Page 67 of Knot Unwanted: Part One

The phone is useless. Every single thing I search returns nothing. Nothing useful at least. But there’s no way this is unexplainable. It feels like the answer is right there under my fingertips; I just need to type in the right thing.

Hailey shifts, burrowing into a pillow, one that has Jax’s cologne embedded into it, and she whimpers again. That same needy sound that makes my cock ache.

I push down the hard lump in my throat as I stare at her in the shadows that surround us.

She likes their scent. She likes my scent. And I like hers.

If I’m going to guess, she likes Stone’s too, judging from the way I’d found her gripping his jacket.

But that should be impossible.

It’s almost like she’s pack…when there’s no way she could be.

I force myself to take slow, steady breaths, trying to will away my arousal. It’s just biology, I tell myself. Morning wood. It doesn’t mean anything. But my body isn’t listening, too caught up in the press of her against me, the way our scents have merged into something intoxicating.

In the soft morning light beginning to filter through the curtains, she looks like something out of a dream. Her dark hairspills across my pillow, her face peaceful in sleep. But there’s still a vulnerability to her that makes my instincts surge.

She stirs slightly, and I hold my breath. Please don’t wake up. Please don’t wake up and feel what a pervert I am. Please?—

When she settles again, I breathe out a breath of relief. It takes very precise, tiny movements to dislodge myself from her and slide from the nest. Clothes. I need clothes.

In the dim light, I fumble around the floor, trying to find something—anything—to cover myself with. The towel is lost somewhere in the nest, and I’m not about to risk disturbing Hailey to search for it. My hands pat blindly across the carpet, finding nothing but air.

Fuck.

I glance at the door, calculating. The light switch is just inside. If I’m quick…

Drawing in a steadying breath, I stretch toward the wall and flick on the light, eyes flying to Hailey first before I spot a pair of gray sweats draped over a chair. I hurry to grab them before I snap the lights back off, praying the momentary brightness hasn’t disturbed her.

Hailey shifts in the nest, making that soft sound again, and I freeze. But her breathing remains deep and even. Still asleep.

Relief floods through me as I snatch the sweats and practically tiptoe to the bathroom. The second the door closes behind me, I lean against it, letting out a shaky breath. My cock throbs, demanding attention, and I can feel slick sliding down my shaft and rubbing into my belly button where it pokes me.

Grabbing a washcloth, I dampen it with cool water, trying to clean myself up. But every time I touch myself, my body responds with another pulse of arousal. Her scent is still all over me, in my nose, on my skin, and it’s making it impossible to think straight.

The cool water helps a little. Not enough. I press my forehead against the mirror, forcing myself to take deep breaths. Think unsexy thoughts. Math problems. That time I walked in on myparents. The way those sleazy alphas at the gala looked at me before…

But then I catch another whiff of vanilla and honey from my skin, and my cock twitches hard enough to make me groan.

This isn’t working.

After five minutes of desperate attempts to calm my body—including splashing more cold water on my face and doing jumping jacks until I’m slightly out of breath—I finally manage to get myself under enough control to pull on the sweats. They do little to hide my persistently hard cock, but it’s better than nothing.

I creep back to the nest, where Hailey is still sleeping peacefully. She’s rolled onto her back now, one hand stretched out into the space I’d vacated, like she’s searching for me even in sleep. The sight makes something unfurl within me in a way that has nothing to do with physical desire.

She wants me. My presence, at least. And the fool that I am, yearning to be wanted so long, I can’t help but climb right back into her arms. There’s something devastating about being wanted this simply, this honestly. No expectations, no disappointment, no history of pain between us—just the pure, instinctive need for closeness. I've been so careful not to need my alphas too much, not to reach for them when they’re clearly pulling away. So careful not to be clingy, demanding, too omega. Yet here I am, sliding back into a stranger’s embrace because the emptiness of being unwanted has worn me so thin I can barely breathe through it anymore.

It should feel like cuddling up to a stranger. Instead, it feels like cuddling with my best friend.

How pathetic. I’ve only met her a day ago and I’m already yearning like this.

I try not to think about it too much. Just one moment at a time. Man, she must have been really, really exhausted to have slept so long. Mild annoyance swells as I frown, pissed at Stone that he kept her in that old musty cabin.

That’s when a knock at the door makes us both jump.

“Finn?”

Jax’s voice. Panic floods my system.

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