Page 62 of Knot All That Glitters: Part 2

When Creed came up from the basement smelling like Haven’s slick, her pineapple and smoked chili scent all over him, I’d almost gone feral on him, just to get a taste of his fingers.

Thankfully, he understood the need and shared, but he was a cocky motherfucker about it, smirking the entire time. Asshole.

We’d all sort of hoped that her allowing Creed to pleasure her was a turning point, that she’d start opening up more… but it seems to have done the opposite. She withdrew even further and started talking to Ren about finding a different pack.

Fucking Ren.

“Hey!” Jude calls to me. “Focus! We don’t want to fuck this up.”

I frown over to where he’s painting, taking in the wall in front of him. “I’m doing a better job than you.”

He scoffs and steps back, taking in the wall he’s in charge of. When he sees it, he stops scoffing and scowls instead. “Maybewe shouldn’t have done this ombre with the trees…. It’s not going to look right and she’ll hate it.”

“She’s not going to hate it,” Hale growls from the center of the room, where he and Creed are putting together all the furniture we picked out for our girl.

“She might,” I say, turning back to the dark green evergreens I’m painting on my side of the room, trying to give them a misty, foggy feeling. We’ve already painted the walls ombre like Jude said, from dark a dark blue gray on the ceiling to a lighter grey near the floor. We’re trying to make it look like a dark and misty forest, since our omega apparently enjoys the great outdoors. Haven is going to love it, despite what I said.

“We should have just hired someone to do this,” Creed grumbles, flipping through an instruction manual with only pictures and no written instructions.

“No,” Jude says, leaning over to blend his colors together better. “No, it’ll mean more that we did it ourselves, that we didn’t just hire someone to do it for us.”

I nod along with his statement, because it’s true. We agreed she would appreciate the effort we went to for her. Anyone can hire someone to design a room for their omega. But we’re doing the work, putting our blood, sweat and tears into the space for her.

It’s been slow since we struggle to let Haven out of our sight. Mostly we do the work when she’s tucked in bed, but we’ve only really managed a few hours here and there, until today. When Ren stated that Ginny and Moira were missing Haven and invited her over for an evening of binge watching all threeLord of the Ringsmovies and too much junk food.

Hale had been quick to offer our media room with its movie screen and plush couch. But Haven begged to be allowed to go. To have a bit of normalcy. But what she really meant was she wanted a bit of space from us.

It was on the tip of Hale’s tongue to deny her the request, but Jude had gotten there before he could, telling her of course she can go, and then reminding the rest of us that each of the Karlin girls has a bodyguard and Haven will be safe at their house.

After we’d shot down her request to go on a hike, after the way she’s retreated from us even farther since Creed and the basement, I’d backed him. We can’t expect her to just stay inside the four walls of our house for the rest of our lives. She needs to get out, breathe fresh air, be around other people.

Once she’d gone to grab her things, he’d gleefully told us all to take the rest of the day off and that we’re finishing her nest today. It’ll be a surprise when she comes back.

“This won’t be enough to get her to forgive us,” Hale mutters, scowling at the tiny Allen wrench in his hand. The only piece of furniture we didn’t decide to put together ourselves is the bed, because we need a sturdy frame to support the weight of four alphas fucking their omega. I wouldn’t trust anything we put together to hold up under that kind of pressure.

So we’d had one custom made. The guy who made it brought and assembled it the day Creed took Haven into the basement and she finally let him touch her. We didn’t want to risk her seeing it and ruining the surprise.

The bed is pushed up against the only dry wall, the mattress still covered in plastic. It’s giant. I have to keep myself from looking at it, because as soon as I do, I start thinking about the things we’re going to do in that bed, the heats we’re going to spend there, the nights spent wrapped around my omega. And yeah, that makes my dick hard.

Which makes it difficult to concentrate on finishing this nest for our girl.

So, no looking at the bed.

I might be imagining it, but I think the rest of the alphas in the room are also avoiding it.

“It might not be enough on its own,” I agree easily. Because why would I deny it? “But coupled with consistently being there for her, telling her the truth, helping her when she needs it, proving to her we aren’t going anywhere, that we want her. It’ll be enough.”

That’s what we’ve been doing for the last few weeks, being a constant in Haven’s life, giving her almost anything she asks for—thisisthe first time we’ve let her leave the house, much to her chagrin. Her favorite foods are always in the kitchen, her favorite show is always on the TV. Before these weeks, you wouldn’t have caught any of us dead watchingAlpha Love Getaway, but we’ve watched so much of it in the last few weeks that I’ve found myself fully obsessed with the ridiculous show.

That anyone would find their pack or their omega that way is… well, absurd. And yet, I can’t take my eyes off the screen, can’t get enough of the drama.

Haven is positively gleeful about it.

Just about the only thing we haven’t done for her is get rid of Frederick Bell, make it so he can’t hurt anyone else. Not that we’re not still working on it, but progress has slowed down. A lot.

Hale wasn’t lying when he said once we’d taken care of Senator Bell, we’d let her go. He meant it when he said we’d just never get revenge if she was going to leave us right after. So until we know for certain that she’s ours, that she will not leave us, we’ve put almost everything on hold.

The problem is, she’s noticed.

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