleachers, which weren’t full since we were young and it was just practice, but the cheer was loud all the same.

“Why are you so happy?” one of Basil’s friends asked from the seats in front of me. “She just scored against your precious alpha.”

Her tone was snarky and nasty. I was sure that mean girls took lessons on how to get that tone just cutting enough.

“They’re not my alphas. None of them. Besides, Basil was amazing! Why wouldn’t I cheer for her?”

“Sucking up isn’t going to make us be friends with you,” another girl answered.

I rolled my eyes. “Believe me. I have no interest in being your friend. You’ve been nothing but a jerk since we were kids. Not the kind of people I want to talk to.”

“You’re talking to us now,” the first one said. Dumb girl had the nerve to sound offended that I’d chosen not to talk to them in the past.

“No,” I said, “I’m talking at you. Not to you. Do you know the difference?”

I was surprised when someone close by burst out laughing. Startled, I turned in my seat to look at him. Fenton. Basil’s brother. I raised a brow as he looked at the mean girls with laughter.

“Well?” he asked them. “Do you know the difference?”

They did not. Instead of answering, they turned away, giving us both their backs. I grinned at the backs of their heads before eyeing Fenton suspiciously, but he smiled at me.

After that day, we became friends. He was a breath of fresh air, and in some cases, his friendship helped warm our peers to me. It was as if they could see that ‘one of them’ liked me, so I couldn’t be all bad. Fenton was quick to laugh and treated me like he would everyone else.

The alphas didn’t like him around. He wasn’t looked at as competition, yet he was still a threat to their circle around me. Their glares and growls grew more obvious every day, and their scents were starting to pick up, too, getting stronger and adjusting based on their emotions. I kind of loved it. Both their growls and their possessive jealousy? It made me hunger all the more for my future alphas.

The next two years, the alphas grew into their barks, growls, and purrs. And me? I was learning what it was like to react to them. To feel the tingles and want to obey their commands even when they weren’t directed at me. How their purrs comforted and their growls thrilled. And their scents, even though I didn’t particularly like them, made everything in me stir. 

They were starting to get a little pushier now, too.

Let me take you out.

Want to go to the movies this weekend?

My mom is making spaghetti.

We’re having an exclusive party.

Accepting one would give the wrong impression, so even though I tried to be kind, I rejected their invites. Instead, I spent my evenings and weekends hanging about with Fenton.

I’d never forget the day I met my alpha. It was the end of the school day, and I was heading to the track to watch track practice. The alpha triplets and one of their guys, a pack in the making, had stopped me. I could already see the ties as if they were visible things. By far, they were the group that was most hellbent on getting and keeping my attention.

Fenton stood next to me, trying to fend them off with laughter and jokes while I attempted to kindly but firmly tell them—again—that I wasn’t interested. Not just in them but in anyone.

It was then that I spotted him in the distance as he walked toward us. My denial of their advances drifted from my lips, and all I could do was stare. Hair the color of a sandy beach and eyes a bright blue. He was tall and lean, a hard body in the making visible under his fitted t-shirt.

Distracted by their mission to both convince me to go out with them and tell Fenton off, the alphas hadn’t seen him yet, but my gaze was locked. My shallow breaths were barely there. My heart pattered into a race. The closer he got, the more the world around me faded away.

Their voices were drowned out by the pulse in my ear. My vision blurred until all I saw was this guy, and then his scent hit me—something spicy over a base of cedarwood. I could almost taste it, my mouth watering in anticipation.

The world around me came back into focus when the new guy walked through the alphas surrounding me. I heard their indignation, their aggression and challenge.

“You don’t get to come in here and just take our omega,” Brody Jenkins growled.

But the guy, he paid them no attention until one of them grabbed his arm. My heart leapt as this alpha—my alpha—turned around and laid Brody on his back in a move so quick and efficient that I didn’t even see it.

“My omega,” the guy said, and everything in me turned to fire. My life as I knew it shifted so that he was now at the center. “Mine, and don’t fucking forget it.”

When I heard his bark, my spine immediately straightened and I held my books to my chest. Beside me, Fenton had done the same thing, though unlike the alphas, he was grinning.

“Now, that’s an alpha,” Fenton murmured.

Growls answered him, but my alpha was clearly older, so his alpha traits were more pronounced. His growl drowned them all, and I was his.

He turned around, giving the other alphas his back. They weren’t a threat. Four alphas, and they weren’t a threat. I swayed on my feet, swooning from the way his scent had turned dark and earthy.

And then he was staring at me, those blue, blue eyes trapping me in their depths. He held his hand out, offering himself to me. I didn’t think before I reached for him. He took my books under his arm and gently pulled me to his side, his gaze never leaving mine.

“My beautiful omega,” he murmured.

And that was the moment I found my whimper. It snuck out of my mouth, causing all the alphas around me to growl, including mine. But he also smiled, beautiful and pleased. He released my hand and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me close to his side.

“It’s alright,” he told me. “I’m right here, and I’ll never leave your side.”

He never did. As soon as his bite developed at seventeen, before most everything else, Colby bit me, claiming me for his own and showing the entire world that I was his. As for me, I knew I was the luckiest girl in all of Stony Creek. I didn’t just find my alpha. I’d found him when we still had our entire lives ahead of us.