Page 15 of Knot Your Romeo
This is what I gave up. This is what I walked away from.
Suddenly, the cottage feels suffocating. The walls seem to press in around me, and the air tastes stale and wrong. I need space, need air, need anything but the sight of Romeo Silver fucking someone else.
I grab my hoodie and slip out of the cottage as quietly as possible.
Outside, the night air is cool against my heated skin. It carries the scent of roses and dew and something else—the faint traces of Alpha arousal that make my breath hitch.
I wander through the gardens, trying to escape the sounds from both the main house party and the more intimate celebration happening against the wall. But their sounds follow me, embedded in the very air, a constant reminder of what I felt today and what I rejected.
Maybe I made the wrong choice. Maybe accepting his arrangement would have been better than this hollow ache in my chest, this sense of mourning something I never had. I hate being an Omega. I hate it makes me feel like this.
He is not mine. He can’t be.
And Romeo’s offer wasn’t about partnership or even desire—it was about convenience. He wants to have his cake and eat it too, keeping his perfect public relationship while using me to satisfy his baser needs.
He’s just an Alpha who needs an Omega and is trying to make me believe something that is false. And even I know I deserve better than that.Don’t I?I have to believe I deserve better than that. But watching him with Cerise makes me question everything I thought I knew about what I want.
I don’t make it far before I hear footsteps on the gravel path behind me. Loud enough to announce their approach rather than startle me.
I quickly duck behind a large hedge, praying whoever it is won’t notice me. The last thing I need is to be caught wandering the grounds. When the footsteps pass by without slowing, I’m left alone, trying not to think about why seeing Romeo with Cerise bothered me.
When I think it’s safe enough, I peek over the hedge to see Romeo walking between the garden hedges. He’s alone, his hair disheveled and his shirt slightly wrinkled.
The air where he walked by was now scented with her cloying perfume and mixed with his natural alpha musk.
My stomach turns.
I duck back behind the hedge and wait for his footsteps to disappear.
Only then do I let myself breathe.
7
Emmie
“Did you enjoy theshow?” Romeo’s deep voice cuts through the night air.
Heat floods my cheeks, and I’m grateful for the darkness that might hide my embarrassment. “I was just getting some air.”
“Right.” He steps closer, and I catch the full force of the scent that covers him—the smell of arousal and his Beta that lingers on him—and it makes my stomach drop.
I want to vomit.
“It’s a free country,” I snap, hating how my body responds to his proximity despite everything. I tell myself it’s only because he’s an Alpha and nothing else. One day, when I’m brave enough, I’ll let my full scent run free and not be affected by him. “And I live here now, in case you forgot.”
A humorless laugh slips through his lips. “Trust me, I’m very aware of where you live. And I also never expected for you to be watching me from your window like some lonely voyeur.”
The cruel accuracy of his words makes me flinch. “I wasn’t watching you.”
“Liar.” Another step.
He’s close enough that I can see the silver flecks in his gray eyes, and the slight swelling of his lips from Cerise’s kisses.
“You couldn’t look away, could you? Couldn’t stop wondering what it would feel like if it were you against that wall instead of her.”
“You’re disgusting,” I whisper, standing on my feet and walking backward away from him.
But Romeo follows, stalking me with predatory grace until my back hits the trunk of a tree. He plants his hands on either side of my head, caging me in, his body radiating heat and dominance.
