Page 5 of The Knot Before Christmas

“Nick, as in... Nicholas?” I blink up at him.

“Ah, yes?” His brows furrow in confusion.

“So you really are... Saint Nick.” And then I burst out into giggles. Partly because it is funny, but also because I’m kind of low-key freaking out over what these guys are going to do to me.

Will and Ian join in, cackling as if they just realized it themselves.

“Ha-ha,” Nick deadpans. “Alright, Omega. What's your name?”

“My name is Nova. Also no more of that Omega bullshit.” I narrow my eyes.

“Fair enough.” He nods. “Now, Nova, clearly you shouldn’t be here. So how about we drop you off and pretend this never happened.”

“You want me to just pretend that you didn’t just rob that mall?” I bite my lip to keep myself from talking anymore. I’m gonna get myself killed at this rate. I clear my throat. “I mean, yeah, sure... if you don’t mind taking me back into town. Just drop me off at the bus station.”

If it’s even open.

“The bus station?” Ian pipes up. He’s still wearing his elf hat, his dark hair sticking out from underneath it. “Why not just skip the bus, and we can take you home.”

“Yeah. No need to go waiting in the cold. We can drive you home,” Will offers, running a hand through his curly red hair.

I want to tell them no, because there’s no way I’d want three strange men to know where I live, but I tell them the real reason because I just seem to be throwing caution to the wind tonight.Not like I got much else to lose.

“Okay, fine. Maybe not the bus station. How about a hotel?”

“Hotel?” Nick pulls off his Santa hat and shakes out his blond hair.

“Yeah. I need a place to stay tonight because my boyfriend thought it would be fun to play a game called ‘How far can I get my cock down my girlfriend's mom’s throat’. Not a game I was keen on walking in on, but life just loves to fuck me over. So here I am, homeless and nowhere to go.”

I look around at the three of them. “You're not going to kill me, are you?”

Ian snorts a laugh. “Look, we might not be on the straight and narrow, but we’re not in the ‘taking lives’ game either.”

“I mean, I would be the perfect victim. No one would come looking for me.” I blink. “Okay, I’m going to stop talking now.” The realization that I really don’t have anyone in my life, other than my best friend, who cares about me enough to come looking if I were to go missing is just plain depressing.

I take out my phone and go to search for all the hotels in the area. “I’m gonna call ahead and find a place with a room so you're not driving around all over town. Don’t want to risk spending too much time on the road with all that.” I nod my head toward the back of the van.

“You seem really chill about all this.” Will raises a brow in suspicion.

“Why would I care that you robbed some big chain mall. They make too much money off the backs of the people who work on the front line. To be honest, I’d be more bothered if you were breaking into people’s houses. You don’t do that, do you?”

“No.” Ian shakes his head. “Too messy. We’re smart about this kind of thing.” He gives me a wink.

And then I remember something. “Wait a minute! Are you the Mall Bandits?”

They all go silent, shooting each other a look. “So you heard about us,” Nick sighs. “I fucking hate that name.”

“Yeah.” I laugh. “You may want to end your little spree early this year. The cops are already suspicious. And after that stunt, any mall within a hundred-mile radius will be on the lookout.”

“How do you know that?” Nick grunts.

“Heard my old boss talking about it with his buddies at the bar I worked at. They’ve been following your guys’ story for a while.”

So, these three are the Mall Bandits?

Who are they, you might ask? Well, they are three Alphas who hit up a few malls in some random town every year. The police never know where to expect them, because they don’t have a pattern; they just pop up randomly around the country.

“You don’t normally hit up small towns, do you?” I question. “Probably not the best idea. It’s a one-and-done type of thing around here.”

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