Chapter Text

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Earl was out smoking on the front porch when the door swung open, letting in a small flurry of snow with the newcomers, and when they kept the door held open for too long, Clyde whirled from his spot behind the bar to give them the what-for, his scolding died on his lips. All thought of his monthly heating cost flew from his mind, every sense in his body fixated completely on the small woman on his doorstep. She hadn’t turned inside yet, waiting for someone to join her, but he didn’t need to see her face.

It was like Pa always said, the nose knows, boy. And boy, did it know. 

Clyde had presented as an alpha over twenty years ago but he had never truly felt like an animal until he saw that omega, scenting his den with her lush, natural perfume before she finished stepping over his threshold. It was like snowdrop bells peeking through the first snow, creamy, thick, honeyed as it melted on his tongue. Then she turned, a face emerging from under the hood of her puffy, winter jacket, high cheekbones sprayed with a scattering of faint freckles like stars that hung overhead, peachy, pouty lips pursed into a perfect, kissable pucker. In an instant, he belonged to someone--an omega.

Finally, her companion joined her in the doorway, and Clyde was destroyed all over again. Because that was his dearest little niece, Sadie, who had teased last summer that she was finally going to order something at the Duck Tape once she was properly legal. Sadie was bringing her roommate home for winter break, he nearly forgot. It hadn’t meant anything to him when Jimmy had mentioned it in passing, but now he wished he’d paid closer attention.

“Uncle Clyde!” Sadie exclaimed, dragging the omega with her to the counter, “I hope you remembered I planned on visiting.”

He swallowed around the bulge in his throat, sounding less than confident, “How could I forget?” 

She grinned, and it was like she was thirteen all over again. 

“Come on,” Sadie nudged her friend with her elbow, teasing pointedly, “He’s a real stickler for the rules, so we gotta show our IDs.”

She was joking, of course, but the omega nodded seriously, fishing into her small, over-the-shoulder purse that seemed too tiny to have much practical use, retrieving her driver’s license. Little, flighty creature scarcely dared meet his gaze as he accepted her ID, and if he didn’t know better, he would have assumed she was an underaged kid trying to skate by with a fake, but the nose knows. 

He forced himself to stare at the date of birth. She was only a few months older than Sadie. Young enough to be his own fucking daughter. It didn’t matter that her scent coated the back of his tongue with each slow drag of his breath. It didn’t matter that for the first time in his life, he felt awake.

“What can I do ya for?” He finally asked, relinquishing their IDs.

Sadie hauled herself up onto a barstool as her friend, Ophelia, according to her license, shucked her heavy coat, twisting to hang it over the backrest. He didn’t notice the way her perfect, round backside hugged her tight jeans. He also didn’t notice the way her cropped ivory sweater clung to her narrow waist, or how her bright, hazel eyes peered up at him through auburn lashes.

“Two cosmos,” Sadie replied primly. He suppressed the urge to sigh at her request when he knew she’d hated cranberry since she was a kid because it makes my teeth feel hairy, Uncle Clyde! 

“Oh! And a round of tequila shots first!

Clyde did huff at that, even as he reached overhead for the bottle of La Sueza. “See here, now, you can’t just get plastered…I don’t wanna have’ta confiscate your keys and there is this thing called public decency.”

Sadie rolled her eyes, moaning, “Uncle Clyde! Don’t be such a spoilsport. Phee is gonna go back to New York and tell everyone I have a meddlesome family. You don’t want that, do ya?”

Clyde gave her a flat stare, pouring a third shot for himself. He would need it. Though he was thankful for the tonal shift, a veritable shock to his system that jolted him out of his spiraling thoughts. He needed the reminder that this was his niece’s roommate, barely legal, and returning to the city for the spring semester to boot. And if she was in the same school as Sadie, she wasn’t going to want to settle down in Boone County--she’d be looking at Michelin-star establishments. 

