Page 55 of Knot My Luck

The moment is sweet and tentative, full of promise, but it doesn’t last long.

“Oi, get a room, will you?” Lorcan’s voice breaks us apart, amusement thick in his tone.

I pull back to find Lorcan standing beside him, smirking as Tadhg scrubs a hand through his twin’s hair. “Can’t leave you alone for two minutes, can we?”

Cathal huffs, batting Tadhg away. But there’s a lightness in his expression now, a flicker of hope where there used to be only regret.

I smile, warmth blooming in my chest. Maybe things aren’t perfect yet, but for the first time in a long time, I believe theycanbe good.

ELEVEN

Devlin

Later that evening, the four of us are sprawled across the plush hotel sofa, the soft scent of takeout still lingering in the air. Lorcan is on my left, his arm draped over me, his steady breathing a grounding presence. Tadhg is on my right, his warm body pressed against mine, a comforting weight as we watch the flickering images of an action movie on the TV. Cathal is beside Tadhg, but I can feel his eyes on me more often than they’re on the screen in front of us.

It’s a strange contrast – our soft, quiet world against the loud explosions and car chases playing out in front of us. The tension between the two worlds is almost unbearable.

It’s nice, I think. Comforting. But there’s a gnawing sensation deep inside my chest that I can’t shake. The kind that tightens with every passing minute, growing more intense, more insistent.

I didn’t realise how much I needed this – how much I needed them – until this moment. But now that it’s real, now that I’ve agreed to go back to Silver with them, I feel the full weight of everything I’ve just done.

I’ve bonded with them. I chose them. And now there’s no going back. No reversing what’s been set in motion. But there’s still a lot of conversations that need to be had.

I glance over at Lorcan, his dark eyes focused on the screen, but his fingers are lazily tracing circles on my arm, his touch light but possessive. Tadhg, on the other hand, is leaning his head back against the plush cushions, his eyes closed as he takes in the low hum of the movie, his arm wrapped around my waist like I’m something to hold onto, something he’s never going to let slip away.

They’re here. They’re with me.

But the feeling of togetherness feels strange. In some ways, it’s like nothing has changed. But in other ways, everything has shifted. I’ve agreed to go back to Silver – back to them – but now I don’t know how to feel about it. Maybe I was too rash when I agreed.

Has this been what I’ve been longing for? Or have I just traded one kind of cage for another?

I let the thought hang in the air, the weight of it sinking deep into my chest. Has this been my dream all along? To finally find a pack, to belong, to be wanted? Or have I simply jumped from one kind of suffocating isolation to another? Gone from the challenges of living life as an unbonded, packless omega – scraping by, trying to survive on my own terms, fighting the instinct that kept urging me to settle down, to find my place – to this?

This bond. This pack.

A sense of belonging, yes. But at what cost?

I’ve spent my life fighting against the way my body, my instincts, have been trained to crave this. The call of the pack, of the bond, has always been a whisper in the back of my mind, pulling at me, urging me to give in. But I’ve always resisted, always tried to carve out a space where I could exist outside of that world – untouched by the constraints of tradition, of rules. The omega who didn’t need to be defined by her place in a pack.

But now, here I am, marked. Claimed. Part of something I don’t even fully understand.

There’s relief, yes. A sense of security that’s unlike anything I’ve known before. I can feel the bond settling deep in my chest, anchoring me to them, to this. And yet, that same bond, that same feeling of being wanted, of being owned, it makes me feel something darker, something tight around my ribs.

What if I’ve just swapped one cage for another?

The walls around me were always invisible before – an invisible prison, one I had built myself, sure, but one I knew. It kept me safe. Kept me from getting too close, from letting anyone in. But this? This is different.

Theyare different.

Lorcan. Tadhg. Cathal. They’re good men, I know that. And yet, the fear in me swells. I’ve been forced into this pack, into their world, without fully knowing what I’m stepping into. I don’t know their expectations. I don’t know their limits. I don’t know where they end and where I begin. I don’t even know how I fit in.

The bond is a constant reminder of this – their presence, their voices, their thoughts buzzing at the edges of my mind. It should feel comforting. It should feel like home. But right now, it feels like a constant weight on my chest, like I’m holding my breath waiting for something to break.

Is this freedom? Or have I just traded my old cage for a new one?

I think back to the life I lived before – the quiet, solitary life of an unbonded omega. It wasn’t easy. I fought every day, not just for survival, but for my independence. I didn’t have anyone to lean on, no pack to rely on. But there was freedom in that. Freedom to be me, however fractured that was. There was no one to answer to, no one to question my choices.

But now? Now I’m part of this...unit. Thisfamily.

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