Page 57 of Knot Your Business

“Elizabeth.” Jay cuts her off, his voice humor-filled despite his exasperation. She huffs, her eyebrow raised, but stops asking questions.

These are all questions my mom should have asked me. Instead, I’ve gotten one passive aggressive voicemail and two notices from the Council of her trying to force reassignment. Papa and Dad have called twice, at least, and I’ve cried significantly less each time. I haven’t managed to broach the subject of Mom’s meddling with Jasper and me, though. That’s bound to start a fight that I just don’t want to mess with while trying to figure out the next couple weeks.

I pull myself out of the train of thought and focus on my best friend.

“The pack name is Bennett,” she says, a glint of challenge in her eye.

I laugh, elbowing her as I shake my head. She breaks after a few moments, pointing her fork at her mom.

“How do you know I’ve gotten a chance to really get to know them?”

Elizabeth rolls her eyes. “Because you’re you, Faedra Rose. Curiosity might as well be your middle name. Though Rose still sounds better.”

Faedra’s blush is dark and quick, hiding her freckles from one breath to the next.

She’s been glued to her phone the last two weeks. One of them is almost always chatting with her, and she spends the evenings laughing. Another stab of jealousy sours my stomach, and I force myself to take another bite so I don’t lose my appetite while she relays the basics of their professions. None of them seem too concerned until she mentions that Jude’s tenured at one of the local universities.

“He’s old enough to be tenured?” Aiden’s voice is a mix of shock and worry. Faedra blushes again. “I thought the Council paired everyone up so there weren’t huge age gaps.”

I can’t help but snort. Age is one of the last factors the Council considers when selecting matches. Sure, maybe a decade or two ago, it was easier to find packs of similar age to the Omegas in attendance. But now?

“Every year the Council pushes Omegas into matching younger,” I say. “We were some of the oldest ones there this time.”

Elizabeth frowns. “Just how old are they?”

Faedra’s blush darkens, spreading onto her chest, and she stabs at her food for a few minutes. Guilt pricks at my stomach. Maybe I should have found a better way to say that.

“Faedra,” Jay says, a clear warning.

Faedra takes a deep breath but doesn’t look up from her food. “Logan is 35. Carter turns 40 in August, and Jude turned 40 in February. His birthday is one week after mine.”

All three of them fidget, doing various things to hide the level of their surprise. A not-so-nice part of me rejoices over her family struggling over the match, too. They’re fucking perfect for her from what I’ve been able to tell, but it’s refreshing to see her have a less-than-stellar moment with her parents.

I wonder what they’d think of the ages of my match. Jasper’s 26, so not that much older, but Dominic and Rylan are both nearly thirty, their birthdays only a month apart from each other.

Jay’s the first one to break the silence.

“Well, the Council has been doing this for a long time,” he says. “I’m sure they had a reason for selecting this pack for you. We’ll reserve any judgment until we meet them tomorrow.”

There’s a long silence where Elizabeth glares at Jay, clearly unhappy with his answer. Eventually, she turns to me.

“So tell us about your match, Vi. Where are you moving?”

I lean against Faedra. “I’m actually staying here.”

Elizabeth brightens, her excitement practically contagious. “That’s fantastic! Have you gotten to spend a lot of time with them?”

Her happiness for me is like a balm to my soul, and the next words aren’t forced at all.

“It’s been great.” I elbow Faedra, smirking. “Way less stressful than Faedra’s current setup.”

On cue, she scoffs and shakes her head.

“Liar,” she says. “You’re nervous every time you go to meet up with them.”

True. The next words fall from me before I can pull them back.

“You would be too if the Beta you had a fling with in high school was part of the pack you’ve been matched with,” I mutter.

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