People who graduated from the Culinary Institute don’t stay in places like this for long. They just didn’t. The Duck Tape was just about the height of haute cuisine to a simple man like him and it wasn’t as if he could offer her much better, even with the money he still had squirreled away from that final cauliflower plan, what seemed a lifetime ago. His life was and always would be in West Virginia, and a woman like her must have her sights on the big, wide world.

Regardless, she was a young thing that wouldn’t blink twice at an Alpha already past his prime, probably the same age as her fucking father. Christ, it was embarrassing that he even fantasized, in a rush as her scent suffused his space, that she was meant for him. She would pity him when she noticed his missing hand and that was salt in an already stinging wound.

An Omega like her would end up with a strapping, young Alpha from the city, one who worked in finance and lived in a penthouse. That was good. How it was supposed to be. Right? It was too late for him anyhow.

So he stayed behind the bar when Sadie dragged Phee over to the dartboard, and he kept a close eye on their drinks as they giggled and played, and he absolutely didn’t think about how her floral, saccharine scent lingered long after she had disappeared into the night with Sadie. He didn’t stare up at his ceiling as he waited for the sun to rise, his muscles tense as his mind supplied him with task after task, everything that needed to be completed before he could properly welcome his Omega home.

And he definitely didn’t imagine her long, auburn hair casually thrown across his pillow as she peacefully slept beside him. Soft and warm. Provided for. Pupped.

He did none of those things because that would be inappropriate. He was the wrong Alpha for her but he could be good enough to keep his distance. The best he was capable of as her Alpha was to pretend she wasn’t an Omega, to begin with. 

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“You didn’t tell me that your uncle was an Alpha!” Phee hissed through a painfully forced smile, her gaze flitting towards the big, burly man from the corner of her eye. 

He was serving someone on the far counter, mercifully looking in the opposite direction. Because if Clyde Logan so much as glanced back at her, Phee was going to fall apart right then and there. No slick-proof panty-liner in the universe would save her.

Sadie only shrugged, tossing a dart at the board. Thwack! Fifty points.

“What does it matter?”

Oh, Sadie. Sweet, oblivious, beta Sadie didn’t have a clue. Phee couldn’t explain that she would sell her liver if it meant that strong, glowering Alpha would bend her over the nearest flat surface and fuck her into oblivion. Sadie had no context without the pheromones and sharp senses of the Alpha and Omega designations. She couldn’t possibly comprehend how quickly the match struck when two truly compatible people came into contact, burning both with an unshakable yearning. 

Sadie’s uncle smelled like home-- not one she had ever known, but the one she had imagined for herself--like warm leather and the woods after a heavy rain. She hadn’t had the chance to even speak to him, and yet, well…it was as her mama used to say.

The nose knows.

“Oh!” Sadie came to a quick conclusion, standing straighter as she craned around Phee to get a better look at her uncle. Phee’s cheeks flushed with shame as she followed up this startled, disbelieving sound with a bemused crinkle of her nose, blurting, “Really?”

Maybe Sadie wasn’t as naive as she thought. But if she could sense her interest with only a glance, then her uncle had clearly noticed from a mile away. It must have been stamped right on the center of her giant forehead. How embarrassing. 

No wonder he hadn’t looked at her since he handed her license back, he was letting her down gently.

Phee stared at the dartboard in concentration, nearly missing the target entirely. Way to not give away how bothered she was.

“I’m sure he’d think I was just a silly girl,” she finally muttered.

“Nuh-uh, I don’t think he would,” Sadie protested, considering the possibility more seriously as she tapped her chin in thought. “Uncle Clyde is a nice guy, he’s always been on his lonesome. I didn’t think much of it as a kid but now I wonder why he never found himself a mate.”

Phee stared at the Alpha’s broad back. If she had to guess, she would say he was no more than forty-two. He was certainly much older than when most Alphas find a mate, but not unheard of. The compulsion to claim a mate didn’t stir until an Alpha encountered the right Omega. He couldn’t control that.

