Page 101 of Knot Broken
“Is that the guy that was bugging you at the bar?” Grey asked in a deadly tone.
“The hottie?” Ethan got in before I could reply. “Doesn’t look so hot to me.”
“Pretty sure he’s shitting his pants… Oh, look, he’s walking off.” Tex’s grin was vicious. “That’s right, little man, run away. This is our girl and you will never have a chance with someone as hot as Nadia.”
“You guys are menaces,” I said, “and you’re going to get me called up to HR. I have to work with Christian. Work,” I repeated at the sound of their collective growls. “He’s a dick, you’re amazing, but you need to go now. I have so much work to do.”
“But you—” Tex started to say.
“We will if you come around to our place after work tonight,” Ethan said. “Deal?”
“I intended to anyway, as long as Tex doesn’t do the cooking,” I replied. “Maybe I’ll grab some takeaway on the way over.”
“After a shitty day at work, we’ll be here to pick you up,” Grey replied. “One of us will drive your car to our place.”
“Not Tex,” Ethan and Grey said at the same time.
“We’ll get you dinner and while one of us does the clean up, you can have a soak in the bath or sit on the couch and watch another one of your bloody hockey romance shows while we give you a massage.”
My mouth was hanging open as they all leaned in, pressing perfectly chaste kisses to my cheek before packing up the remains of their lunch and taking their leave. Turning towards Helena, I saw she was wearing the exact same expression.
“OK, I hate you and love you right now,” she said, shaking her head to dispel the haze. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this jealous of another person and…” The hectic light in her eyes had me bracing myself for what came next. “I know why you don’t have sex face anymore.” Her hand waved vaguely in my direction. “You’re in lurve.”
“Shut up.” My focus was dragged back to my laptop as I opened it up.
“Nadia and Ethan and Tex and—”
“Shut up…” I growled.
“And Grey, sitting in a tree, K.I.S—”
“Girl, we’ve got so much work to do I don’t know if I’m gonna get time to watch even one episode tonight,” I said, trying to steer the conversation somewhere more professional. “Let’s get this shit done before Greg comes down and reams us a new one.”
“So when are you guys getting married? Do packs do that?” The woman was never one to be deterred. “I promise I will throw you an epic bachelorette party, though maybe not with strippers. Because damn, those guys looked like they were ready to tear Christian’s throat out for even looking at you.”
“I’m not sure if packs get married,” I replied primly. “They forge mating bonds and there’s no fancy white dress involved in that.”
“So have they bitten you and claimed you yet?” she asked. “Because the way they were looking at you, I don’t think that’s far off.”
At that, my fingers stopped typing. That same restless feeling I now knew was my wolf pacing inside me started up and, for a moment, I just stared blankly at the screen.
“They’ve asked me to move in with them.” That came out in a way flatter tone than I intended to, the wolf pacing, pacing, letting me know that something was going unsaid. Sucking in a breath, I turned back to my friend. “Which is kind of a foregone conclusion, right? I mean we’re fated to be together.”
“Is a foregone conclusion if you want it to be.” Helena could be an idiot, but she was my friend for a reason. Her manner completely changed, becoming softer, more serious. “And if this is fate, then it doesn’t matter when you make the move, does it? You’ll end up together, but that needs to happen when you are ready.”
Ready. People kept saying that word to me, but what did that actually mean? I didn’t get a chance to ponder. Greg came bustling in, saw the remains of our lunch and then frowned.
“Those receipts from the function in April. Do you have them?”
I stifled a sigh and then forced myself to smile.
“They were emailed to you and the managing director three quarters of an hour ago.”
I turned back to my inbox, opening an email before starting the next task.
Chapter 47
Ethan
