Page 49 of Knot Letting Go

“Listen, baby.” I took one of her hands in mine and kissed the back of it. “Kon and I may be related, but we were never brothers in the way you’re implying. He stuck with his uptight little crowd and I caused trouble with mine. We didn’t knoweach other. Hell, we hardly had anything to do with one another. Then when our father died, we met again as two different people and had to get to know each other as full grown men. We bonded not because we’re brothers, but because we respect and like one another. That’s just what a pack does.”

Aubrielle peeked at me over her arm. Her eyes shone, wet and vulnerable.

“Well said.” Konstantin agreed, almost looking surprised at doing so. “We’re a pack, and you’re our missing piece, bella.”

“A pack,” she breathed as if she couldn’t believe it.

I motioned to Konstantin to shift them so that he was sitting down with her on his lap. She needed to be more comfortable and be able to see us both at the same time. I’d never been more fucking sincere in my entire life, and I had to let her feel it.

Once they were settled, I sat beside them and lifted her lower legs onto my lap. “What do you think, baby? Is this what you want?”

She swallowed and rested her head against Konstantin’s shoulder. She took my hand in hers and my brother’s in her other hand. “I want to try, I really do, but—”

“No buts.” I cut her off right there and grinned. “We’re going to make it work. You’ll be ours forever.”

“You make us sound like villains.” Konstantin rolled his eyes and kissed the top of Aubrielle’s head. I didn’t really remember what he was like with Giovanna, but it wasn’t like this. He was natural and content, and totally relaxed knotted in Aubrielle while sitting beside me. That was far better than a fist bump.

“Well, if you’re villains, you’re very handsome ones.” Hope had returned to her smile and something else glimmered in her eyes. I breathed her sweet scent in deeply to make certain it wasn’t my own hormones talking.

Oh yeah. We would make this work. We’d convince her that becoming part of the Birk pack was the only thing she ever wanted.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE - Aubrielle

“I’ll be fine for one afternoon.” I folded my arms and tried to look intimidating, but neither Quill nor Konstantin were convinced. Their furrowed brows were much more domineering than me in a flowery skirt and peach lipstick.

“Yesterday, you were a total mess.” Quill’s bluntness was usually sweet, but it annoyed me at the moment. “You’re not done with your heat yet.”

I hated that he was right. The day before, I couldn’t get enough of their knots. They took turns taking care of me, starting in Konstantin’s bedroom on Monday night, and then I dragged them into the garden. Of all the places I could have felt the instinct to nest, I never imagined it would be outside like I was some wild animal.

Like the wonderful Alphas they were, the brothers didn’t complain. They erected a small canvas tent over the nest and filled it with blankets and pillows from their rooms. Water and food were stored in a cooler, and I brought out my sewing supplies so I could finish making the mermaid tails.

Tuesday was a blur of frenzied sex, snuggling, snacking, and sewing. I didn’t fall asleep until after Quill knotted me one more time just after midnight. My body was pleasantly sore, and not a single heat pang had plagued me since I woke at eleven.

I wasn’t going to let my heat bring my life to a complete stop. So I pulled out my trump card. “Lillianna has been looking forward to seeing her aunt and cousin for days. I won’t have her miss out because of me. She’d be devastated, and I would feel horrible.”

“I’ll take her myself.” Konstantin said it as if it were a done deal. I wasn’t going to let him change my mind.

“She needs girl's time.” I raised my chin, daring them to say anything about that. And to add the cherry on top of my argument, I added, “I need girl’s time.”

“And what if you suddenly need some knot time?” Quill smirked. Damn him for being so smoking hot even when he was trying to interfere in my plans.

“I had knot time all day and night!” I huffed and glanced at the clock. If Lillianna and I were going to go, we had to leave within the next few minutes to make it on time.

“You can never get enough.” Quill waggled his brows and winked.

No, I couldn’t. Not of either of them, but I wasn’t going to play into that right now.

“I’m going.” There. I put my foot down.

Konstantin and Quill shared a look that was kind of amused. Amused!

“I’m going,” I repeated and bent to pick up my sandals from the floor, slipping them onto my feet. “You two have your big important meeting. We’ll be back by dinner. Talis is with us, and Callista is bringing Levi. We’ll be inside a children’s museum which has its own security. That’s plenty of protection.”

Konstantin took my hand and helped me straighten. His touch made me tingle, and I almost thought it would trigger another round of heat with me begging him to knot me. Thankfully it was just the sizzle of our connection. “Bella, you must understand our worry. Just because you feel normal at the moment, doesn’t mean you’re not in heat. No matter how many bodyguards you have, if an Alpha who is compatible scents you, and he has no self control, it would take an army to keep him away from you.”

I was ready for this argument. “There are sections of the museum where Alphas aren’t allowed. Areas for Omega mothers and their children to feel safe.”

“Then that’s where you stay until we’ll get there.” Konstantin seemed to have been ready for what I said too. “We’ll be joining you after our meeting is over.”

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