Page 66 of Knot That Delicate

“It’s been a week,” I said, settling into the chair in her office. “And I like it, don’t get me wrong, but it’s just…not right.”

Dr. Sarah tilted her head to the side, studying me. “And why do you think that is?”

I thought for a moment before answering. “I don’t know. It could be because I haven’t had as much time with them as I did with my guys. But there’s something deep in my gut that says that’s not right, either. When it came to my guys, I had this feeling in my gut from the moment I met them. You know, as soon as the freaking out by the ‘being chased by a psychopathic killer’ thing had gone away.” Dr. Sarah nodded thoughtfully. “With the guys who visit me here, they’re warm and friendly, but they just don’t give me butterflies the way my old pack did.”

“It sounds like you’re doing the work I’ve asked of you,” she said. “And it sounds like you’re doing really well. You should be proud of yourself.”

Part of me wanted to ask if this meant she’d recommend to the keepers that I go back to my old pack, but I also didn’t want to ask. I didn’t want to push the boundaries just yet. I understood that I still had work to do, and I was determined to put in the work and do it right until it was time to contact Carter and ask him to officially court me.

I found it weird that I had to contactCarterand not the entire pack, all because Carter was technically the head of the pack. But it is what it is, and I knew where he went, the rest of the pack would follow.

Beaming, I stood and asked, “So, what’s next on my homework list?”

Dr. Sarah smirked, and I almost regretted asking.

Iactually really liked the building that we had applied to live in. It took us almost three months to get approved and receive the keys, so we could move in. They were extremely thorough with their security checks, which I could appreciate.

None of the apartments had CCTV, but all the hallways and common areas did. Every single inch of the lobby was covered in cameras, but no one seemed to mind. It all added an extra layer of security for the omegas.

“You know what? I think we’ve actually managed to get everything in here,” Carter said, looking around the apartment. We had gotten the keys only a week prior and had spent the last week buying and moving in an inhuman amount of furniture.

I would have been happy to bring the basic furniture from our old apartment, but as Asher had pointed out, having an omega meant we would need a lot more furniture, a lot more comfortable things—and a lot more space for them. We even visited that big-box nesting store down the road and gathered a ton of supplies. Every surface now had a blanket or pillow thrown on it. To me, it felt like overkill, but I knew Juniper would love it.

We hadn’t wanted to decorate the pack bedroom too much, because that felt like it was tempting fate. Until Juniper came home, we were gonna sleep in our own separate bedrooms, and hopefully, once she came back, the pack bedroom would be ours. So, we decorated it in shades of green—they reminded us of the cabin. Some of the throw blankets we had bought had leaves on them, and the wallpaper had very faint outlines of trees. It was like a little woodland oasis in the middle of the city. Carter had even bought a small sound machine and placed it in the corner of the room, so you couldn’t hear the sound of the city noise outside. You could only hear tranquil woodland sounds, like little critters running around and the sound of leaves falling.

The last thing we wanted was for the space to feel empty or unwelcoming when she returned. But at the same time, we didn’t want to do too much, in case she didn’t like the theme. Ultimately, we’d go with whatever the hell she wanted. Maybe she’d prefer something more modern after being stuck in captivity, followed by the woodlands for so long.

“I still think those dusty old drawers should’ve stayed in the old apartment,” I said, cocking my head to the side. Carter had insisted on bringing these decrepit, falling-apart chest of drawers that he kept by his bedside. He’d literally found them at a thrift store about to be thrown out—and got them for five bucks. That was easily ten years ago now.

While none of us were interior decorators, we had come much further along than picking up furniture that was about to be thrown out or destined for the curb.

“But I love that chest of drawers,” Carter said. “It reminds me of that sofa we picked up for our first place,” he added with a grin.

I groaned. That sofa had been disgusting. He’d gotten it off the side of the road, and it took so much cleaning before we could even consider sitting on it.

“That sofa was infected with God-knows-how-many bugs. It was fine while we were broke, but we can definitely afford better now,” I said. “Hell, I would have preferred sleeping on the floor over sleeping on that thing.”

Carter opened his mouth to argue, but a knock on the door stopped him. He huffed and glared at me. “This isn’t over,” he muttered, stalking over to the front door and pulling it open.

Standing in our doorway, holding a tray of cookies, was an omega. She was miniscule, she couldn’t be taller than four-and-a-half feet tall. She had bright red hair that fell past her shoulders and was wearing a sundress covered in a sunflower print.

“Hi! You’re the new neighbors, it’s so nice to meet you,” she chirped. “I brought you cookies!” She held up the plate and smiled brightly. “I’m your new neighbor, well, I’m your only neighbor because here there are only two apartments per floor, so I thought I’d introduce myself and give you cookies. Because if I keep feeding my guys cookies, they’re going to get fat,” she said with a giggle.

“Hey, I’ll happily be fat,” a deep voice said from the left of her. I craned my head and noticed a tall alpha standing just off to the side. The man was built like a brick shit house—easily over six feet tall—and next to his omega, the height difference seemed comical.

“Hey, I’m Dustin,” he said. “This here is Emma,” he added, nodding towards the omega. “She got so excited when she heard we had neighbors, and she had to come meet you.”

Emma nodded enthusiastically. “It’s so rare for new people to move in! The process to get in here is so hard, we hardly ever get new people to talk to.”

Dustin chuckled. “You’d think she was getting sick of us,” he joked.

Emma turned to him, her face agape. “I’m never going to be sick of you!” she said with a pout, gazing up at him adoringly. “You’re the one who's going to get sick of me!” Her eyes started to brim with tears.

I turned to look at my pack mates in alarm.Why was the omega starting to cry? Did we do something wrong or offended her?Shit, we couldn’t make a bad impression on our first week in the apartment! We wanted people to like us.

“Oh God, are you okay?” Carter asked, panicking.

Emma nodded quickly. “I’m so sorry! Pregnancy hormones,” she said, shoving the plate of cookies into Carter’s hands before quickly wiping her eyes.

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