Chapter 16 I've just neatly lined my shoes next to the front door of the rental house Brody, Hunter, Kieran and I all share when my phone rings. I frown, pulling it out of my pocket. Nobody calls me, it's all texting now. Except... My face breaks out into a smile as I recognize the phone number for Sweet Heat-one of the heat clinics we registered with-but when I answer the phone, I make sure my voice is nonchalant and a little blasé. 'This is Damien.' 'Mr. Silva! Hello, this is Pearl down at 'Sweet Heat', do you have a few moments?' I will my voice to not sound like my heart is racing a million miles an hour when I respond. 'Yes, I do. Is this something I'll need my whole pack for?' There's a beat of silence on the end of the line before she answers. 'Yes, that might be for the best. The circumstances of this call are...a little unusual.' Unusual? I try not to let my heart fall into my stomach as I nod. 'I understand. Allow me to gather the rest of my pack.' Placing her on mute, I let my voice ring out through the single story home. 'Kieran! Brody! We got a call!' Only Kieran comes into the living room though, his brow furrowed. 'Where's Brody?' I ask impatiently as I take a seat on the couch. 'Probably still at work, it's only four.' Fuck, right. I unmute the phone and put Pearl on speaker. 'It's just one other member of my pack here, the other alpha is still at work.' 'That's no trouble dear,' Pearl tuts over the line, and I hear some clacking keys in the background. 'There are just some...unusual circumstances regarding the nature of this call.' 'Is this not a call to let us know someone picked us for their heat?' Kieran asks in a much more polite voice than I'm used to hearing from him. 'It is...but, well, there's no easy way to say this...' she trails off and I itch to snap at her. To tell her to put me out of my misery and just tell me what the hell is going on, but I take a deep breath. 'Whatever it is, we can handle it.' 'You're being called to tend to a heat...but the omega who chose your scent card, well, she's part of a scent-matched omega pair and she's determined to ride out the heat without any alphas. Her mate will be her advocate, so if at any point he determines that she's in danger if she's not tended to properly, we'll call you in.' A...a scent-matched omega pair? I've never heard of that before. I didn't even think it was possible. Kieran speaks up before I can question whether this lady is on actual crazy pills. 'So...what? We're on call like we have a shift at a hospital or something?' I almost want to shake Kieran for being so brutish about the whole thing, but then Pearl answers with something like relief in her voice at the fact we understand. 'Yes that's exactly it. Also, the male omega of the pair will be there the entire time, and he will be intimate with her. It has been made very clear by the female omega that nobody is to touch her mate. You can speak to him, obviously, but she may have threatened bodily harm to anyone who touches her mate without his consent. And he is very focused on putting her first. He will continue to be her advocate even after you're called, so he will essentially be 'running the show', as it were.' 'As he should be.' Kieran nods. I don't know what to think of this whole mess. Two omegas, and scent-matched to boot? If they're already matched, they won't want a pack. But, I suppose this would be a good opportunity to get our dicks-err, I mean toes, wet. I swing all ways, so while it does seem like mild torture to have a rare male omega dangled in front of me that I can't touch, I'm not looking to turn down the first opportunity we're presented with. Perhaps this can be a sort of...trial run. 'Is this something you'd be interested in?' Pearl asks hesitantly, like she's afraid of the answer. I shoot Kieran a questioning look and he just shrugs. 'Yes, we can commit to that. When is she expected to go into heat?' 'Any day now, really. According to her bloodwork, she has maybe one week maximum.' 'Alright,' Kieran says with finality, 'we'll make sure our employers know the situation.' 'Oh, good,' Pearl gushes, 'I'll call the omegas and give them the good news.' We hang up with Pearl, and I sigh leaning back on the couch. 'Scent-matched omegas? I didn't even know that was a thing.' 'It is,' Kieran says thoughtfully, reclining next to me. 'You remember my sister, Hannah? And her best friend Cady?' I nod, remembering how they had invited us over to a barbecue a few months ago and I was shocked to be face to face with the Starbrook City Meteors' star forward, Charlie Williams. Charlie Beckham, I mentally correct myself, remembering Hannah's pack had taken her last name. I was almost just as shocked to see the billionaire CEO of NeoTek industries, Matteo De Lucca there. 'Okay, so remember Archie? The beta of Cady's pack?' I do. He looked just like every teen heartthrob in my sisters' omega-bop magazine that I definitely would not steal. When I had spotted the twin bite marks on either side of his neck, one from his alpha, Matteo, and one from their omega, Cady, it was the first time I realized an omega could bond a beta. It's kind of what started my whole obsession. 'How could I not?' I drawl, 'The man had dimples deep enough to jump into.' Kieran only rolls his eyes. 'Yeah, well, his parents are a scent-matched omega pair.' That has me sitting up. 'You're shitting me. Huh. I wonder...' My thinking is cut off by the front door opening, and I watch with distaste as Brody haphazardly kicks his shoes off next to the door, one landing upside down on top of my perfectly-lined up pair. His tie is loosened, his hair sticking up in an odd direction like he's run his hand through it one too many times, and his shirt is wrinkled. It's not a good look. His brow furrows when he sees Kieran and I sitting on the couch together. 'What happened?' he asks suspiciously, dropping his computer bag on the couch adjacent to ours and flopping down. 'We got a call from a heat clinic.' Kieran grins, and Brody's face lights up. I hold out my hand. 'But, it's not quite what it seems.' Brody's expression quickly falls. 'What do you mean?' 'Apparently, we'll be on call. It's a scent-matched omega pair, and they're determined to ride it out themselves unless it becomes a danger to the female omega. If we are called, the male omega calls the shots.' I can hear the bitterness lacing my voice, and I'm not trying to be an asshole, but the whole point of us doing the heat-helper thing was to suss out potential omegas. If the omega we're seeing already has a mate...well then we know before even going in she isn't going to want to court us. Brody observes me carefully. 'Why do you seem so put out by the second half of that statement? Either way, it wouldn't be us calling the shots.' I frown. Huh. I guess I am being kind of a dick. 'You're right, I'm being an asshole. I guess it's just not what I was expecting.' Brody sighs, running a hand through his hair for what looks like the fiftieth time today. 'Listen, if you're going to be...aggressive about this, I don't think we should do it.' Guilt niggles in my chest. Okay, yeah, I can see where he's coming from. 'I'll be good-I am good. I'm just getting frustrated and antsy with this whole nobody-calling-us-and-when-they-do-it's-still-just-a-maybe thing.' 'Good.' Brody nods. 'I'm cool with doing it. They might not be interested in having a pack since they have each other, but this is a good way for us to gain experience since I'm sure I'm the only one of us to have ever eased an omega through their heat.' I keep forgetting that he had a pack and an omega he was courting less than a year ago. He has a point, and I can't help the nod of agreement that leaves me. Brody is right-as he usually is. A Fated Encounter movie summary talks about Emma Brown who is forced by her father Henry to take her sister Bella's place and marry Tommy Anderson to save her business. Unlike the rumor Tommy turns ou...