Page 44 of Fated or Knot

“I…I guess so,” she said with the beginnings of a serious pout.

“I’m glad you understand,” he said, gesturing for her to go. The door closed behind her with a clatter. I wondered how long it would take for my stepmother to hear about this short conversation, exaggerated to make Laurel look as innocent as possible.

I flinched when Fal held his hand out, inching away from him and his alpha presence still hot with lingering rage. There wasn’t far to go before my wings brushed against the opposite wall.

“Come here, please.” He offered both hands now, palms out. “I’m sorry. I’m not angry at you… I’m angryforyou. The nerve of that girl, and her insufferable mother too. And add on to that something else, something Marius did that I noticed earlier today, and I couldn’t let it go.”

He softened his stance and cleared his throat, attempting to purr to soothe me. It was unsteady and throaty, but at least he was trying. I placed my hands in his. He tugged me toward him and rested his forehead against mine; I breathed out some of my tension at the way his purr still soothed me.

I offered a little smile to show I was okay. “What did Marius do?” I murmured.

“I can tolerate a lot of things from my family, but this is not one of them.” Reaching past me, he took my journal and flipped back to the first page. His finger came down on the fourth line hard enough to embed his claw tip in the paper. “He will not talk to you like this.”

4. Don’t be a doormat.

“He didn’t,” I said, eyes widening. “I asked him for advice and paraphrased what he said.”

“He admitted he called you this earlier,” he growled. “Don’t try to make excuses for him. It’s bad enough that he’s more interested in that starsdamned book than the beautiful omega sitting next to him.”

He took my thoughts straight off the rail they’d been on. My wings fluttered happily. He thought I was beautiful. He’d said it with full conviction.

Oh, right. We were talking about Marius. “He’s already apologized for it. Really, this is just an overreaction.”

Fal rolled his eyes and reached over to pick up my charcoal pencil. “I’m not overreacting. I’m tired of his…” He circled his hand for a moment and then gave up. “I’m quite tired of his shit.”

I snorted a laugh before I could muffle it behind a hand, surprised that this was what broke the barrier of polite speech between us. He smiled at my reaction before turning the pencil on my list and writing underneath it. “Not that I was privy to this particular conversation, but I assume this has to do with meeting my mother. Here is what you should work on.”

He turned the page so I could see what he’d written in an overly elegant, looping script that matched his personality.

New steps:

1. Learn Serian.

2. Be yourself.

Everything else, we can teach you.

“Contrary to what my brother thinks, he doesn’t have to hold himself back. Our mother is going to adore you.” Fal drifted his knuckles down my cheek. “Wholly because she’s going to see thatweadore you.”

My breath caught. “You do?” I murmured.

“Our pack bond lights up brighter than a Yuletide bonfire when you’re around.” His touch drifted to my neck, encircling its column gently to guide me as he leaned forward. “Can’t wait to feel how jealous this makes them.”

If I thought my surprise kiss with him had been amazing, it was nothing compared to the one he led me into. It tasted like sunny, grassy days, bursting into my mouth like drinking from a stream of pure joy after a long drought. I threaded my fingers into his silky blue-black hair, holding on to him for more. His fangs caught my lower lip and tugged just right.

I felt his growl as his fingers encircled my hips and tightened possessively. He lifted me into his lap as our tongues brushed, and my thighs spread to either side of his legs. I liked that he was just as turned on by my taste as I was by his, as he ground a growing bulge in his pants against the needy ache rising in my pussy.

The door flung open, and in stomped Marius. Fal slowed and parted from me with a mischievous smile on his kiss-swollen lips. He shot that look at the kelpie.

“I can’t trust you with herat all, can I?” Marius demanded.

“You came back awfully fast,” Fal teased. He licked up my neck with a low, rumbling growl that had me clenching my thighs. “It’s okay to want a taste too.”

Marius sat across from us with his ankle propped on his opposite knee. “Don’t forget we’re stuck here for three more days. If I decided to chase you, you have nowhere to run.”

“Hmm.” Fal dragged his fangs down the path he’d laved ever so slowly. I moaned, tilting my head for more. “Why don’t you show her some of that famed kelpie loyalty instead?”

“You know I can’t.” Marius’s answer sounded hoarse.

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