Page 37 of Knot Dead Yet

Kane’s jaw worked back and forth. His gaze bore into Kienna’s. The two of them had their own silent battle. Finally, he dipped his head once. “Fine. We all go.”

“Okay. Then let me get dressed and pack some things.” Kienna shooed all of us out of the room where we stood in tense silence in the suite’s living room.

Just as it had been in our practices the past few days, the place was thick with Alpha energy. Every instinct pushed me to the edge of breaking, to wanting to fight them, but I was strong enough to hold myself in check. I didn’t like the fact that Kienna was compatible with all of us, but if having the others around made her happy, I would never exclude them.

I had one hand up on them though. Kienna didn’t want to stay in Winnipeg. She wanted to travel and see the world. I could make that happen for her. I had no ties to the city either. But the pack did. They wanted to stay and get picked up by the local NHL team. I didn’t think they’d give that up for Kienna.

“When you’re at our house, you’ll follow our rules.” Kane leaned against the wall with his arms crossed.

What did they think of me? Just because I didn’t fall in line and do everything our team captain said didn’t make me an asshole. “I will not disrespect you in your own home, but it’s Kienna’s rules I follow. I’m going for her.”

“Good.” Kane didn’t say anything more. Neither did the rest of his pack. The weight of the room only changed when Kienna came out and we all focused our attention on her.

She had one bag packed and slung over her shoulder. Both Maddox and I stepped forward to offer to take it from her, but she ignored our outstretched hands. He and I glared at one another, but turned to follow Kienna.

“I call shotgun,” she called over her shoulder as she left the suite.

This was going to be shit, but I would do anything for her. I’d show Kienna I was willing to stand by her no matter where she went, even to places I wasn’t welcome. She would see that I was her perfect mate, and that the rest of these guys were just pricks.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN – Kienna

I was taking it as a good omen that no one killed anyone else on the drive to the pack house. There was a lot of glaring and growling, but I ignored it and breathed through my continuously growing heat pangs. At least I got a distraction from that when Tiergan offered to stop by a local bakery for their world famous cinnamon buns. The sweet treats took my focus off my Omega urges for a few minutes.

The house was five minutes away from the center of Winnipeg in a quiet suburb. It was a simply adorned blue Victorian with three stories. The yard was neat and everything about it was unassuming. Not at all what I imagined a house with five guys living in it would be like.

A light misty rain had settled over us, and Alderic popped an umbrella to walk me the twenty feet to the front porch. Maddox carried my overnight bag and Kane unlocked the front door, holding it open for me. “Welcome to our home.”

I flashed him a smile and tried not to keep eye contact with him too long. I’d done naughty things with Casimir and Maddox, but of all the Alphas, it was Kane who made my Omega instincts go so insane that I just wanted to fall at his feet and beg for his attention. I hated it.

The mudroom had a big open closet full of coats, hats, gloves, and shoes. I slipped off my coat and breathed in the combined scents of the pack. The mix of them was thick and rich and so very male, and fuck me, it smelled so good that a bit of tension drained from my shoulders.

No, no. Bad. Eww, boys. Cooties.

I’d been determined not to find a nest. I didn’t want anything that might tie me to Winnipeg, but something in mewas wanting to nestle down here. It might be too dramatic if I ran out of the house screaming though.

From the entry, we stepped into a modernly decorated living room. It wasn’t large, but there was a sleek black fireplace and an L-shaped couch with a Manitoba Rampage blanket and throw pillows. A black rug with gold accents sat on the hardwood floor in front of the fireplace, and wilderness photos decorated the walls.

“The dining room is there.” Tiergan motioned to a dining room with a natural wood table and benches that looked like it would seat ten Alphas. “The door on the other side leads into the kitchen. The bedrooms are on the upper two floors, and the game room and work-out space is in the basement. Did you want to go up or down?”

“Where’s the beer can couch, the big spool table, and your hockey stick collection?” I peeked into the kitchen with its gray marbled counters and huge island topped with a big bowl of fruit for color. Was this a model house for a real estate agent? This was way too neat to belong to five single young men.

“The what?” Kane blinked as all the Alphas looked absolutely bewildered.

Alderic was the only one who laughed. “I know plenty of guys who have places exactly like that. Ewan and I even had a wooden spool in our apartment when we first moved to the city. I was glad to get rid of it. My decorating style is more classic modern than… frat house.”

“I remember the spool.” Tiergan chuckled. “We do have several hockey sticks in the basement, but the only one on display is my stick signed by Martin Brodeur.”

“Greatest goalie of all time.” The fact I knew who the player was made Tiergan’s face light up and my heat flared at his pleasure.

So downstairs to a game and work-out room, or upstairs to the bedrooms. Thinking of bedrooms put a certain tension in me I wanted to avoid, but with my slick starting to flow again, it might be the best area to find a place where I could get some privacy.

“Let’s go up since there are no spools to be seen.”

Each of the guys vied to be closest to me as we moved through the house. On one hand, I was flattered that they all wanted to be near me. I’d always imagined having a big group of Alphas vying for my attention and how sexy it would be to have my pick of them. Yet it was actually stressful because I wanted to please them all. How did Nicolette and Callista handle their Alphas without big fights breaking out?

Kane flicked on a light for the hall when we came up to the second floor. There was a bathroom at the end of the hall with two small rooms on the left and a decent sized room on the right. Time to play the game of whose room was whose.

The first of the small rooms was tidy with a twin bed with a quilted headboard and matching dresser. A desk with a computer and a full bookshelf were tucked into a corner. Blues and gray made the room a comforting place. I didn’t need to smell the pine and peppermint to know it was Alderic’s. I grinned at him. “Nice room.”

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