Page 64 of Knot That Delicate

Ihad read enough romance novels to know that blind dates were never a good idea. So, how did I manage to let myself get talked into meeting a few alphas without even saying hello to them online first and think it was a good idea? Oh, wait—I knew exactly how... Fawn and Dr. Sarah.

It had only been a week since I had talked to Dr. Sarah about seeing what was out there, and already, I had a meeting lined up.

The two of them had conspired and ganged up against me, suggesting that maybe I should just meet with some guys of their choosing. They’d pick some nice, normal alphas, and I could sit in a meeting room, get to know them with a glass wall between us. That way, they couldn’t do anything to me or or even reachout to me. All they could do was talk, and I could leave at any point.

But Fawn and Dr. Sarah had also made it very clear that if I bailed too early, they were going to judge me. Heavily. Because if I really was getting better—like I said I was—then I should be able to do this.

They were right, and I hated that they were right. After six months in the Haven, I’d put off talking to other alphas for long enough. For the first few months, Dr. Sarah had agreed that focusing purely on myself was the best approach. But now she was all for me branching out. She’d even played her trump card: “You told your guys you’d see what the world has to offer.”

So, here I was, sitting in a meeting room, waiting for some random alphas to appear.

Fawn and Dr. Sarah had summoned them. From what I understood, usually, the alphas were already in the room when the omega arrived. But, this time, the room was empty when I turned up. Probably because Fawn and Dr. Sarah were putting everything in place. I didn’t even know the name of the pack I was meeting. That meant I was on my own—and panicking.

What if they don’t like me?I shook my head. Of course, they would like me. I was a ray of sunshine, but then again, I was all kinds of broken. Socially, I didn’t know what was up and what was down. Several years locked in a basement does tend to take that kind of spark out of a girl. Also, I had learned that quite a few alphas held very judgmental beliefs. For instance, the number of packs that were only interested in “virgin omegas” was frankly quite disgusting. Like the fact that I had decided to share my heat with a pack once before made me “used up” or “not good enough” for some people.

Well, in my opinion, those people and their stupid opinions could go and get fucked.

I hadn’t been as unfortunate to come across one of those packs, but Fawn had. We were sitting in the common area, eating cookies, when she got a message on her tablet. She grimaced, and when I pushed her to tell me what was going on, she explained that a pack she’d been talking to for two weeks had learnt that she wasn’t “pristine,” so they were no longer interested.

Fawn had simply sighed, unfazed by it, saying she wished they’d ruled themselves out earlier, as she’d wasted two weeks of her life on those idiots.

She got the last laugh, though. When a pack offended an omega, she could leave a black mark on the pack’s profile. Fawn simply had to press a few buttons, then any omega who looked at that pack’s profile could see that they rejected an omega because she wasn’t “pure.” From what I understood, that pack was receiving very little interest after that interaction.

The room I was waiting in was comfortable enough. My side had a large lounging armchair with a footrest and several blankets, so I could nestle down for the duration of the meeting. The guys’ side was a bit less comfortable: there were armchairs, but no blankets or pillows, since they didn’t need them. Omegas needed those items for comfort.

I paced the room for five minutes, and just as I turned toward the door to leave, the door on the opposite side of the glass opened.

In walked five alphas.

“Oh gosh, are we late?” one of them asked, looking at me by the door.

I pulled my hand back and shook my head. “No. I didn’t know what time you’d be here, so I can’t really say if you’re late or not.”

I moved to the armchair and sat down, taking them in. They were all handsome, most of them blond with brown eyes. They had a surprisingly homogeneous look to them.

The one in front, who I assumed was the pack leader, spoke first. “Hi, I’m Josh. This is Ben, Eric, Carl, and Lyle,” he said, gesturing to each of them in turn.

“It’s nice to meet you,” I said. “I’m Juniper.” They all smiled.

“What do you want to talk about?” I asked as they settled into their armchairs. They were all beaming at me, appearing happy to be in my presence.

Josh spoke up again, smiling warmly. “What do you like to do? Tell us a bit about yourself.”

“I’m pretty normal, I think,” I said. “If I’m bluntly honest, I spend all my time in therapy or watching TV shows. Because I have so many years of TV to catch up on.”

One of the guys tilted his head curiously. “The keepers mentioned you’ve been through something but not what. So, can I ask, what do you mean you have ‘a lot of TV to catch up on’?” He hesitated, then quickly added, “But you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

I shook my head with a smile at his anxiousness—it was almost endearing. “No, it’s fine. It’s probably best if I talk about it.” I took a deep breath. “I lived on the outside with my family, but I was kidnapped. I was kept in a basement by a beta for several years. I escaped and came back here, where I’ve been in a lot of therapy since. Now I’m just starting to dip my toes into the world again.”

The room went quiet for a moment. Then one of them spoke.

“Damn, that’s horrifying. Impressive you escaped, though,” he said, clearly awed. “So… is that why you’ve got so much TV to catch up on?”

I nodded. “Yeah, there are so many shows that came out in the last five years!” I exclaimed in an exasperated tone. They broke out into laughter, the tension in the room easing a bit.

“What shows have you watched so far? Because we can give you a list of so many,” Ben said, pointing to Lyle. “This one is obsessed with TV. We have watched so many shows at this point, I’m basically an encyclopedia.”

Lyle rolled his eyes but smiled. “Hey, I’m just a connoisseur.” To me, he said, “I’ve been watching that new fantasy series—and loving it,” his enthusiasm evident.

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