Page 107 of Knot Here for You

Dr. Attersby smooths my sweaty hair from my forehead. “Don’t worry, Sylvie. It won’t be long now.”

Rule 26: Sometimes you have to just get it over with so you can move on

“Relax,” I murmur to Davis as he checks his phone for the hundredth time since Vee left to go to her appointment. As if she’ll magically have completed her appointment in the ten minutes since we last saw her.

He sighs. “I can’t. I hate not being with her. I hate that she’s there alone and we’re here dealing with bullshit. “

I don’t I blame him. I feel it too. The need to always have our girl close to us, to know without a doubt that she’s safe. I’m sure all of us will be on edge until we can actually claim Vee, bite her, mark her, bond her. Once that bond is in place, we’ll be able to feel her. Wherever she is, we’ll be able to tell if she’s safe and happy. Or if something bad is happening to her. And if she needs us, we’ll be able to follow the bond right to her.

I don’t want to pressure the girl, but damn, I hope she’s okay with bonding sooner rather than later. We’ve been waiting for seven years for her. I’m not sure how much longer I can be patient.

I reach over and grip my bonded mate’s knee. “Deep breaths. This shouldn’t take too long and then we can surprise Vee by showing up at her house and packing all her shit up. I’m sure she’ll be okay with moving in with us now.”

Davis gives me a nervous smile. “You think?”

I nod, leaning over to nuzzle his cheek. “I do. We’ve done a good job in the last week of taking care of her, showing her what it would be like to live with us.”

From behind the steering wheel, Jackson nods his agreement. “She hasn’t once mentioned not staying.”

“And you heard her this morning,” Topher says. “She doesn’t want to keep living out of a bag. I’m about ninety percent sure that means she wants to move in.”

“Thank fuck,” Ford says. “I can’t bear the thought of her spending a night away from us.”

The car turns onto the gated drive, the heavy metal obstruction swinging open without us needing to stop at the guardhouse. They’re expecting us, and the guards recognize the car.

We’re silent as we pull to a stop in front of the monstrosity of a house that Jackson and Davis grew up in. Hell, most of us grew up here. Especially once Vee came into the picture. Her grandmother’s house was so close to the Werth pack’s we didn’t want to be anywhere else.

The steering wheel creaks as Jackson glares up at the stone facade, his knuckles going white. Topher reaches over and slides his fingers over his, gently urging him to calm down. “It’s going to be okay,” he murmurs.

“And if it isn’t,” I add. “We have enough weapons in place to tear them down. We just need to pull the trigger.”

Jackson nods, taking a deep breath. “Yeah, right.” He pushes open his door. “Let’s get this over with so we can get back to our girl.”

We all move to comply with his demand, eager to get back to Vee as soon as we can.

She’s not alone, even if she thinks she is. One of our guys is tailing her, keeping an eye out. He’ll linger in the parking lot of the practice until she comes out and then follow her to the little bungalow she’s been staying in.

He’ll let us know if anything goes wrong.

Which will be nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Jackson doesn’t knock when he reaches the front door, just pushes it open and strides inside, the rest of us following behind him, always a united front, always with us supporting him.

He leads us into the house and down the hall. If Maxim called us to meet with him, he’ll either be in the living room or his study, both of which are at the back of the house. We find him in the study, behind his large desk, an array of drinks already poured for us on a tray off to the side in anticipation of our arrival.

The guards must have given him a heads up that we arrived.

When we make no move toward the drinks, he sighs and tips his head back. “I see you are still upset about dinner.”

Jackson’s hands fist at his sides and I have a hard time not letting mine do the same at the memory of that fucked up night. “You mean where you accused our omega of not being an omega and then threatened her? Hurt her? Yeah, safe to say we’re still fucking pissed about that.”

Maxim’s gaze hardens on him. “Language, Jackson. Just because you are angry doesn’t mean you need to resort to foul language like that low-class hussy you insist on spending time with.”

Growls rumble from all of us, and Maxim arches his brow at us. “Really?”

“Really,” Jackson confirms. “You will keep Vee’s name out of your mouth. If you only brought us here to tell us yet again about all the awful things you think she’s going to do to us, we’ll save you some time. She is ours. We are hers. End of story.”

Maxim eyes him silently before he finally nods. “Okay. I hear you. I didn’t actually bring you here to talk badly about her.” When Davis scoffs, Maxim pins him with a look. “I didn’t. I actually, I wanted to apologize for my behavior that night.” He runs a hand down his face. “Your mother has pointed out that I was less than a gentleman, and no matter my feelings about Sylvie, I shouldn’t have behaved the way I did.”

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