Page 33 of Knot That Delicate

Juniper cocked her head to the side. “I mean, I suppose,” she admitted, “but none of these guys look like trolls. They’re all pretty hot. I mean, look at that guy’s abs.” She gestured to the screen, where there was a slow-mo shot of a guy climbing out of the swimming pool, water dripping down his body. “I think he looks pretty good.”

I looked down at her, bewildered. “Am I corrupting you with this TV show?”

She shook her head, laughing. “No, I was corrupted long ago. Don’t you worry, my virtue is safe.” She chuckled, nestling further into my side. My arm wrapped around her as I lightly stroked her hair, and we lulled ourselves into an easy silence to watch the rest of the episode.

Before the episode was done, Juniper was dozing off in my arms, her arm wrapped around me, contentedly muttering in her sleep now and then, even letting out these cute little snores. I could’ve moved, I could’ve taken her back to her bedroom, I could've let her sleep on her own. But I didn’t.

Kicking my feet up, I leaned back and pulled her closer to me, watching the TV screen. I didn’t even change the show; I just kept watching it, because despite what I’d said about it, I was oddly invested to see whether or not they would choose each other. If either of my pack mates saw what I was watching, I could just make the excuse that it was Juniper’s choice and my masculinity would be protected.

Juniper felt good in my arms, she was content, and she was happily sleeping peacefully. So, I smiled at the screen and settled in for the long haul. It was going to be a fun night, and I wasprobably going to have a crick in my neck by morning, but I didn’t care one bit. As long as she was comfortable and happy, I was comfortable and happy.

Very quickly, my entire world view seemed to be warping, to focus on her, to make sure she was relaxed, healthy, and safe. While part of me was simply pretending that I was doing my due diligence, making sure that the stranger who’d wandered into our home, who’d clearly been through a bad situation, was now being taken care of, I knew, deep down, something was changing.

I actually cared. I wasn’t merely caringforher—I caredabouther. It was a dangerous, slippery slope and I didn’t like it one bit.

Iwas typically the first to wake up, wanting to get things started in the kitchen and check that the house was all secure. Dylan didn’t usually head to bed until the very early hours, so I often got up just an hour or two after he went to bed. Carter was more of a lone wolf; we never knew when he’d wake up. Sometimes it was a rough night, sometimes he’d sleep three days straight. If he’d had a few beers, I probably wouldn’t see him for a good day or two while he slept off the hangover—because that man was a lightweight. Why Carter thought he could handle whiskey was beyondme.

Before Juniper came to stay at the cabin, I would’ve lazed around in bed for ten minutes, trying to pull myself together and join the land of the living. I liked my sleep as much as the nextguy. But ever since our new guest had joined us, I found myself hopping out of bed almost immediately, curious to see where she was, what she was doing, and if she was okay.

I knew it was ungodly early, but I wanted to start on something for breakfast—maybe prep some pancakes with chocolate chips or possibly bagels. I’d never really made bagels before, but I had a recipe for them. Ever since Juniper had mentioned going to that little bagel shop with her family, I’d wanted to do it. I knew that none of my pack mates would say no. They were human garbage disposals, and we’d eat anything.

Wearing nothing but a pair of gym shorts, I stumbled down the hallway, scratching the back of my head as I yawned. I came to a stop when I noticed the TV was still on in the living space, though it was on mute. Taking a few steps forward, I reached for the remote to turn it off, thinking that it had accidentally been left on by someone. That’s when I noticed Dylan on the sofa with Juniper next to him, fast asleep. Her head rested on his chest, and she was nestled into him contentedly, making soft little snoring sounds.

Dylan, on the other hand, was wide awake, leaning his head back on the sofa as he gently ran his hand through her hair. This was an unexpected development.

I circled around the couch and raised my eyebrows at him. He shrugged—or at least, I think he tried to, though the gesture was very small because he clearly didn’t want to disturb Juniper.

“It seems like someone’s omega instincts are kicking in,” he said. “She’s been very cuddly and nesty, and I wasn’t about to leave her alone.” He paused, glancing down at her. “Of course, omegas crave human contact.”

“Well, if that means we need to have snuggles, then we need to have snuggles,” I said with a grin. I knew I was probably her favourite out of all of us, and I was definitely down for some omega snuggles. “Is she going to need anything else?” Iasked, frowning. We were so unprepared, and Juniper had been remarkably easy, considering she didn’t have most of her omega instincts. I still wanted to throttle the idiot who’d hurt her.

Dylan cocked his head, looking down at Juniper, and his expression wasn’t one of disdain, like I expected. In fact, it was an oddly warm expression. “I don’t know what else she’ll need,” he said. “But it may be worth trying to build a nest for her out of what we’ve got.”

That made me raise my eyebrows. Building a nest for an omega was quite an intimate act. Usually, alphas would only build a nest for an omega if they were planning to, well...fucksaid omega in the nest. Or, at the very least, rut her through a heat.

Dylan noticed my expression and scowled. “It’s not like that. She hasn’t got anyone else to help, and she hasn’t exactly had the time to do it herself, has she?” he shot back.

I grimaced. “We really don’t have much we can offer her,” I said, thinking about what we had throughout the cabin. “I’m going to get breakfast started, and then I’ll look around.” I eyed him. “Do you want me to take her back to her room, or?—”

Dylan cut me off. “We’re okay here,” he said. “It’d be rude to disturb her.” When his voice stuttered just a bit, I suppressed a smile. That was utter bullshit—he was starting to like her, and he was enjoying having her curled up at his side. At the end of the day, Dylan was just an alpha. Any one of us would enjoy a small, sweet omega nestling into our side.

“Are you not going to wake her up for your gym session?” I asked, keeping my voice low to avoid waking Juniper but not missing the chance to get a chuckle in.

Dylan frowned. “She can use a rest day. She’s clearly exhausted.”

I almost choked on thin air. “Wait, let me make sure I heard this correctly—theDylan is saying someone can take a day offfrom the gym? Are you okay? Do you have a fever? Crap, maybe we need to call for medevac.” I grinned. “If this is how you die, I’ll give you a nice obituary.”

Dylan glowered. “Stop prattling on, you idiot,” he growled, his voice raised ever so slightly, making Juniper stir. He quickly resumed stroking her hair, soothing her back to sleep. He handled her with ease, and I was almost impressed.

Deciding to leave more teasing for later, I went to the kitchen and quickly went about preparing breakfast. I decided on bagels, since they’d take a bit of time to rise. Juniper was still fast asleep, and I wanted her to be awake when they were freshly baked. I had a bit of fun making a few different variants—I made blueberry ones, some cinnamon sugar ones, and some savory ones with chives and onions.

As soon as the little rings of dough were resting on the kitchen counter with a cloth thrown over them, I wandered to the back of the cabin, straight into Carter’s room. Well, it wasn’t exactly Carter’s room, since his room was now taken up by a very small, slightly stubborn omega. The alpha in question was actually staying in a room I could only describe as a storage closet he’d thrown a random old mattress in.

We were all close as a pack, so I didn’t bother to knock before pushing the door open. “Wakey, wakey, Sleeping Beauty. We’ve got a job to do,” I told him as he stirred and glowered at me from the bed.

“Why the hell are you waking me up? We’re on vacation,” he growled. His hair was sticking up at all angles, and his eyes were heavily hooded with sleep.

“It seems like Miss Juniper has been having some more omega instincts during the night, so I think it’s time we gather materials for a nest,” I said, my hand on the doorknob as I paused. “Actually, it wasn’t even me who came up with the idea—it was Dylan.” I smirked as Carter’s eyes shot open.

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