Page 14 of The Knot Before Christmas

Sighing heavily, I stand, clutching the towel to my chest as I open the door.

“What?”

He licks his lips, looking down at me with nervous eyes. “Here.” He holds out a pile of clothes. A hairbrush sits on top of it and I could almost sob in relief that I can brush these knots out of my hair.

“I never did get you anything to change into. Nick’s not back yet, so I hope you don’t mind borrowing something of mine.”

“Oh.” My eyes widen slightly, blinking a few times before I move to take the items from him. That was nice of him. Why is he still being nice to me? He doesn’t have to be. He helped kidnap me for fucks sake.

“Thanks.”

A surge of emotion fills me, making panic rise.

“Yeah, no problem. About earlier.” He scratches the back of his head. “I hope I didn’t do anything you weren't okay with. I’m not usually that overpowered by scents, but... it’s like something took control of me. I’m not proud of it. I just...”

He lets out a breath, running a hand through his inky black stands. “I don’t want you to be afraid of me, okay? I know Nick came off strong–”

“He’s a raging asshole,” I point out, raising a brow.

“Yeah,” he breathes out a laugh. “That. But I’m not.” I just blink at him. “I mean it. Sure, what we do isn’t exactly ethical. But I’d never hurt you or force you to do anything.”

“So, if I wanted to just walk out of this house, you would let me?”

His face turns pained. “No.”

“Was worth a shot.” I shrug. “Look, Ian, I appreciate this.” I hold up the clothes. “And the orgasm.” I grin and oh my God, he blushes. Okay, thats fucking adorable. “Let’s just blame it on biology and say it was with no fault of our own. Alpha.” I point to him. “Omega.” I point to myself. “It’s how the world works. Also why I try to stay the fuck away from Alphas.” I sigh. “And now I’m held captive by three of them.”

“We’re not just any Alphas.” He chuckles.

“You're right.” I nod. “You’re three strangers who happen to be criminals.”

The smile falls from his face. “I meant, we’re your scent matches.”

“Riiiiight,” I say slowly. “Thanks for the reminder of that one.” Not that the maple syrup scent coming off him in waves wasn’t a big enough give away.

Does this man know how mouth watering he is? Would it be weird if I brought it up?Yeah, okay, maybe not the best idea.

He sighs heavily, like he’s not a big fan of my hesitancy. What does he expect? It’s not like I found out by walking past him on the street, or bumped into him or something. We met while they were kidnapping me.

Okay, if we’re going to be technical, I guess I was the one who did the kidnapping at first, seeing as how I took off with them in the van. But still. Semantics.

“What I want you to know is that you’re safe with me. You have nothing to worry about.”

I hate how much his words settle some of the panic I’ve been feeling. “Is Nick really going to let me go once you’re able to leave?”

“Yeah.” I snort.

“Nova. You do know it’s not going to be easy to just move on with life after this. Scent matches are a big deal. It’s not something you can just pretend isn’t there. You will die if at least one of us doesn’t help you through your heat.”

“I know,” I grumble. “But there’s suppressants.If I don’t have a heat, I don’t have to worry about it. Is there any chance you can call Nick up and put an order in for some of those. Oh, and see if he can get me some slick pads. Being around you three, I have a feeling I’ll be leaving a fucking trail of slick whether I like it or not.”

He licks his lips. “I can try.”

“Thanks.” I give him a beaming smile. “I’m gonna get dressed now.”

“Okay. I–”

He doesn’t finish as I slam the door in his face. It was rude, yes, but also, like, they kidnapped me, so fuck them.

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