Page 9 of Knot That Delicate

Before I could answer him, a movement to my right caught my attention, and I whipped around. Standing in the open-plan kitchen was another alpha. This one was a bit smaller than the one who had been by the fireplace. He had rugged blond curls and was stirring something on the burner. Something that smelled, frankly, delicious.

"These are my pack mates," Carter explained. "This is Dylan," he said, pointing towards the alpha by the fireplace, who gave me a small wave. "And the one stirring the chilli is Asher," he added, as the alpha in question gave me a nod and a beam.

"Uh…hello," I said weakly, nodding at them, unable to do anything else in my sheer panic. Sweat broke out on my palms as I realised I had landed myself in a situation that was a true mess. There werethreealphas here. I had struggled withonebeta. I was now on my own, and I didn’t even know which direction I had run in. I thought I had run towards the town, but instead, I had ended up in the middle of nowhere, in a cabin with three alphas I had never met before.

I was really having shitty luck.

My footsteps had faltered, but Carter gently placed his hand on the small of my back and pushed me forward. "Come on," he said. "Let's get you some food, and then we can talk." He spoke with ease, and his body language was utterly relaxed.

Part of me wanted to pull back, to avoid his touch, but there was another part of me that immediately yearned to do as I was told. Alec had beaten that into me, and five years of conditioning wasn’t going to disappear in a single day.

I followed him to the kitchen, keeping my footsteps small and trying to avoid eye contact with any of the alphas. What were they going to ask me? What was I going to say to them? How did I explain everything I had been through? A million questions were running through my head as I sat at the breakfast bar and a bowl of chilli was placed in front of me, drenched in sour cream,salsa, and all the delicious toppings. So much cheese, as well as a plate of steaming cornbread and a soda.

Carter had been the one to grab the soda and put it in front of me, but the blond one—Asher—glowered at him.

"You shouldn’t be giving her soda. She’s dehydrated. She needs water," he said.

Carter chuckled, looking at me. "Asher here is the doctor," he said. "As you can probably tell."

I suppressed a small smile as a bottle of water was placed next to the can of soda.

"That’s okay," I said. "I don’t mind water. I don’t even know the last time I drank a can of soda.”

Everyone turned to look at me.

"Do you not like soda?" Carter asked.

"Erm, no, that’s not it," I said, trying to find the right words. "I wasn’t able to get soda where I was."

“Maybe you should tell us your name?” he asked.

“Juniper,” I admitted.

“Pretty,” he said with a nod. I shouldn't have been so pleased at his approval.

I pulled myself away from the conversation and focused on the bowl in front of me, quickly shovelling a mouthful of chilli into my mouth. I immediately regretted that because the chilli was still piping hot, and all of a sudden, my mouth was on fire.

Breathing deeply, I grabbed the bottle of water and downed several gulps as the others smiled at me. Dylan’s face was frowning in concern, though.

"I’m fine," I assured him, waving my hand as he took a step towards me. "I just didn’t realise it was going to be so hot," I said in a shaky voice.

"You need to eat slowly," Asher said. "Judging by the looks of you, you’re underweight and you need to be eating at a gentle pace. Otherwise, you’re going to get sick."

I nodded. That made sense. I had heard things like that before, so I wasn’t doubting what he was saying. I was just slightly annoyed because I wanted to shove all that food into my mouth so fast, it would be gone in an instant.

After a few small bites, Carter spoke up. "So, where were you? I think we’re going to need an explanation about where you’ve been and how you ended up on our land."

I mulled over his words in my mind. He didn’t need to knowexactlywhat had happened to me.

Maybe if they thought I was simply lost and my family was looking for me, they would let me go sooner?

"I got lost," I said as I took another bite. "It was just a mistake. If you could direct me towards the nearest city, I can phone my brother, and I can go home, and everything will be fine," I said with a grin, trying my best to act nonchalant.

Every alpha in the room frowned at me, looking between each other.

"What was that look for?"

"Do you know anything about where we are?" Dylan asked.

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