Page 21 of Knot Happening Again

Especially when it comes to alphas.

Mace flashes me a disarming grin, his big arms folded over his broad chest. "Been a while since I stepped into the ring myself."

"And Troy here is our resident musician," Rhys says, glancing to the younger alpha to his right.

"Oh?" I cock my head, realizing Troy is the only one who hasn't really looked at me the whole time. In fact, I'm pretty sure he's avoiding eye contact entirely. Does he find me that distasteful? "What kind of music?"

"Electronic," Troy answers. At least he's not completely ignoring me, but he's still not meeting my eyes. "Probably nothing you've heard of."

If it's the type of hypnotic, endlessly looping shit they play twenty-four seven in clubs, it's probably seared into my brain already, but I decide not to admit that since he clearly isn't interested in expounding on the subject.

"There are actually two more members of our pack," Rhys adds. "But they couldn't be here today. My bond mate is preparing for a big fight, and his manager is our beta. I'll let them introduce themselves to you when the time comes. If you'll have us, that is."

Anotherfighter?

I hope my internal grimace isn't obvious.

But not every alpha is Leon, I remind myself. Even if most of them are awful in their own way.

"Bond mate?" I echo.

Rhys and the others exchange a glance. Rhys tilts his head and says, "I mentioned it in our profile, but did they not include that?"

"Oh," I say, my cheeks flushing. "I… haven't actually looked at your profile yet," I admit.

Wonderful. Now they know I was desperate enough to meet with the first pack Temporary Bonds offered without even glancing at their file. If they think anything of it, though, none of the alphas shows it. Even Troy seems unphased.

"I'm not sure how much you know about alpha bonds," Rhys admits. "We can discuss it in more detail later, but the abridgedversion is that while all of us are bonded as a pack, only the two of us arebondedbonded."

"Oh." I blink. "So you're… together?"

"No," Rhys answers with a chuckle. "Not like that. We just share a deep bond, kind of like… twins. And we share almost everything else, too."

My mind immediately drifts to wondering exactly whatalmosteverything else entails, but I smack myself mentally like I'm batting a hand away from a cake.

"They finish each other's sentences, the whole shebang," Troy says flatly. "It's annoying as shit."

Mace elbows him, but judging from the smirk on the older alpha's face, he doesn't disagree.

I can't help but laugh. "And the others… Will they, uh, be involved in this arrangement?"

Rhys exchanges a glance with the others before answering. "Not initially, no. They won't be back for a while. But in the future, if you're comfortable with it and if this arrangement continues, then yes, they would be involved."

I nod, relief washing over me. Not that it matters. I don't plan on sticking around long enough to meet the rest of their pack.

"So, Ophelia," Rhys says, leaning forward slightly. "What are you looking for in this arrangement? What do you hope to get out of it?"

I take a deep breath, steeling myself. Honesty is probably the best policy here, right? "Look, I'm going to be straight with you. I'm not looking for anything serious. Just a casual thing to get me through my heat. That's it."

I pause, studying their reactions. Rhys and Mace seem a little disappointed, but they nod understandingly. A flicker of something like surprise crosses Troy's face, but it vanishes just as quickly.

I can't even be bothered wondering what that's about. I gave up trying to make sense of alphas and their whims a long time ago.

"Is that… going to be a problem?" I ask warily, looking between them.

"No," Rhys says a bit too quickly. "Not at all."

"We were looking for casual," Troy says, and something about the way he emphasizes were makes the remark seem a bit pointed. The look Rhys shoots him confirms it.

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