Page 22 of Knotting Before Them

She gave me a shy nod, cheeks rosy. The bath must be working, cooling off the heat, because she was shy once again.

I took a glass I kept beside the sink and dunked in the water as I brought it up to rinse up the suds.

“Noah…” Her voice was small.

“Yes.”

“What is happening? Why do I feel like this?”

It wasn’t an easy question, and I wasn’t ready to explain it alone. So, I kept rinsing her hair as I said, “I’ll tell you in a minute.”

“Do you know why I feel like this?”

“Like what, sunshine?”

“Like I’m going to explode if you don’t get into this bath with me. My whole body needs you. I start and end with you three.”

I kissed the crown of her head, hiding a smile. I’d waited my whole life to be wanted like this.

“I know why.”

“It is normal? Is this what a crush feels like?”

I chuckled. “You think this is a crush?”

“I don’t know. I never liked someone before.”

“No one?” I asked, just to be sure.

“No one ever,” she confirmed.

“You never had a boyfriend?”

“I didn’t say that.” She blushed. “I just… It wasn’t like this.”

I fought the urge to ask more about this boyfriend and instead concentrated on the confession that she felt strongly about us, too.

Once she was clean, I helped her out of the bath and put my t-shirt over her head. She piled her hair in a messy bun and followed me to my bedroom, where we found the other two waiting.

“Sit here.” I brought her to the middle of the bed. “Water?”

She nodded, and Theo handed her a glass. We looked at each other as she drank, not sure how to start. She might feel okay for a few minutes after the bath, but that wasn’t going to last.

She needed to be knotted, and soon.

“Jules, have your parents ever talked about…” Theo started “Omegas and alphas?”

“Alphas?” she smiled over the rim of the cup. “Like wolves?”

“Yes.” Wylder nodded at the same time that I said, “No.”

“Were they only… them? A couple?” I asked.

She snorted, clearly finding the whole line of questioning funny.

“Yeah, my mom and dad were a couple. Just them. What’s going on?”

She looked at us three, from Theo to Wylder and, finally, to me. She was waiting for us, for the truth, for an explanation of why everything was suddenly so intense.

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