Page 69 of Knot That Delicate

I couldn’t say no to her. She was so bright and bubbly, full of excitement at being home. She told me once that the Haven would always be home to her, even though her current home was with my family, her pack. There would always be a place in her heart for the Haven, and I could understand that. Even if I went home with my guys, I would still adore this place. The Haven had been my home when I needed it most. It protected me, it gave me care and let me heal at my own pace, in my own way. There was something pretty special about that.

The three of us found a table, and Lavender bounced off to get food while Fawn went for drinks. I sat, pulling out my tablet to check for meeting requests. There were none from my guys but several from other packs who were at the Haven. If it had been up to me, I wouldn’t have even registered interest in another pack. I would simply have stayed as a single omega, only interested in my guys. But I had agreed that I would see what else was out there, so I had made myself public, and I’d had a few meetings that were nice enough, but they were just notmyguys.

"Here’s that sugary concoction you adore," Fawn said, setting a glass in front of me. I beamed at her, picking up the glass. Strawberry cola, made with actual strawberry syrup. It was one of the best things I had discovered since coming to the Haven. As omegas often had a sweet tooth, the amazing thing was that the Haven catered to that. I’d been introduced to so many sweets and treats during my stay, I was surprised I wasn’t a lot more unhealthy.

I could understand omegas with a pack eating lots of sugar, because they needed energy to keep up with three or more alphas. Me? I spent my days in my nest all day, eating sweets, reading dirty books, and daydreaming about my future while going to therapy sessions. It was, honestly, quite an ideal life.

"I got us all the same thing," Lavender said with a smile, placing dishes of pasta in front of each of us. It looked like some version of chicken Alfredo. Lavender immediately grabbed the pepper shaker and started loading hers up with so much pepper that her entire sauce turned dark.

"Have you got enough pepper there, Lavender?" I asked.

"Nope, there’s no such thing as too much black pepper. It’s the spice of the gods," she declared.

Fawn chuckled. "You know, having an addiction to black pepper is the most basic spice you can be addicted to. There are so many better spices out there."

Lavender shrugged. "Judge me if you want to, but I like it, so I’m going to do it," she said, dumping more pepper into her pasta.

"So, why’d you call me here today?" Lavender asked, tilting her head. "I thought you were meant to be busy today. Weren’t you taking a meeting?"

Fawn shook her head. "Her pack was supposed to come back today, but they haven’t shown up yet," she said with a grimace.

Lavender turned to me, her fork frozen halfway to her mouth as she gaped at me. "Wait, that’stoday? It’s been a year to the day since you came here?"

She knew exactly what my plan had been and how I intended to spend exactly one year here. I had told her when I had reached out to my guys. When I had asked them to officially court me, so she knew where I was supposed to be a year to the day.

I nodded. "Yep, and there’s been zero sign of them."

Lavender’s face fell. "Oh no, I’m so sorry. I’m sure they’re just stuck in traffic or something?" she offered.

"I’m not so sure. What if they simply don’t want me? If that’s their choice, I have to respect that. It’ll hurt like a bitch, but if they decided they don’t want me and they want a different omega, I can’t really do anything about it, can I?" I said, trying to sound resigned.

"Well, if they decided that, then they’re the biggest, stupidest poopy-heads around," Lavender said, firm and final.

I couldn’t help but laugh.

"So, I'm guessing I’m here to help take your mind off it, because I’m a wonderful breath of fresh air, aren’t I?" Lavender said.

I grinned. "Exactly! And it was Fawn’s idea."

"Well, that’s because Fawn is very intelligent," Lavender added. "My former roommate happens to know what she’s doing."

Fawn smirked. "Either way, Juniper is going to do amazing. Do you know, in the last three weeks, this one"—she pointed at me—"has had more meeting requests than me?"

Lavender narrowed her eyes at Fawn. "While I would usually say that’s impressive, I also know what you’re like, Fawn. You’ve been avoiding pack after pack lately. So, I can’t really comment about how impressive that is. But at the same time"—she turned to me—"it’s really good that you’re getting lots of requests. Itshows you that people are out there eager to meet you. Have any of the packs you met caught your eye?"

I shook my head. "No. They’ve all been pretty boring, to be honest."

Lavender nodded. "You have to kiss a few toads to find your Prince Charming."

I scoffed. "No, that is bullshit. You had to getkidnappedto meet your Prince Charmings."

Lavender shrugged. "I mean, if it works, it works."

We all laughed and finished our food, then decided to go on a walk around the grounds. They were both good company, and they were women I loved having in my life. I was so thankful that my path had brought them to me, and I was happy my brother had found happiness with Lavender.

Once upon a time, I had daydreamed about being with my brother’s pack—before he was a member of their pack, of course—but them with my brother and Lavender just seemed so right. Every video message I got from them had been so full of love and happiness, they just radiated joy from and with each other. I really hoped I’d find that soon myself.

Today was the day.

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