Page 89 of Knot All That Glitters: Part 2

All.I look up to the three alphas surrounding us, watching with ravenous expressions, and I don’t know if it’s sex they want or the bond, but I’m not sure it really matters.

With the bond between myself and Hale, I know without a shadow of a doubt that they will not hurt me again. They aren’t planning on using me as a tool. They regret even considering it immensely. They want to keep me forever. That nest, that beautiful, perfect nest upstairs, was always meant for me.

They are mine. And I am theirs.

“You all love me.” It’s not a question. I’m not looking for reassurance from them. I’m saying it out loud so it can settle in my bones, in my marrow, become a part of me never to leave again.

“So much,” Creed murmurs, reaching to catch a tear as it falls. “I’ve been in love with you since the first time I spoke to you, baby girl.”

Jude laughs. “I fell in love with you when you creamed me and Hale at Monopoly. Couldn’t wait to make you mine.”

“You let me win.”

He shrugs. “I’d do it again.”

I look at Tic, who shrugs. “I think I might have loved you long before it was appropriate.”

My brow wrinkles. “What does that mean?”

“A few years ago, you spent a lot of time at a children’s hospital. You would go read to the kids, do crafts with them.”

My brows arch. “It was part of being at the academy. Required.”

“Community service was required, but only about ten hours. But you, Haven Bell, you went every weekend for over a year. You and Ren, without fail, spent every Saturday with them. No cameras, no press. You did it because you cared.”

I nod. “I did.” And then I graduated and my father told me it was a waste of time and forbade me from ever going again.

“I think I loved you then.”

I blink at him. “I was seventeen.”

A rueful smile curls his mouth. “Like I said, before it was appropriate.”

“I didn’t realize you watched me for that long.”

Hale’s hands curl around my hips, slide up over my rib cage, and I can feel that he’s uncomfortable with this conversation, but determined to see it to the end. “Once we decided you would be a part of our revenge plan, we started watching you. We needed to learn what sorts of things you liked, didn’t like. We wanted-” He cuts off with a wince.

“You wanted to make me fall in love with you.” And the best way to do that was to seem like the perfect pack for me. “The problem is that you were only observing the Frederick Bell approved Haven.”

He tugs me tighter to his body. “That’s true. We never even suspected…” His face crumples and I can feel his regret, his shame. “We never thought he would do that to you, mouse. You have to believe if we’d known you were a prisoner to him…” He trails off when I place the tip of one of my fingers on his lips.

“I believe you,” I say. It’s easy to relent because I can feel how much he means it. Feel how much he wishes he could go back and change things. But he can’t. This is the hand we were dealt, and I have to say right now I think it’s kind of beautiful.

We’ve all been through so much, and finding each other, finding our fated mates, is our reward.

And I don’t want to waste a single moment more not being theirs.

Chapter 26

Such a Good Girl For Us

My girl is glowing. Absolutely glowing. As soon as the temporary bond with Hale clicked into place, it was like a change took over her. She’s beaming, happiness radiating out of her pores, and she seems more settled, surer of herself.

I’ve heard that can happen with omegas. Once they’ve been claimed by an alpha, some of their frantic instincts to be bitten calms. And Haven has been struggling with doubt. So much doubt about whether we truly want her. Now she knows. She can feel that Hale wants her, loves her, would never do anything to hurt her ever again.

I want her to feel that from me, too.

I’m so fucking jealous that he can feel her in his chest, right along with the rest of us. He’s staring at her with awe, but alsowith a knowing little smirk, like he knows something the rest of us don’t, which is… frustrating beyond belief.

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