She swallowed thickly. It must have been a lonely existence. But that hardly signified--he wasn’t interested in her. It would be ridiculous if he was.

“Wow, Aunt Mellie wasn’t joking about how intense Alpha-Omega encounters can be, you’re in deep already!”

“Sadie! Oh, my god, he’s going to hear you!”

Sadie scoffed. “Maybe he should.”

Phee couldn’t help the desperate giggles that escaped her, bubbling anxiously in her belly like champagne spilling out of a flute. It felt dangerous, volatile.

“No, no, please. This is embarrassing enough as it is…”

Sadie gave her an unwavering look that spoke volumes, but Phee had to be rational. She would know if he wanted her, he wouldn’t be able to disguise his desire. That was the best part of having a designation, there was no subterfuge with scents.

“I mean, it’s kinda weird that he’s twice your age, but…I don’t think it’s embarrassing.”

Sadie wriggled her eyebrows suggestively when Phee. “Do you want me to be your wingman? Or wingwoman, I guess--whatever. I can put in a good word for you.”

“No! Jeez, Sadie…he hasn’t glanced twice in my direction. He’s not interested and why would he be? I’m not in the mood to be turned down in my face.”

Sadie inhaled deeply, undoubtedly fortifying herself for a long-winded rant, but Phee cut her short.

“I’m probably like a child in pigtails to him,” she said. “Trust me, if he felt what I do, he wouldn’t be able to act so calm.”

She sighed wistfully, forcing her gaze away from broad Alpha shoulders, though there was no escaping the way his scent suffused the entire bar. He likely spent more time here than in his own home if the potency of his scent was any indication, and he had owned the bar for over a decade, at least from what Sadie said as they left her mom’s place in Lynchburg. Whatever scant knowledge of him Phee had before soaking up his scent like a greedy, horny sponge seemed less than significant now.

Clyde had waited this long for his Omega. If she was the one, he would have pounced the moment she stepped into the Duck Tape Bar and Grill.

How could he possibly resist?

So, she changed the subject. And laughed over how badly she sucked at darts. And she didn’t dare look at Clyde Logan for the rest of the night. And when they ended up at her dad’s place for the night, Phee slept more deeply than she had in years.

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Clyde woke in a cold sweat, bursting out of bed with a shout, before taking in the calm darkness of his bedroom and realizing no interloper was looming overhead, threatening to steal his Omega right out of their nest. Chest still heaving, he checked the clock, its glowing, green numbers read 4:56. He had slept for just over an hour but he already knew he wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep again tonight. This morning. Did it matter? Either way, slumber would evade him.

It had been days since he was able to sleep for more than an hour or two consecutively, yet he had never felt so full of energy. Clyde had scrubbed his bathroom when he had gotten home earlier, even washing the walls in his cleaning frenzy, and then found himself organizing and reorganizing his linens.

For an older bachelor, Clyde kept a fairly neat house, but he found himself unable to shake the compulsion to prepare. It was his duty. His role as Alpha.

This was not a reassuring sign. 

He hadn’t seen Sadie since that night at the Duck Tape, not that he had expected to, but he couldn’t escape the vision of her on his doorstep, bundled up with pink cheeks and a small, shy smile. Patrons had come and gone in the days since and had even sat on the same stool she had briefly occupied, but he could swear he still detected the crisp, snowdrop scent permeating from the leather seat cushion.

Would it haunt him for the rest of his life?

Clyde wasn’t sure he wanted the answer.

He would be fine. He had been for many years now. He had been a grown man when she was born, he needed to pry her hooks from where they had sunk beneath his skin. She had her whole, bright future ahead of her, and being claimed by an Alpha that would pup her the instant he claimed her wasn’t part of that glimmering dream. And he would, if she took his bite. Clyde wouldn’t have a choice.

He loathed the needy instinct that rested heavy in his loins, how he hardened at the mere memory of her scent and no method of distraction ever deterred it. Clyde felt like a fucking teenager, he’d fucked his hand so many times over the last few days it was frankly obscene.

