Page 58 of Knot Your Business

Aiden chokes, and Faedra giggles. I elbow her again.

“Betas aren’t that common in packs, though,” he sputters after a moment, his eyes wide. “How the hell did you manage to draw that match?”

Fuck. If. I. Know.

Though I’m not as bitter about it as I was. Good sex will do that to a woman.

“The Council works in mysterious ways,” I say in a sing-song voice. Faedra laughs. After another minute, I push my cleared plate away. “Reconnecting with Jasper has been the easiest part of it, actually.” And that’s fucking saying something. “It’s one of the Alphas that’s making me question the match.”

Shit. I didn’t mean to admit that out loud. Did I sound vulnerable? Or just irritated? I glance at Faedra, and her lips turn down.

“They’re flying in tonight,” she says, pulling the conversation back to her in a moment of undying friendship that I fucking owe her for. “They’re supposed to get in sometime around seven, and then they’re staying at one of the hotels near the airport.”

Elizabeth perks up, but Jay is quick to cut her off.

“We’re excited to meet them tomorrow.”

Show me someone who says that man doesn’t understand his daughter, and I’ll show you a liar. Faedra’s shoulders relax, her nervous fidgeting with her orbital piercing stopping despite her mom being clearly frustrated. My phone vibrates in my pocket. I tune Elizabeth out while I check it.

Text from Jasper: See you tonight, Love.

My chest flushes, but I breathe through it, trying to keep attention off of me. Faedra leans against me, pulling me back into the conversation.

“They only had a slot left for tomorrow afternoon,” she says.

Jay nods, hugging her before surveying the room. “Sounds like tomorrow’s going to be hectic. Let’s get this done so your mom has enough time to actually breathe tomorrow instead of just bombarding your pack with questions, yeah?”

I laugh even as Elizabeth rolls her eyes. She points at me.

“Don’t you dare hop sides, Violet. We’re supposed to be buddies.”

I shrug and smile. “Bestie privileges mean I don’t have to pick a side. Let’s get this done so you can go eat on the boardwalk before it closes.”

Twenty-Seven

JASPER

Dominic’s room is still dark as I slip into it. He’s sprawled out on his stomach, his arms tucked under his pillow, his phone on the far nightstand and not plugged in. Worry gnaws at me, but I ignore it as I close the door.

“Tesoro,” Dominic mumbles, not turning toward me. “Cosa fai?”

I don’t offer a response. Instead, I cross the room and pull back the sheet, laying beside him in the large bed. He slits one eye open, and that worry digs deeper. It’s bloodshot, like he hasn’t slept for a week. Or he drank too much last night.

“This isn’t sustainable,” I murmur, resting my head on my arm.

He sighs and closes his eye.

“I know,” he says after a moment.

“Dom…” I let my voice trail off, swallowing to soothe my suddenly dry mouth. I finally let the admission slip into the space between us, already tensed for his refusal and rejection. “I need this to work.”

He moves faster than I expect given his hangover, twisting us both around until I’m pinned under him, one hand holding both my wrists pinned above my head and the other spread at the bottom of my throat.

He says something in Italian that I don’t understand, his voice too low and too slurred for me to parse out a word to give me context. “Slower,” I whisper.

He blows out a breath and closes his eyes. “Am I not enough?”

That worry drops like a stone. Of course he’s enough. He was enough in September, too. What about Violet makes him question whether I love him? Why is it with Violet but not with Rylan? Or has he been feeling this way about Rylan, too?

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