Page 13 of Knotting Before Them

“I thought you were making fun of me.”

“Never.”

I swallowed, not ready to think about how inappropriate this was.

“I hear it calling me. From the second I landed here, I knew I needed to be in your house. I couldn’t sleep thinking about it, and that bedroom, Wylder…” I refused to continue talking, because I was starting to sound crazy.

That bedroom felt like mine. It belonged to me in a way I couldn’t rationally explain. The word home kept thumping in my chest, and I did my best to ignore it. I never had a home. I wasn’t made for roots, so why now?

Why here?

Wylder’s forehead brushed against mine as he breathed me in and let me do the same quietly in the woods.

“It was calling to you,” he whispered.

“You don’t think I’m crazy?”

“I think you’re perfect.”

The words made his lips brush against mine, and a zip of electricity ran down my spine until, suddenly, I was too aware I had him between my legs. I closed them around his waist, bringing us even closer as Wylder let out a low groan.

“Noah definitely doesn’t think I’m perfect,” I joked.

That was all that was needed to destroy the mood. Wylder’s hands loosened on my body as he put space between our mouths.

“It’s getting too cold,” he rasped.

I wanted to say it was always cold, but instead, I found myself nodding. I slid down his body, trying to ignore the erection I felt on the way down.

He was ignoring it, so so should I.

Feeling a little humiliated, I turned around, looked down at my feet, and headed back home.

It was over before it even began.

It was just a crush, a crush on him and his carefree way. A crush on Theo and the way he took control today.

Even stupid, perfect face Noah. They were gorgeous older men, and I was just a silly girl who was always ignored.

I should concentrate on the mountain, on my task.

Two weeks, I told myself as I raced upstairs and locked myself in my room.

Two weeks.

She was our omega.

I watched in silence as she closed the door of the tiny room we gave her and breathed out when I heard the lock click.

Good. I couldn’t be trusted to stay away if she left it unlocked.

I had her in my arms. Our mate, in my arms,finally. I breathed in her scent, heard her musical accent.

She was perfect in every way.

It wasn’t just the call screaming inside me when I looked at her, or her scent that made me impossibly hard. The way she was called here?

It was obvious she was ours, even as she ran into that bedroom. I wasn’t lying—Noah always kept it locked. It was supposed to be the room we decorated for our mate, but once we realized it was never going to happen, he locked it, hoping it was enough to keep the pain at bay.

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