Page 36 of Knotting Before Them

“And who am I meant to be?” She blinked some tears away, but I caught them with my thumb.

“You’re the sun melting the snow. You are sanity to Wylder, warmth to Theo, and everything to me.”

“I like that.” She smiled.

I kissed her then, calmly, different than before, trying to show her our love could be gentle too. I wanted to build it all with her. I was excited for the moments yet to come, to see her face every day while she fell in love with us.

I dropped my forehead to hers. “You’re going to be so many things in life. Sometimes, people will assume you’re something that you’re not, but it doesn’t matter, sunshine. What you truly are is right here.” I touched the middle of her chest. “It’s only for you and the ones who love you. They’ll always know the truth. They will always come to stand behind you. Whatever you are, it will always be enough.”

“And the three of you will love me? Will you always know my truth, even when I don’t?”

Her tears broke my heart. She had no idea what she was for us. I couldn’t wait to spend the rest of my life showing her.

“You’re all I see, Julia. I’ll always know who you are, even when you forget.”

She lets out a slow sigh of relief, and I was happy to provide her with that. I wasn’t as good at words and feelings like Theo was, but I would protect my mate for the rest of her life.

Julia hugged me tight, bringing her hands around my neck and making me bend over for her to reach. I rested into the hug, waiting patiently in her arms until she was ready to step into her new life.

A life she wouldn’t walk alone anymore.

She was part of a pack. She was loved. She was cared for.

She was our omega.

I shook my uncle’shand, a man I’d only seen once, before he sat down on the other side of the table. It took months to track him down, and even longer to make him accept my invitation, but once I hinted that I had mates, he quickly agreed to a meeting.

Tio Luis looked a lot like my dad, something I didn’t particularly notice the first time we met. They had the same brown eyes—like mine—and the same tired expression.

He looked like that right now, his eyes tired and untrusting as he watched over Wylder, Theo, and mostly Noah.

“Julia,” his eyes returned to me, “you were just a little girl when I saw you last.”

He spoke in Spanish, and I swallowed, trying not to feel self-conscious when I replied in the same language.

“It’s been too long, tio.”

“Tell me who is with you today.”

Directly to business, it was. Not that we had anything else to talk about.

“These are my mates, tio. Wylder, Theo, and Noah. I met themin Switzerland.”

I said that in English so the guys could understand. It was the cutest thing, the guys beaming with pride each time I called themmy mates. In the week after our mating, they went around the whole village, telling anyone who cared to listen that they found a miracle omega.

A miracle. Me.

After we truly got over my heat—and that took about a week—we went to see the village leader, Kent, and told him our story.

In their village, the three of them were the last unmated, but Kent knew other communities had the same problem. It was all over Europe.

Maybe the world.

Too many alphas going around without a mate, alone in the world like my guys thought they were. I couldn’t stand the idea, and since then, I’d been trying to reach out to Tio Luis.

“When you say mates…” Tio leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Meaning it was a surprise to find our omega and discover she knows nothing about our world,” Noah growled.

---