Page 30 of The Knotty Omega

“I don’t want to lie to you guys — I’ve never wanted my own pack. I have some baggage that you guys should probably be aware of. I’m not ready to talk about it now, but maybe after we get to know each other better. It’ll help you guys understand why I’ve been so hesitant.”

Ollie leans over and presses a kiss to her forehead. “No worries, Tink. You take all the time you need.”

She stifles a laugh. “We’re sticking with Tink, then?”

“Of course.” Oliver gets in close to her ear, speaking just loud enough for us to hear if we lean forward. “Now, it’s because you’re tiny, blonde, and make me feel like I’m flying.”

“Oh,” she gasps softly as her cheeks pinken and she leans back and looks at him.

Fucking smooth bastard. I want to be the one who puts that look on her face.

“I…” she clears her throat. "How did you all meet?" Her quick change of subject has me raising my brow, but a fresh wave of perfume tells me that she’s just embarrassed by her reaction to us.

Arch is the one who answers. "Titus and Mattie grew up together, and Mattie and I got together in college. We met Simon when Titus got himself shot at his job—"

A gasp from Cady and her eyes on me have my alpha preening like a narcissistic prick. He's delighted that our omega is worried about us.

"I'm fine, angel," I say gruffly, the nickname slipping out, unbidden."Just part of the job and Simon here stitched me up."

"What job?" She demands, her cheeks slightly pink in response to my slip of affection.

"Personal security firm at the time." She eyes me for a minute, her lips pursed. Unable to take her silence, I try to explain myself. "It was back before I started my own company. I'm mostly admin and investigation now."

"As I was saying," Arch rolls his eyes at our apparent dramatics. "Titus got shot, and Simon was our ER doctor who stitched him up. We all knew he was pack. Then, when Mattie and I got our initials tattooed on eachothers knuckles, we walked into Ollie's shop and instantly connected."

She looks at Ollie excitedly. "You own a tattoo shop?"

“I’m an artist too,” Ollie says proudly. “I can hook you up any time you want."”

Her face lights up. “I’ve been wanting to get a tattoo for a while now! I’ve been looking at…gosh what’s the name of that place?” She bites her lip as she thinks. “Oh! Industrial Ink! I follow them on Instagram.”

“That’s my shop.” I swear, Oliver couldn’t look any more smug if we were all on our knees and bowing down to him. “What kind of tattoo do you want to get?”

“Something book related,” she admits, her cheeks pinkening slightly. “I’m really into fantasy, and —”

Cady’s OMS assigned bodyguard coughs suddenly, and I swear I hear him say something that sounds like “monster smut”.

My brows shoot up as she shoots him a dirty look. “I swear to the gods, Brennan, I may love your omega but I will end you.”

The bodyguard, Brennan, only makes a “zipped lip” motion with his hand and shrugs. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Miss Cady.”

“Monster smut?” Archie raises a brow.

Damn. The little omega is freaky. I can get behind that.

She sighs and shakes her head. “It’s been sort of my…litmus test for other packs. Well, for the first pack I met with. They acted absolutelyscandalized. I admit, it had been my intention, but it ended up with me giving recs to Brennan for his omega.” She grins at the bodyguard now, seemingly forgetting about his teasing a moment before.

I’m just glad these bodyguards are already bonded, because my alpha does not take kindly to my omega smiling at other alphas.

Shit. My omega?

“Well that gives me the perfect idea for what kind of tattoo you should get,” Oliver says gleefully, before leaning forward and whispering in her ear. We all lean forward to try and hear what he’s saying, but then Cady leans back, playfully smacking him on the arm.

“Absolutely not! I’d never be able to go out in public.”

“Believe me Tink, the places I want to tattoo you are places the public eye wouldneversee.”

Her cheeks flush even more if possible, and she covers her face. “You’re going to be trouble, aren’t you?”

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