Page 246 of Knot Unwanted: Part One

The room is exactly as we left it—every blanket, every pillow in its place. But there are new additions, too. The windows have been reinforced like the ones downstairs, and I spot subtle security features integrated into the walls. Discreet panels along the baseboards.

“Reinforced steel plates,” Stone supplies. “The kind of stuff designed to withstand impact or intrusion.”

My eyebrows lift. The room has been fortified without losing any of its comfort.

Finn walks in slowly, his hands running over the familiar textures. His scent shifts again—sage and rain becoming deeper, richer. When he turns to look at us, there are tears in his eyes.

“It still feels like home,” he whispers.

I cross to him immediately, wrapping my arms around his waist and pressing my face into his chest. His arms come around me automatically, his chin resting on top of my head.

“I’m sorry, Finn. It almost got destroyed because of me.”

“No, Hailey. Not because of you. Because of those bastards who wanted to own you. Losing my nest would be a small price to pay instead of losing you.”

The bond between us pulses, stronger now than ever. It’s not complete. I still need to be marked. But it’s there. I can feel the shadow of his emotions as if they’re my own—relief, gratitude, lingering hurt, and underneath it all, a deep, steady love that almost brings me to tears.

“I’m glad you’re home,” I murmur against his shirt.

His arms tighten around me, and I feel him press a kiss to myhair. “You’re my home too,” he says softly, the words meant just for me. “My mate.”

The term still sends a shiver through me—not just because of what it means, but because of how right it feels.

“Food,” Stone says from the doorway, his voice gentle. “You both need to eat something substantial. The heat took a lot out of you.”

Finn tenses slightly at the mention of his heat, but it’s different now—not the sharp, angry reaction from before, but something softer, more complicated. I feel his chest rise and fall with a deep breath before he nods.

“Yeah,” he agrees quietly. “Food would be good.”

We make our way downstairs, our footsteps echoing on the stairs. The kitchen feels different too when we make our way down. Warmer somehow, despite the new security features. Jax is already moving through the space, opening and closing cupboards with familiar ease, but then he pauses, hand hovering over a pan.

“Why don’t we go out?” he suggests, turning to face us. “That place on Anderson we always—” He cuts himself off, glancing at Stone.

Stone’s brow furrows slightly. “I don’t know if that’s…”

“Ren hasn’t said anything about…” His voice is careful, but his gaze flicks to me briefly. “It’s been quiet. He’d have known if anyone was watching the house. And after everything…” He looks at Finn, then me. “Maybe we need this. Something normal.”

I feel Finn shift beside me, his heat against my back. “The buffet place?” he asks softly, and something in his voice sounds like careful hope. “Where we used to go after…”

“After your heats,” Stone finishes quietly. “Yeah.”

The silence that follows feels weighted, full of memory and meaning I’m not quite part of yet. But I can feel it through my bond with Finn. The echo of easier times. Of comfort.

I don’t want to take that away from them.

“It’s up to you, Hailey,” Jax says, his dark eyes finding minewith a smile. “If you’re not comfortable I can whip up something in like ten minutes. Pretty sure there’s steak in the?—”

“No, I…” I pause, really considering it. The thought of leaving the house makes something flutter nervously in my stomach, but it’s different now. I’m different. “I want to,” I say finally. “I think…I think Finn needs this.”

And me, too. But I don’t want to make this about me.

Finn’s thumb strokes over my shoulders, and when I look up at him, there’s a small smile playing at the corners of his mouth. It’s the most relaxed I’ve seen him since before his heat.

“Give us fifteen minutes to change?” he asks, already tugging me toward the stairs.

Stone does a mock roll of his eyes before nodding, some of the tension easing from his shoulders. “We’ll be ready.”

Upstairs, Finn leads me to our room—and it isourroom now, I realize. He moves to the closet, pulling out clothes that become a massive flutter of fabric that makes me giggle.

---