Page 57 of Knotted their Beauty

Lips pursed as if she’s trying to figure something out, she picks up her crayons and book and does as I suggest. Rufus whines softly, watching her before glancing at me.

“Go,” I whisper. “She needs you, buddy.”

He takes off after Cali and she giggles as she disappears into the room.

“He’s literally you in the form of a dog,” Baron says behind me.

“Whatever.” I drink more water as Ves, Arlo, and Baron get comfortable around me. “This is your meeting, Ves. I’m being held against my will, is that on your docket?”

“Shut the fuck up. When were you going to tell us you were our scent match?” he asks.

“Why was it up to me to tell you?” I ask. “I made it very clear I was interested.”

Arlo’s eyes slam into me and his lips pop open as he realizes what I mean. “Oh fuck. You did and I didn’t call. I thought you were a hot alpha trying to get under Ves’ skin.”

“It doesn’t matter,” I shrug. It does, but I’m not going to pout. I’ve already done enough of that alone.

“We’ve all been circling each other, trying to be understanding of boundaries, and left Lenny out in the wind,” Baron says.

“I swear, I will knock you the fuck out if you call me that again,” I growl.

“Fine,” he sighs.

“I know how much it hurts to be ignored,” Arlo whispers, glancing at Ves under lowered lashes.

Moving from the edge of the couch to the ground, he hauls Arlo up until he’s laying between his thighs and reclined on his chest.

“I was ignoring my attraction to you while being very aware of how gorgeous my nanny is. I think the subtext is important.”

Arlo’s blush is pretty and bright as he curls up against Ves and it’s adorable.

“We need to talk about this depressive episode you’re in,” Ves says.

“Do we? I’ll take a shower and poof, I’ll be fine. I’m not going to subject other people to it because I’m not an asshole.”

“Unlike me. Yeah, I know exactly what I am,” Ves grunts. “I was possessive and jealous, and Arlo thought I’d fire him if he called you. There was a hell of a lot of miscommunicating going on, and I screwed up because of it, okay?”

“Are pigs flying?” I ask. “Really, because you just admitted to fucking up.”

“I’ll occasionally do that,” Ves deadpans. “But this little… intervention is to establish that we’re all in. But I’m warning all of you now, I don’t know what that’s going to look like for me. I’ve been alone for a long fucking time, Lennox.”

“Me too,” Arlo says. “I love that I have two alphas and Ves.”

My eyes stray to the hoodie he’s wearing and see it’s mine.

“Ves slept in it last night, and I stole it,” he admits. “Do you mind?”

“Nah. I don’t know where the rest of my clothes are, but you can have whatever you want. Though, going naked with the kid around is probably a bad life choice.”

Ves rolls his eyes, but there’s a hint of a smile on his lips. “Baron is handling your personal effects. He’ll get it figured out. Are we really not going to address the elephant in the room?”

“We need to,” Baron growls.

Dropping my head back, I groan.

“What do you want to know?”

I guess I need to come clean about my little problem.