Page 28 of Knot As It Seems

I don’t say anything as I walk up to their table, stealing a chair from a table next to everyone, ignoring the protest of the woman complaining her husband was using that chair, and take it one step further by spinning the chair around before wedging myself into the collection of chairs my pack’s got at their table.

They’re mid-meal already, and I make sure Fable’s actually eating, staring at her and then her plate over and over until she eats more of the rare steak on her plate. I swear she slides the fork over her lips slowly on purpose, knowing I’m watching.

She swallows, takes a hearty sip of her red wine, and wipes off her mouth delicately before addressing me. “Can I help you?”

I tilt my head to the side, sending out another wave of pheromones to see if she’ll submit.

“Knock that shit off, man,” Jos bites out, waving down their server to order more food.

Fable doesn’t fold though, impressing me. She doubles down, narrowing her eyes at me and resuming her clasped-hands-under-the-chin thing. “Feeling insecure over there? Clement, was it?”

A growl escapes because she knows damn well what my name is. “No, just wondering why I came home from work to find my omega not where she was supposed to be. Trying to figure out why she’s out in public, looking good enough to fucking eat, and I wasn’t even fucking told ahead of time.”

She holds what feels very much like a power pose a few more minutes before relaxing her shoulders and letting out a soft laugh, shaking her head like I’m a child. Thenshe just goes back to her meal and her conversation like I’m not even there.

She’s got her safety blanket next to her, but I know Anderson is a smart man that understands the pecking order. I stare him down and tilt my head to the side, making sure he hears exactly what I’m silently demanding.

He looks at Fable and kisses her on the cheek, whispers something to her, and then gets up to leave. He pats me on the shoulder in a friendly, golden retriever type way before heading to the bathroom, leaving me room to slide right into the seat he vacated.

Fable goes still next to me, a hiccup in her conversation with Monet on the other side before she puts more effort into ignoring me.

That’s fine, I don’t need her full attention to scent her.

I tip her head back and rub my face over the scent gland I can reach, then spit on it and rub it in with my thumb. I repeat the move on both of her wrists until she’s glaring at me, her gorgeous red eyes full of righteous indignancy.

I tip her head back and trace the mark that Monet left there, shooting him a look when he growls at the touch, but we’re pack. He knows I need to inspect it myself, so he cuts that shit out immediately.

“Is it symmetrical enough for your standards?” she sasses.

I lean forward just enough that she has to either move back or risk me touching her. She holds her ground like I expected, fluttering her eyelashes in a way I’m sure she’s not happy about when my hand skims along her lower belly, wrapping across her opposite hip in a possessivehold. “You keep mouthing off to your alpha like that and you’re going to get a handprint on your ass when we get home. Don’t test me, princess.”

She opens her mouth to say something else, but I shove my wrist at her, pushing her chin up into me until she’s forced to bite into my wrist. Maybe she’s already been fed today, but not by me. She takes a few pulls before I grant her permission to stop, licking my wrist to seal the wound.

A single, solitary drop of blood floats on the edge of her lip, so I slide it back in with my thumb, pressing a kiss to the side of her mouth when she doesn’t fight me.

After that she relaxes. She goes back to ignoring me, but the guys are used to my asshole behavior and trust me to know where the line exists. They trust me to not cross it with an omega that is far different from our last fake one, who needs a bit extra attention from us if we want her to actually thrive in our pack.

The dinner moves on in a mostly peaceful fashion, my pack making concerted efforts to get to know our omega and show interest in her, trying to figure out what hobbies she’s into or might be into, everyone trying to one up each other when it’s clear she’s never felt safe enough or been given opportunities for such things.

Our pack has pretty vast resources, so I know the guys are good on their promises to help her learn new things, but omegas are usually most settled when they’re home. She doesn’t seem to have much interest in doing a whole lot outside of the house aside from exploring different places occasionally, and that works for us.

I start tuning everybody out because I feel like I’mgetting drunk on her scent. I find my fingers tracing invisible lines on her arms, my face leaning more and more towards her hair so I can smell the concentrated scent there, my body scooting closer and my arm eventually just sliding around her shoulders so I can rub my thumb along the insanely soft skin beneath her ear.

It’s a damn miracle when she relaxes into me, and part of me wants to stand up and shout at everyone in the restaurant, to make them acknowledge the fact that she’s touching me willingly, my heart beating faster than it maybe ever has. It’s emasculating that such an innocent touch has my alpha prowling dangerously close to the surface.

I eat the fancy-ass thing Jos ordered for me, then go for broke and full-on bring Fable onto my lap. The meal’s winding down, everyone trying to talk her into dessert, when she goes stiff on my lap and the cutest fucking growl comes out of her chest.

Fucking dumbass Moon.

Now sitting just a few tables over from us, facing us, is Moon and some woman he picked up from who knows where. He’s trying to make Fable jealous, so she’ll give him attention, making some power play that is likely going to end very badly for him. The fact that he’s pulling a stunt like this is near ironclad proof he did something to drive Fable away earlier, that there’s a good reason he wasn’t invited to a date he’s now feeling the need to crash with one of his own.

All the guys are stiff and glaring daggers at him, and likely all of us are wondering what the line is for Fable, how much shit she’ll take from our pack before she decideswe’re not even worth it.

Fable quickly makes it clear she’s handling it on her own, but I follow her anyway.

She heads to the bathroom where Moon’s apparent date has just disappeared into. I let her walk in alone, though I keep a foot in the door so I can hear anything that might happen. I can’t see anything at all from the hallway, but I feel more relaxed knowing I’m only a few feet away. Fuck anyone that takes issue with me protecting my girl like this.

I angle myself so I can at least see the sinks, where Fable has stationed herself in front of to primp. She’s straightening out a clip in her hair, reapplying a deep red lipstick one of the guys must have gotten for her, unabashedly staring at the woman now washing her hands.