Page 26 of My Knotty Mountain Men

I don’t think either of the guys could hold back their anger if she were to show her face around them right now. They would never hurt a woman, especially one who's pregnant, but they would make sure her life was hell.

There’s something not right with her. She had this messed up little fantasy in her head that she could be our Omega and live happily ever after with us.

Only thing was, she wasn’t an Omega, and we hardly knew her before she was making all these plans about our future. A few dates and one night of sex were all we shared. That was all it took for her to latch on to this delusion of hers and run with it.

Not to mention, she was very demanding and controlling. And made it clear that another Beta wasn’t wanted but would be tolerated. Meaning me.

As if she wasn’t a Beta herself.

After we told her things weren’t going to work out, she lost it. Had a breakdown. We felt bad, but it was just further proof that she wasn’t a good fit.

It didn’t take long before she started showing up at our places of work, acting like we were together. She made us uncomfortable, but we did the best we could to be professional. Then she took it too far and started coming to the house. We refused to answer the door, and then one day, we came home from work and found her inside.

That was where we drew the line and called the cops. When she was being dragged out of our place, literally kicking and screaming, she told us she loved us. That she would be the perfect Omega for us if we just gave her the chance.

She was unwell and taken in for a psych evaluation. We didn’t know what came of that, but she was released only a few weeks later after we filed for a restraining order against her.

Things were going fine up until last month. We never saw her around town, nor did she come to our house. There was no texting, no calling. Everything was good.

We heard she had gotten pregnant and that one of the Betas who works for Aiden was the father.

We thought she moved on.Boy, were we wrong.

“How are the guys doing?” Macy asks.

“Not good,” I mutter, spinning the spoon in my cup around and swirling the tea. “They’re not themselves. They’re depressed, closed off.” Tears sting the backs of my eyes. “If it was anyone else, I’d say time would heal everything, and we would be okay. But...” I close my eyes, an ache in my chest growing.

“Hey.” Macy reaches across the table and puts her hand over mine. “Don’t give up just yet. You need to have hope. She’s their scent match, right? She can’t go long without seeing them. Even if she went on heat suppressants, the pull to be with you all will bring her back; to them and to you.”

I give her a sad smile. “Thanks for the optimism, but I’m not going to hold my breath.”

She sighs, nodding. “I’m here if you wanna talk,” she offers but senses my need tonotwant to talk.

“Thanks.”

Macy heads back to work, and I sit with my cold tea, long forgotten. After another hour of getting lost in my own head, I make lunch for the guys and bring it to them.

I stop at the hunting goods store first, finding Thomas in a heated argument with a customer.

“Get the fuck out of my store,” Thomas barks.

“You're crazy,” the man mutters back. He storms towards me and out the front door.

“What the hell is going on?” I ask Thomas as I approach the front display case.

“That fucking fool was trying to bullshit me. He said he bought this faulty axe at my shop. I don’t even carry the damn brand,” he growls, running his hands through his fiery locks. It’s longer now and starting to get a bit of a wave to it. And his beard is longer, thicker. It’s unkempt and sexy but also makes me sad because Thomas has always been the one to keep his beard neat. He had a routine of monthly haircuts and weekly beard trims.

He hasn’t gone to the barber in over a month now.

He’s in pain, and all I want to do is take it away.

“I brought you something.” I place the sub on the table.

“Thanks, but I’m not hungry.”

“You need to eat, Thomas,” I urge him.

“What I need is for that damn shipment of lumber to come in. How is Aiden supposed to do his job if the fucking wood isn’t here?”

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