Page 5 of Knot Giving Up 2

“Why not?” Harrison disappears into the kitchen, but I know he can still hear us.

“This isn’t worth it!” Meggie gets to her feet and goes after him, but he’s already coming back into the room with a beer in hand. He stops two feet in front of her. The air in the room crackles with energy, their scents drowning out the rest of ours.

“I’m not worth it,” Meggie whispers.

Six growls erupt around the room. None as loud as Harrison’s. I can’t believe our girl would think that about herself. And I won’t tolerate it. None of us will.

“Don’t you dare say that.” His voice borders on an alpha bark, almost as threatening as it was when he spoke with Daniel. “You’re worth everything to us. You hear me? Everything.”

Meggie sucks in a breath and looks down at the carpet. “I shouldn’t be. All I ever do is complicate things for you.”

“Baby girl,” I growl in warning, getting her to look at me. “Keep talking like that, and I’m going to need to punish you again.”

Her eyes round in surprise, but it has the desired effect. The sour apple scent in the room turns sweeter. Her self-deprecation giving way to a small shiver of desire.

“Look at me, Meggie.” Harrison sets his beer down on the coffee table and crosses his arm over his chest. “You are part of this pack now. My pack. And we take care of our own.”

Ellis, Dante, and Nils echo his sentiment with similar statements. McQuinn is quiet, but he doesn’t argue. It’s Harrison who captures my attention. He’s always been logical, un-sentimental, controlled, but right now he’s shaking with so much raw emotion it’s like static electricity around him.

I think I always assumed he just didn’t feel things the way the rest of us do, but watching him watch Meggie as she turns away and Ellis pulls her back to his lap, I see a new side of our pack alpha. He feels just as much as the rest of us.

The poor bastard is terrified.

It almost makes me laugh, but I stifle it the second Harrison’s eyes shoot in my direction.

“One more thing,” he says. “No bonding until after the Olympics.”

“What?! Why?” Nils protests first, which has McQuinn shooting to his feet, snatching Harrison's beer from the table, and stalking into the kitchen.

“I don’t think I can wait,” Ellis says, looking at Meggie like a love-sick puppy.

Dante growls. His eyes sparking angrily at Harrison. “I thought we agreed. She’s pack.”

I keep my cool, for once. No matter how much I might want to bond Meggie—and I do—Harrison is right. It would be stupid to bond her before we know how this is all going to shake out. Daniel is right about how our story will be spun if we’re bonded.

“You heard me.” Harrison gives each of us a slow, long look, avoiding Meggie’s gaze. “I rarely give orders as pack alpha, but this is an order. No bonding. Not until after Paris.”

4

Meggie

The room is dead quiet after Harrison leaves. I hug my arms around my waist, the events of the day finally catching up with me.

When Daniel first took me, I was too anxious to think straight, and when the guys first brought me home, I was too relieved to focus on much of anything. My whole body shook until I fell asleep in Ellis’s arms, suddenly exhausted.

Now, I don’t feel tired, but I’m still feeling that adrenaline crash, and I need a second to gather my thoughts. “I need a minute. Alone, I think.”

Ellis looks like I punched him in the gut. Dante drops his eyes to the floor. Nils’s lips narrow into a tight line, then he nods. But Oz stalks towards me. “Leaving you alone is the last thing I want to do right now.”

“Oz,” Dante warns.

Oz stops a foot in front of me and sighs. “I’ll give you whatever space you want, baby, but I need you to know I don’t like it. I… we… almost lost you today.”

His voice cracks a little, and I stand to step into him, sliding my hands up his tattooed forearms before wrapping my arms around him as best I can. The purr that rattles his chest makes me want to give in and stay here with them. Biology telling me to wrap myself up in their strength. I want to ease the pain I know they felt when I was missing. But… I’m used to doing things myself and not giving in to my omega tendencies. I haven’t even had a chance to process the fact that I’m going to Paris, let alone everything else that happened today.

I step out of Oz’s embrace. It feels like ripping off a limb, but I do it. “Just for a little bit, okay?”

“Whatever you need, sunshine,” Ellis says. “Right, Oz?”

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