Page 197 of Tangled in Knots

“Until you,” Morris mutters. “You’re our kryptonite, baby girl. Our eyes are open and that won’t happen again. Rock has his own agenda, and we’re going to unravel it, so nothing can touch you again.”

“Ready,” Jed grunts, walking out of the bedroom in a black suit. He looks good enough to eat and I lick my lips as he comes closer. “If you keep looking at me like that, all the work you spent on your makeup will be for nothing, Adira. By the way, I got a text from Dad, so I need to call him later.”

“He sent one to Damon and I, which is new,” Kane grunts. At Jed’s surprised glance, he shrugs. “Go for now, we’ll game plan when you have details.”

“Alright,” Jed grunts. “Ready, Adira?”

“Yeah,” I agree, my mind racing with possibilities. I should have known Rock would find a way to bounce back after his first attempt to buy me from Duncan and Callum.

“Worrying is only going to fuck with your focus,” he reminds me as he ushers me out of the apartment. “We’ll worry about it after the party.”

“You’re right,” I sigh, shivering at the cooler temperature in the hallway.

“I’m already fucking this up,” Jed mutters, opening the apartment door to have coats shoved at him. This dress isn’t meant for twenty degree weather in Minnesota without a coat.

“Thank you,” I murmur as I pull on the coat with a smirk. Jed pulls on his own, looping a pretty gray scarf over my neck and helping me into my mittens.

It’s overkill, but I can tell he’s annoyed at himself for pushing me out the door.

“Can’t do a hat because of your hair,” he murmurs to himself. “It’s a quick walk to the car.”

“I’m not going to freeze,” I tease him as he takes me by the hand as we walk out the main door of the apartment building. There’s about six apartments in the rental building, though only two seem to be in use right now.

My heels manage to navigate the stairs alright, and I’m grateful that while there is still snow on the ground, it isn’t currently falling. It makes a difference to me in how cold it actually feels when it is or isn’t snowing for some reason.

“Maybe not, but it’s my job to keep you safe tonight, and that includes from frostbite,” he grumbles, making my lips twitch.

Apparently, I’m under Jed’s small umbrella of people to protect. A part of me felt it while I was in the alley after the attack, and when he surprised me in front of the shelter, to make sure I was safe. It’s been going on for over a month, but my depression and view of the world was too big for me to see anything else.

“Yes, please save me from frostbite, big, strong alpha,” I sass.

Jed snorts, unlocking the SUV and opening the passenger door. His hands wrap around my waist, to gently lift me into my seat, leaning forward to push his forehead against mine. I managed to apply my makeup in such a way as to hide the last of the bruising around my eye, and the lump on my noggin is gone.

“Are you being a brat, baby?” he purrs. “You and Morris are going to get into so much trouble, aren’t you? He’s usually such a good boy, until he’s not. I have a feeling I may need to bribe you into being a good girl for me.”

“You make me want to be a brat,” I breathe, inhaling sharply as he slants his mouth across mine to kiss me. They’re soft and light, so as not to mess up my lipstick.

“Then it looks like I know my game plan for when I want you to be a good little omega too,” he says cryptically, winking before he slides my legs inside the vehicle, so he can close my door.

My head drops back as I sigh, wiggling uncomfortably at the wet patch that’s now on my panties. I grabbed the type that doesn’t show lines while still scent and moisture wicking. These alphas have a way of ruining my panties.

It’s as if my libido has received a boost lately since the library. I need to keep it together, stay focused the way Jed told me to, even if he’s doing everything in his power to make me turn into a puddle of slick.

Jed gets into the SUV and turns the vehicle and heater on, while I give him the address for the party. Nodding, he puts it into the GPS of his phone before beginning the drive.

“We need to upgrade your phone,” he grunts as he focuses on the road.

“It works fine,” I remind him. “I bought whatever would make calls without a plan. I don’t use it very much as it is.”

My words are true. It’s a basic model without any bells and whistles. The thing barely texts, and I use my computer for anything I need to pull up on the internet. If I’m honest with myself, it’s little better than a paperweight, but it’s my connection to the world.

“Adira,” he groans. “Baby, you have all of this money, if you won’t let me buy it, treat yourself to something that has the ability to access GPS, video chat, and the internet.”

“Ugh, but the basic thing works fine,” I tell him. “I’m not used to having my own money, this doesn’t feel real.”

“Morris looked into what your father’s assets were before he signed them away to Cassia, and it’s close to four billion dollars,” Jed says.

“A man with that kind of money doesn’t squander everything away. Your father was a powerful beta, I think Dad was jealous as hell about it. If my father had presented as a beta, my grandfather would have killed him. Same with any of us. There’s this idea of alphas being more deserving, which is bullshit. There’s a lot of things wrong with my father, this is only one of many.”

---