Page 41 of Knot Happening

Kodiak-a few moments ago

As I make my way toward the stairs in VIP, my youngest brother stares hard at my mask-covered face. So do all of our customers. I ignore all of them, but Hayden reacts exactly how I expect him to. The growl that rumbles in his chest startles several of the Omegas working the upper floor. He can’t see my smirk under the mask.

“Hmm, you smell like blueberries, brother.” Hayden lifts his brow, and I tilt my head at him, nodding toward the office.

“Not out here,” I grunt, pushing past him and into the office, finding Declan already back from his little…business trip. “She’s heading home for the night. Give your hours to someone who needs the money,” I hiss, pulling my mask off, making Declan lift his brow. “You don’t need to stalk her here, too.”

“Do I even want to know?” Declan nods to the obvious wet spot on the front of my jeans. I smirk, pushing back the longer strands of my hair. I catch the twitch in his jaw when he can scent her, though. So he doesn’t need to ask. I can tell by the way his eyes dilate, and he adjusts his tie.

“Tatum,” I say simply, watching his reaction. He nods once, trying to hide his reaction, but through the bond I can feel him, now that I’ve opened it back up on my end. Jealousy dances under the façade of his clean appearance... Interesting.

So she was the one he was interested in.

Knowing Declan, he’s got no idea that Hayden stalks her. Despite being brothers and pack, we are often oblivious to each other's interest. Does he know anything about their connection?

But Tatum refuses to give him the time of day, so I’m curious to know why Hayden thinks he has a claim to the sexy little blonde Omega. Other than his stalking her, of course. What's their history?

“Care to explain the transfer?” Declan asks, and I shrug. I can feel Hayden’s curiosity through the bond as well as Declan’s annoyance.

“Tatum wanted to sign her contract and requested the chance to earn extra by providing further services. Of course, she thought I was Declan. I offered her the chance to perform for a masked client.” I shrug, letting my words sink in. “She slicked in my lap. I left her in the private room.”

“You left her?” Hayden demands, and I nod slowly. Not understanding this issue. “You made her come, and then you just left her.” Through the bond, I can feel his anger, and I’m even more confused. He’s not upset that I made the woman he’s been stalking come on my lap, but that I left her alone after?

“Yes?” I frown. Normally, I’m so good at reading my brothers. The bond makes that so much easier. I’ve only had three years of a pack bond to work with, but I’ve always been able to read Declan.

Hayden is different. He’s fourteen years younger and was raised by my mom. Not his mom, since she died in childbirth. When my mother stepped in to raise her best friend’s son, Hayden had soaked up her love. Right up until she had a fuckingmental break and lost her mind on Hayden. He’d just been a kid at the time. Barely eighteen.

We formed our pack bond six months later.

I got good at reading him. He was an open book. For the most part. Moments like this are hardest. I don’t know why he’s upset. I mean, I know what's causing him to be upset, but I don’t understand why.

“Fucking jackass,” Hayden hisses, and then stomps out of the office.

“Well, that was dramatic,” I grumble. Declan doesn’t acknowledge our younger brother’s outburst.

“Is that all that happened? Fifty grand to come in your lap? Your pants obviously stayed on,” Declan asks, not sounding like he cares despite the tic in his jaw. None of us has ever fucked any of the Omegas that work for us, and despite the mask of indifference, I can tell Dec is concerned.

“She came in my lap. Clothes stayed mostly on.” I lift my shoulder.

“You didn’t fuck her?” Declan narrows his eyes.

“Not yet. Apparently, she’s only taken one Alpha’s knot before. Didn’t want her second time to be in the middle of her work day,” I chuckle. Though the temptation was there. I wanted her. The noises she made as she came on my cock. I wanted to rip the fabric barrier between us to shreds. Slide into her slick heat and knot her for hours…

“Not here, next time?” Dec grumbles, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“I wore a mask, she didn't know it was me.” Not that she would have known who I was, but given that Dec and I are identical… It would have made things awkward, and more than a little confusing for the Omega.

“Well, there’s that, I guess. Now have you gotten it out of your system?” Declan adjusts his tie again. “We need to be moreprofessional than this. Getting the employees off is not how we run things here.”

“I’m not the one obsessed with her,” I defend. Though even as I say the words, I know that's no longer true. I meant what I said to her. The next time I have her perfect curves under me, she’ll beg for my knot. I just need to be careful.

My brothers and I have a lot of enemies. Our lives are constantly in danger. The kind of danger that my brothers and I try to keep Omegas out of.

That fucking Omega that’s been stalking my brothers and me, for example. He tried to blow me up. He destroyed my jeep. He keeps breaking onto our property and always manages to escape our traps. My traps. If he hasn’t already figured out that Hayden is stalking Tatum, he will.

Which means she needs my protection.

“No?” Declan asks, lifting his brow. My only response is a smirk.

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