Page 56 of Knot All is Forgiven

"I don't know, Rafe," Slime sighs. He throws his head backward, banging it against the wall. "If I did, I'd be on my knees in front of her right now. But I tried that once already, and you saw how that ended."

"Yo, Slime," Nitro says, poking his head in the doorway. "Some lady here said you gave her an estimate for her car. Brought some Alpha with her to go over it."

"Ugh, alright, yeah." He pushes away from the wall and raises an eyebrow at me. "Wanna come watch me work?"

"Not particularly," I reply, pulling my phone out and scrolling through social media. I've found her social media profiles since discovering that Jordan goes by a different name publicly. Admittedly, they're very locked down, but staring at that small square picture provides me with some comfort. I've felt like I've been spiraling since I scented her. She's all I can think about, her scent lingering in my nose and my body aching to hold her.

"Rafe…" Slime says, backing slowly into the room. "You need to come watch me work, alright?"

I look up from my phone to see the stricken look on my packmate's face and slowly rise to my feet. "Sure thing, man. What's up?"

He shakes his head and motions for me to follow him into the lobby. Sitting in rickety wooden chairs are a Beta woman with mousy hair, a cute button nose in jeans and a black t-shirt, and an Alpha who looks enough like her that it's clear they're family.

Something about the Alpha feels familiar. He's well dressed, in the type of clothing I'd see around the office, with sandy blonde hair and deep green eyes. He takes up so much space, tall and broad-shouldered but not beefed up like Cyrus. No, most of the space he occupies is his presence.

"Absolutely not," the Alpha snarls, rising to his feet. "We're leaving. Athena, call a tow. We're going to another shop."

"Icky, what's going on?" the Beta woman asks, pulling on his sleeve to get him to sit.

"What's wrong is that this asshole is one of the ones who hurt Jordan!"

Oh, well, that is a coincidence indeed.

This istheAlpha. The one Jordan is bonded to.

Our missing packmate.

No wonder he feels so familiar to me, like deja vu, but in person form.

"Vick," Slime says, taking a slow, gentle step forward.

"Icarus," the Alpha spits. "Only Jordan calls me Vick."

"Icarus," Slime amends. "Obviously, none of this was planned, but we'd be remiss if we didn't take this opportunity for what it is."

Well, there's my Simon. I doubt Slime regularly drops words like 'remiss.'

"I have no desire to spend time with you, Simon. Jordan wants nothing to do with you or your pack, and neither do I." He grabs the woman by the arm and pulls her from the chair. "We're leaving, Athena."

She digs her heels into the concrete floor and glares at the Alpha. "Not until you tell me what the hell is going on, big bro."

Brother. That makes sense. I'm on the peripheral, unnoticed by those participating in the stare-down in the lobby, as I lean against the door frame and look at the man who's supposed to be my packmate—the man who is bonded to my Omega.

"What's going on, ma'am, is that Icarus is my packmate, bonded to my Omega, and is keeping her from me." Slime's voice is calm, even, and gentle when he addresses the Beta.

She stares at him with confusion, chewing on her lower lip. "Ya, you're part of that pack that broke Jordan's heart and pushed her away, right? The ones that have been stalking her?"

"Stalking is a bit of an overstatement, isn't it?" I finally interject myself into the conversation.

"And who the hell are you?" Icarus glares at me with a bit of shock, having just noticed me.

I take a step forward and hold out my hand. "Rafe Stargazer."

"Oh, why am I not surprised," he groans, throwing his hands up. "Why are you assholes everywhere?"

"Because we're pack!" Slime shouts, finally losing his cool. "We've found each other, and now the universe is pulling us together because we're supposed to be a pack."

"The universe can fuck off. Being around you hurts my Omega, and she's my top priority." The Alpha runs his fingers through his hair, pacing across the small lobby. His sister is glaring at all of us equally, tapping her foot and clicking her tongue as the three of us trade glares.

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