Page 113 of Knot Her Mountain Men

My pack.

Friends, a lover, partners. We already had a life together, but the axis had shifted and I couldn’t fucking wait to experience this new world with them when we emerged from her heat.

Her heat was short, more a flare than anything else, but it was enough to bring us all together and knock everyone on their asses. My brain had been running a mantra ofshe’s safe, she’s safe, she’s safe.

I had to keep reminding myself.

I would never be able to forget the terror that took over me when her panic had swept down the bond and hadn’t stopped. If it hadn’t been for that fucking poacher’s trap I’d have killed Brandon. At the very least I’d have broken a leg or two so he couldn’t follow us back.

Morgan trailed her fingers over my chest. “What’s wrong?”

I cringed. I still forgot on too many occasions that she—and now all of them—could feel what I felt. “Sorry,” I signed, not making eye contact.

“Talk to me,” she said softly.

Her waking had the others stirring, their heads lifting one by one.

“What time is it?” Kit asked, rubbing his eyes. “I don’t even know what day it is now.”

Ryder crawled off the bed, locating his phone among the scattered clothing on the floor. “A little after midnight, so I guess technically the next day. Is the heat over?”

“Was it a flare?” Maverick asked.

I nodded. I had been up for a couple of hours already while the others slept, carefully monitoring her through the bond. Once she had bonded Ryder, the heat had pretty much winked out of existence, maybe satisfied that she was no longer surrounded by scent matches she wasn’t bonded to.

Kit stretched his arms overhead. “Do we get to know what happened now? All we got was an SOS.”

The question set off sparks of panic in Morgan, everyone instantly on high alert. She’d been so thoroughly distracted by the heat flare that I was pretty sure her brain had shut out everything that had happened beforehand.

“He washere. He tried?—”

My packmates erupted in a cacophony of fury, questions, and concern. I motioned for them to all chill the fuck out and pulled Morgan onto my lap so I could have her close and still sign.

Pumpkin, hearing that we were awake, howled on the other side of the door. Ryder let her in and she bounded into the nest, licking Morgan’s face.

Our omega wrapped her arms around our dog, pressing her face into Pumpkin’s fur. “You saved my life again. I’m gonna have to get you a medal or something.”

Pumpkin wiggled happily at all of the attention, licking Morgan’s tears away as quickly as they came down.

“Little fox, he tried to hurt you again?”

“He—” She hiccuped. “He wanted to do to me what Paul did to Maisie, or kill me if I wouldn’t go back with him. God, that sounds so fucked up to say.”

“I’m gonna kill him,” said Maverick, fury rolling off him in waves. “Where is he now?”

Oh, shit. I forgot he still needed to be dealt with. Was it cold enough for him to have died of exposure, sparing the world his miserable existence?

“Outside,” I signed.

“What the fuck do you meanoutside?” Ryder snapped. “Outside where?”

I shrugged. “Mile or two out. He found a trap I missed.”

“Holy shit,” Kit breathed. “Is he still alive? Have we called the cops?”

I shrugged again for the first and shook my head for the second.

“Pretty sure I went into heat before Bear got me back,” Morgan said, her voice muffled against Pumpkin. “I don’t remember a lot of the trip home.”

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