Page 105 of Knot Her Mountain Men

“How can you tell?” I whispered. “She’s so subtle.”

My omega burst into giggles and shifted her hips, testing that my knot had gone down enough for her to slide free. “I’ll give her some attention and take her outside if you want to start peeling potatoes for me.”

She leaned down to kiss me before taking a quick departure upstairs to get a full outfit.

Pumpkin sang until we got downstairs. Then she was all tippy taps and wagging tail.

“Were you lonely, sweet girl?” Morgan asked her. “Want to go outside for some zoomies?”

Pumpkin jumped up to lick her.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Morgan turned back to me. “I’ll give her about ten minutes to get some energy out and then I’ll come back in to help. We can take her out together once everything is in the oven.”

I nodded and drew her in for one more kiss before she headed outside.

She took out one of our old stereos, and music blasted from it. Morgan was in view from where I worked, but Pumpkin wasn’t, though I could tell where she was based on which way Morgan turned as our dog raced around. Focusing on potatoes was the last thing I wanted to do right now when I could be looking at my omega instead, but she had given me this task, and I intended to get as much off her plate as I could.

Halfway through the pile, an electric spike of panic shot through the bond and I barely missed slicing myself open. I staggered, throwing the knife into the sink and ran to the window in time to see Morgan take off into the forest, Pumpkin barking her head off as someone I didn’t recognize sprinted after them.

Ifroze, stomach plummeting, Pumpkin’s stick falling out of my hand. She was instantly on high alert, abandoning our game of fetch to stand in front of me as Brandon stalked around the lodge. The metallic glint of a gun in his hand sent me into immediate panic, and the peppy music blaring from the stereo felt almost obscene in the current moment.

Brandon walked slowly, keeping the weapon trained on us as he moved to turn down the volume.

“What—what are you doing here?”

“Had to see for myself that you actually survived.”

“No thanks to you,” I spat.

His eye twitched when he took a step closer, and I took one backward. Pumpkin growled, hackles raised.

My stomach turned when he took a deep breath, nostrils flaring and pupils dilating. “Fuck. You’ve never smelled this good before. You about to go into heat, baby?”

Nausea flipped my stomach. “No, and don’t call me that.”

“Don’t be like that. Come back with me and we can make everything the way it’s supposed to be. We can finally be together.”

“I’m where I’m supposed to be.” I hated how much my voice shook.

He took another step closer, anger flashing over his face. “Did you seriously turn me down and start fucking the guys who live here? Were you fucking the others back home too just to torture me?”

I squeezed my trembling hands into fists. “I never touched anyone from home.”

Pumpkin growled dangerously.

Run.

“I’ll do a better job this time if you won’t come with me,” Brandon promised. “I know you’re open for business by the smell of you. I’ll be sure to take a sample before I let the woods have you.”

Fucking. Run.

He was between me and Bear, and if Bear came out, Brandon would shoot him.

No, no, no, no.

My survival instincts snapped into place, the omega urge to flee from danger all-consuming as I turned on my heel and sprinted into the woods. He wanted me alive, mostly. I couldn’t let him hurt Bear.

Thank god it had frozen again overnight so I wasn’t skidding in snow-topped mud. But it didn’t stop me from losing my footing every so often, hands crashing against the sharp ground for as long as it took me to dig in and launch forward again. Brandon was taller than I was; the only chance I had was to be nimble.

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