Page 23 of Knot As It Seems

She swings one leg over my torso to leave the room, and it just so happens to be the perfect location for my hands to grab onto her ankles. One in each hand, I wrap my fingers around them, teasing the soft skin I find. “Why the hell would I do that?”

“What are you doing?”

She looks so haughty, hands on her hips as she stares down at me, but it’s a glorious fucking view from where I am. I can see every dip and curve encased in the soft fabric she’s swathed in. “What does it look like I’m doing? I’mtrying to put the moves on my omega.”

“Very funny. Can you please let me go so I don’t trip?”

I give her legs the slightest yank, making her fall on top of me, landing on her knees. I catch her weight before she makes enough impact to hurt, but now I’m exactly where I want to be; caged in by her. Long, dark tresses falling around me and an inscrutable emotion on her face.

“Oops. Made you trip.”

Her eyes flick to my lips, and it’s all the opening I need. I close the distance, cupping the back of her head so I can taste her sweet mouth. This whole situation has been incredibly confusing, going from thinking we were a single pack, a widowed pack maybe, to being in charge of somebody else’s wellbeing that we didn’t know existed, to finding out she’s not only a damn omega, but that she’s our damn scent match. Ourrealscent match,

That we nearly starved to death out of boredom.

“I need you to be okay,” I whisper against her mouth, loathe to pull away from her, “because if you’re not…if you can’t heal, then there’s no point in doing anything anymore, Fable. I don’t know if anybody has apologized yet but let me be the first if they haven’t. I’m so fucking sorry we disrespected your home when we were there, and I’m so sorry that we depleted your stockpile of food and blood. We are not by any means heartless alphas, and I know you must assume we are because of what you saw and because of how your sister treated you, but we can be good men, I swear it.”

“At what cost?”

Her eyes are dilating, her breathing getting heavier, andher scent is getting stronger. I place a hand on her belly, under her shirt. She flinches. “At the cost of having a bunch of overbearing alphas that dote on you and spend too much money on you and make you too many delicious things to eat so you’re never hungry again. You’re in pain right now, aren’t you?”

“It’s not so bad right now. I’ve had much worse.”

“And that’s not at all what I asked. How did you normally deal with heats at your home? Did you have any way to ease yourself through them? I’m assuming no alphas were discreetly brought in to service you.”

She looks away from me, eyes focusing on the floor next to my head. “If Winslow could have done less for me, then she would have. I was merely a means of the lifestyle she wanted.”

“I don’t like that you’re hurting.”

“It’s not like there’s much to be done about it,” she says instinctively.

I stare at her with a smirk on my face, waiting for her attention to fall back onto me. Whatever she sees on my face has her backpedaling, sucking in a gasp. “I wasn’t— that’s—I’m not asking for your knot.”

“Well why not?”

She makes a bunch of bumbling noises before regaining control of herself. Even though her outside looks more composed, I can tell by the wildness behind her eyes she’s far from it.

Fable sits back on me so her hands are free, using them to comb through her hair and relieve some tension on her scalp. In doing so, she accidentally shifts her weightbackwards and ends up getting herself poked.

“I’ve never…” she trails off, hesitantly.

“I know.”

“Isn’t that like…a turn off? That I’m completely inexperienced? I’m an adult. I shouldn’t be blushing at an alpha offering to…whatever it is you were offering.”

In a stroke of genius, I remember the baby wipes I keep in the cabinet behind me, reaching for them with one hand while the other keeps Fable firmly seated on me. I pull out a chain of them and start scrubbing my hands and forearms, because I don’t want to touch her any more than I already have without getting my skin clean first.

I make eye contact as I scrub my fingers, watching her mouth drop open at the implication, and it’s as if the temperature in the small room climbs by 20 degrees. I can smell her slick now, sweet as candied berries winning the fight for dominance over the floral notes, and I’m suddenly starving.

“I missed lunch,” I tell her as I drop the wipes back into place.

“Do you want to go back inside then? Find something?”

Once again, I stare at her, think twice, and grab more wipes to get my face clean. Won’t do to be offered her pussy on a shining platter and then have to tarnish it.

She doesn’t immediately get the innuendo, so I try again. “I think I’ve got something much better than anything in the house, right here. I don’t want to talk you into anything or change your mind if you’re not ready, but if you’re hurting and need one of your alphas to ease you, or are just needing and want me to, then I’m your alpha.”

She slumps over, letting her hair fall over her face. “I can’t.”