Page 68 of Knot That Delicate

I turned to see Fawn, who was glowering playfully at me. I shrugged. "Well, it's what I have to do. I'm having sad feelings,and I want chocolate milk. This, theentirething, is mine," I said, holding the bottle aloft.

Fawn cocked her head to the side. "It's not even two in the afternoon yet. Your guys could still come.”

I grimaced. "I'm not so sure, honestly. If they were going to be here, wouldn't they have been here by now? Wouldn't this be the priority?" I asked, gesturing around us, indicating our entire situation.

Fawn nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, they should have been here at nine a.m. on the dot, if I am honest, but they could have gotten into some car trouble or maybe they had work come up. I mean, you're not going anywhere. It's not exactly the best look for them, but there could be any number of reasons for a delay. What if there was an accident and there's a lot of traffic backed up?"

I tilted my head. "Is there any traffic? Have you seen any reports?"

Fawn grimaced. "I haven't seen anything yet, but I haven't particularly been looking. Why don't you go and see if you can talk to Dr. Sarah while you wait?" she suggested.

I didn’t want to go and talk to the doctor. I had been talking to my therapist every day for the past year. We knew each other far too well, and I still intended to talk with her regularly on the phone once I went home—that was,ifI was even going home. Slamming the chocolate milk down on the counter, tears filled my eyes.

"What if they decided they don’t want me?" I whispered, my voice breaking.

Fawn’s face fell, and she rushed over to me, pulling me into her arms. "If they decided they didn’t want to come here, Juniper, then it’s their loss. They’re stupid idiots who don’t deserve you. You've seen how many men are crawling all overthemselves to see you. How many requests have you had for meetings in the last three months alone?"

Iharrumphedin her arms. It had been quite a lot. I had actually been startled by how keen most of the alphas were to talk to me. But were they interested because I wasmeor simply in the fact that I was an available omega?

"I don’t want them, though. I wantmyguys," I whined.

"I know. I really hope something has come up, but you can’t dwell on this today. You’re going to drive yourself mad. Why don’t we go do something?"

"I don’t want to," I said sulkily.

Fawn pulled back and glared at me. "Okay, I’ve tried to be soft and sweet, but you are moping, and as your roommate, I cannot allow you to mope. You and I are going to go out. We’re going to get some delicious food, we’re going to go for a walk, and we are going to enjoy ourselves the best we can while we wait for your pack, okay?" she said, her tone final.

Her face was set, making it clear she wasn’t going to budge on this. Fawn could be terrifying when she wanted to be. She was so graceful and elegant and so well put together. Next to her, I usually felt like a gangly, lean idiot. She looked effortless, like royalty. I was a little bitter about it, but she’d let me raid her wardrobe on several occasions, so we were even.

"Why do you think they’re not here?" I asked in a small voice.

She shook her head. "There are so many possible reasons. We can’t dwell on it. So, let’s go enjoy ourselves. You’re looking all pretty, and we should go make the most of it.”

I nodded glumly. I had made a considerable effort that morning, letting Fawn curl my hair just right, putting on makeup, and wearing one of my favourite summer dresses that floated to my knees with a floral pattern. Over the year, I had really learned to embrace when I wanted to be more girly and feminine and when I wanted to present more masculine. Therewas no right or wrong answer. I simply did what I wanted to now without considering what I’d been through in the past. Alec couldn’t control me anymore, and, if I was brutally honest with myself, I loved a good floral print. I wasn’t going to make myself suffer by rejecting the things I loved just because they were what Alec wanted me to love. He wasn’t making any of the choices anymore. It was just me. I was in control of my life and everything I did.

Apparently, unless it came to my pack, who weren’t turning up. Ever since I had gone down to the meeting rooms at nine this morning, expecting them to be there, I had this pit in my stomach from the second the keeper had told me they hadn’t arrived yet.

For the first hour or two, I tried to stay positive. I had assumed they were on their way. They knew I wasn’t exactly a morning person, so maybe they were just being respectful. But as the hours crawled on, that pit in my stomach grew until it almost consumed me.

"Why don’t we call Lavender and see if she wants to come here? We can all go for lunch together.”

"Fine," I grumbled.

With a victorious smile, Fawn pulled out her phone and quickly dialed Lavender’s number. A minute later, she was hanging up and informing me that Lavender would be there in ten minutes.

"Just enough time to pull ourselves together and put that chocolate milk back in the fridge," she said pointedly.

Lavender didn’t even take ten minutes. Within five, she was knocking on the door to our rooms and embracing me in a warm hug.

"It feels like I haven’t seen you in ages," she complained as she pulled me into a bone-crushing hug.

"You saw me four days ago," I said pointedly.

"Yeah," she said, "that isforever."

I chuckled and shook my head. Kane certainly had his hands full with her. We had come so close to being in the Haven at the same time. My brother and his pack had just claimed her a mere week or two before I arrived.

"Come on, I’ve been craving the pasta here. While the guys can cook, it’s never the same as what the chefs do here," Lavender said with a grin, pulling me down the corridor as Fawn followed behind us.

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