CHAPTER ONE
Kiara
Wind blows through the open windows, bringing the scent of the fresh mountain air with it as I sing along to the radio at the top of my lungs.
I can’t wipe the smile off my face as I drive down the highway. It won’t be much longer until we make it to Champagne Falls—until we make it home.
When the “Welcome to Champagne Falls” sign appears, a loud whoop spills from my lips that’s quickly sucked out the window. I startle slightly when two quick beeps sound out from the truck behind me.
I wave my hand at Crew, who’s driving the moving truck with our stuff. This will be his first time in Champagne Falls, and yet, it was so easy to convince him to move to the small town I lived in for years—sight unseen.
Crew and I were next-door neighbors and best friends as children. My mom died when I was ten, and he helped methrough it. Then, my dad found his scent-matched pack, we had to leave the house I grew up in just outside of Charlotte, North Carolina, to move to the Appalachian Mountains in Tennessee. I was excited to have a new parental pack and step-siblings, but I was less excited to be leaving Crew. Even at fourteen, I was already in love with him.
It broke my heart to leave him behind, but I really found my home in Champagne Falls. Thankfully, teenagers bounce back quickly, and I never forgot Crew. Every summer, my dad would drive me down off the mountain and take me to spend a month with my best friend and his family.
He’s been my first everything—first crush, first kiss, first love. We even lost our virginity to one another during the summer we were sixteen. I can’t imagine my life without him in it.
I never thought I’d have to until our designations revealed at eighteen. It was no surprise that I revealed as a beta since both of my parents were betas. Whereas, Crew revealing as an omega was unexpected—at least to me.
We’d planned to go to college together, but when he decided to attend the Omega University North Carolina, I was left alone to attend University of North Carolina on my own. I thought that was the end of any romantic entanglement between the two of us.
After all, omegas need alphas—not betas like me.
But Crew was having none of that.
We may not have attended the same college like we thought we would, but he made his intentions clear from the beginning—he didn’t want a pack that didn’t want me. He wanted to be with me more than he wanted a pack, which he never let me forget, and luckily, our schools were less than an hour apart. Anytime I doubted what we had together, he’d get into the car and drive tomy dorm to show me how much he loved me. I keep waiting for him to realize this is all too much—that I’m too much.
While it’s a sweet sentiment, I try not to get my hopes up too much. If he meets his scent-matched pack, then he’ll want nothing to do with me—no matter how much he denies it to me. Omegas need alphas, and alphas need omegas. That’s not to say that betas don’t end up in packs or in monogamous relationships with alphas or omegas. It’s just not what nature intended. Hell, neither are the monogamous relationships that are growing more popular in the major cities.
It’s just another reason I’m happy to be back here, where packs are still the norm. Because I really want to be a part of a pack, even if it seems unlikely.
Shaking away my somber thoughts, my lips turn up at the corners as I slow the car as I reach Main Street.
It’s been three years since I’ve been home, but it looks exactly as it did the day I headed out of town to move in with Crew in an apartment in Charlotte after graduation.
Shops line the streets, and more than a few of the business owners stand outside chatting with people. They all take a moment to wave at me, and I easily return the gesture.
There’s nothing like small-town living.
Hell, they even wave at Crew, even though no one knows who the hell he is. I’m sure they can guess who he is, since I’m sure the gossip mill has been working overtime after hearing that I was coming home with a male omega.
Not that I care if they talk about me and Crew. Champagne Falls is a place of acceptance, so it’s unlikely that they’re saying anything cruel.
More than likely, they’re talking about how happy they are that I've found someone. How glad they are that Crew and I were finally able to get jobs at the rural hospital about forty-five minutes outside of town. It’s used by the many small towns thatdot the area. We’re lucky enough to have a local doctor for the usual care, but he’s had the same nurse working for him for over twenty years, and he definitely doesn’t need to add on two more nurses.
Turnover at the rural hospital is practically nil, which is why we’ve had to wait three years for both of us to be able to get a position.
As I continue down the road, leaving behind our downtown area, my phone rings. I grin, glancing at the caller ID before accepting the call via Bluetooth.
“Hey, Dad.”
“Hello, Kiki. How are you?”Dad sounds a little distracted, but I’m not surprised. My parental pack took my omega stepsister, Delilah, and my half-brother, Ren, to Europe for a month-long vacation while they’re on break from school. He’d been so upset that they wouldn’t be here to welcome me and Crew, but I don’t mind.
We get to have the run of the pack house until we’re able to find a place of our own. We haven’t decided whether we want to rent one of the apartments over the shops on Main Street or if we want to buy a house. We have more than enough money saved up for a sizable down payment, but I’m not sure what will happen if he finds a pack that doesn’t want me.
“I’m okay, Dad. We just made it to Champagne Falls. We’re almost to the house, actually.”
He sighs.“I’m really sorry we’re not there. If you want us to come home early, we can.”