Page 38 of Knot Her Reality

“So far, it’s just me and you. I’m Koda.”

“Hi, Koda. I’m Paisley, and this is my pack.” Unlike when meeting Evangeline, I don’t feel the need to get territorial over my pack. Interesting. I wonder why that is. I’d blame it on him being male, but I like men and women both. I don’t really prefer one over the other, but if I had to choose, I’d choose women.

Koda nods his head to Malachi and Nash. “I met these two earlier, but I haven’t met this alpha.”

“Koda, this is Ana. She’s our head alpha,” Malachi interjects, and Ana stands so she can shake his hand.

“It’s nice to meet you, Ana,” Koda purrs, but once again, I don’t feel jealousy ripping through me.

When Ana glances at me to check in, I just shrug. I have no idea what’s going on or why I’m reacting differently to this omega. She runs a hand over my hair as she sits back down. “It’s nice to meet you as well.”

Bree clears her throat. “The rest of the introductions will need to wait. I need to get this interview done and wrapped up before the suitors start arriving if I can.”

All eyes turn to her, and she gives a soft smile. “Pack Reyes, I’d love to hear from the four of you since you’re our newest suitors. You met Evangeline a week later than you were meant to, and it was a bit bumpy in the beginning there.”

“That would be my fault,” I say with a shrug. “Having Evangeline around my pack made me really possessive and quite bitchy. I’ve never really acted like that before, and I’m not sure what came over me. I didn’t think I was going to be able to handle it. But she was so gracious about it and gave me an out. All of last night, I was sure we were going to be heading home, but when I woke up this morning… It’s like something clicked inside of me.

”I wanted to get to know Evangeline. I didn’t view her as a threat to me or my pack. I don’t even know what changed my mind. I wonder if meeting her a week later didn’t have something to do with my reaction. I had an extra week for the anxiety to build. Because meeting Koda just now, I didn’t feel any of that. I didn’t feel like I needed to pull my claws out and prove that they were mine. Anxiety is an interesting beast.”

Ana smiles as she takes one of my hands in hers, Malachi taking the other. “That it is. Honestly, I’ve been beating myself up over the fact that I didn’t realize just how much Paisley was struggling. That’s my job as her alpha, to know when she’s upset, and I had no idea. It wasn’t until Evangeline pointed it out that I realized it was more than just nerves or whatever. I felt like I was failing my omega, and if I was failing her, then why would I deserve a second?

“If there’s one thing an alpha doesn’t want to admit to is failing their pack. I thought for sure we were headed home. When Paisley told us this morning that she wanted to go on the date with Evangeline, we ended up skipping breakfast with her because I wanted us to talk it out as a pack before making that decision. Obviously, we decided to go on the date, and I think it was the right decision. It allowed us to see what could be. Even if Evangeline isn’t meant to join our pack, at least we know that it’s possible for Paisley to not only exist around another omega, but thrive.”

“Might be a little early to say that.” Malachi snorts. “But I think it’s important that we continue to communicate with each other—not just within our pack, but with Evangeline as well. I think it’s the only way we can move forward on the show.”

Bree nods. “What about you, Nash? You’ve been awfully quiet over there.”

He shrugs. “I don’t tend to talk when I don’t have anything to say, and I feel like my pack has said everything I’m feeling.”

I know my beta isn’t trying to be rude, but it definitely comes across that way. I turn to him, raising my eyebrows. “You should maybe try to reword that, Nash.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. That sounded rude? Maybe?” Nash shakes his head as he wrinkles his nose. “I’m not the best with people sometimes. Paisley’s working with me on it so I don’t end up offending the wrong person.”

“That’s sweet of her,” Bree says slowly, obviously unsure how to respond to that.

It’s a normal reaction to Nash. When he’s on, he’s great with people—friendly and charismatic. The rest of the time, he either falls silent and gives the impression he isn’t paying attention, or he blurts out whatever he’s thinking, never worrying about how it might sound to others. I kind of love that about him, but most people don’t know how to handle him. That’s alright though, because they don’t need to handle him. That’s what Malachi, Ana, and I are here for.

“So, what have the rest of you been doing for the last week?” I ask, glancing around at the other suitors. “We’ve been stuck at the hotel, but it has a nice pool, so it wasn’t terrible.”

Koda grins. “Wait until you see the pools here. The one out back is amazing but there’s another one in the basement. There’s a hot tub with each pool too. Plus a whole theater.”

“I love pools. I can’t wait to check them out. Is that what you’ve been doing with your time?”

He shrugs. “And getting to know the other suitors.”

No one else answers my question, and I shrug. That’s fine. No skin off my back.

Bree glances around the room as silence fills the room. Finally, she sighs. “Seriously? Do none of you have anything else to say?”

An older man with thick silver hair—an alpha, I’m sure—shrugs before glancing at the man beside him. It takes a moment for me to realize I know who he is. Alejandro Delgado. He’s an alpha from last season. I don’t know how I went this long without realizing who he is. Though, now that I think about it, I haven’t paid much attention to any of the other suitors.

“Nope, nothing that I can think of,” the alpha says before glancing over at me and my pack. “I’m Jagger, by the way.”

“Awesome. Most of you know the drill but for the newbies, let me tell you how this is going to go from here.” Bree continues talking about dinner and how we won’t be seeing Evangeline again until the rose ceremony after she meets the last of her suitors, but I tune her out. Nothing against her, but it’s boring information that my pack can fill me in on later.

Instead, I let my gaze flip around the room once more. I’m not close enough to most of the suitors to be one hundred percent sure on their designations, but there’s an interesting mix of people here.

There’s Koda and the woman beside him that I’m guessing is a beta. Jagger and Alejandro sit on the loveseat next to their couch. On the opposite loveseat are two women holding hands. They definitely give off more beta vibes than anything else. Plus, there aren’t many female alphas in the world. Ana is already on the show, it’s not likely that they’ll have been able to find more than one or maybe two, right?

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