If Mellie hadn’t assured him that he smelled the same as always, he would have worried he was going into an off-schedule rut.

He was fine so there was no point in him calling out for his evening shift. Maybe he hadn’t gotten much rest but he felt more wired than he had in years, he needed to keep in constant motion or his mind would wander back to her. And he already knew where thoughts inevitably led.

At least there was little concern about her returning to the bar, Sadie had already had her fun and there was no reason to come back. Especially since she was likely headed back to her momma’s in Lynchburg before the holidays. 

Or so he thought until Sadie trotted in that night, chattering away with his Ome-- the Omega--Phee, that was better--he shook his head as if the physical motion might knock his brain free and fling it from his skull entirely. Just to stop his mind from endlessly whirling. He had to stop thinking about her in that context.

Clyde gripped the bar so tightly his knuckles cracked, his knees staggering as snowdrop syrup spilled down his throat. She had barely stepped through his door and already, her scent had bloomed in the air, unfurling like petals in a tantalizing aroma formulated to drive him, specifically, to insanity. Had it grown stronger since he saw her last? 

She peeled off the same coat as before and he whined, the lush scent thickening without the extra layer blocking her glands. Phee was wearing a deep teal sweater dress, the wide cut of the collar exposing her slender shoulders and the mouthwatering curve of her throat. Its hem clung to her mid-thigh, clad in thin, black tights that teased the pink of her skin beneath, her feet tucked into a pair of heeled boots. A swipe of something glossy coated her rosebud mouth in a slick sheen that made him lick his lips. A vision. She was an absolute vision.

Shit. This was more than he could handle.

He noticed belatedly that Sadie was equally dolled up, then pushed his shoulders back to stand straighter, tempering his expectations. They were going on a double date--the realization a harsh blow. Or a party. Or maybe they felt like dressing up for their own sake. This had nothing to do with him, either way.

They hadn’t lingered at the bar for long last time, maybe they would play darts again and he could safely keep his distance…or rather, safely keep himself from pouncing on her like a wild beast.

“Back so soon?” he drawled at Sadie.

He couldn’t look at Phee. Every muscle screamed to turn, to behold her in the warm glow of the dim, bar lamps, to take everything he’d always wanted after accepting he’d never get it. But he was weak, unworthy of calling himself an Alpha. If he acknowledged her presence, he would crumble.

“We’re headed to the Ducanan's but we had to stop by to pregame first.”

Clyde scowled in disapproval. “I am not gonna facilitate a situation that’ll lead to tha two of you drunk behind the wheel.”

Sadie grinned. “Hey, I’m a responsible woman, Uncle Clyde! Dad dropped us off and we have a ride to the party. Soooo…”

She slammed two fists on the countertop, crowing in time with each bang, “Shots, shots, shots--”

“Christ, girl,” he griped, snatching her wrists in one hand, “mind the other customers. If you promise you’re being careful, fine. But you have’ta promise you’ll get home safe.”

“We’ll be careful,” Phee interjected, “I promise.”

Good Omega. He nearly growled it with satisfaction. Omega understands…Alpha just wants to protect her.

Clyde couldn’t avoid meeting her gaze then, not after she promised so diligently. 

“Thank you,” he uttered after an extended pause, realizing he was staring. Like a creep. An old creep. 

“Will you join us for a little bit?” Sadie pleaded, leaning her whole torso against the counter. “I want to tell you about school! And New York!”

Clyde was too lost in the haze of golden sunlight shining through broad, green leaves he found in Phee’s round, staring eyes. Transfixed. He was utterly screwed already, wasn’t he? Then staying really wouldn't do any more harm, would it?

It was a steep, slippery slope.

“Yeah,” he murmured, “I’ll stay.”

Phee beamed up at him, tiny divots forming in the round apples of her cheeks, a delighted flush spreading over her face as bright and beautiful as dawn cutting through the dead of winter and Clyde knew it was official. He was done for.