Page 67 of Knot Our Reality

“She deserves to sleep in if that’s what she needs,” Maverick says, drawing my attention. “We’re all grown adults who know how to keep ourselves entertained.”

Paxton shrugs. “I know that, but I thought the point of today was to hang out with her.”

“And we will—when she wakes up.” Camden pushes up from the table. “We don’t get to make demands of her time.”

I watch the omega stalk out of the room, more than a little confused about his reaction. He’s not wrong, but I’m not sure why he stormed out.

“I won’t apologize for Camden because he’s right. We can’t make demands of her. She has so much going on, and we’re meant to be making this easier on her—not harder.” Wilder shakes his head. “But you should all be aware of why he’s acting the way he is right now. His heat is supposed to be in December, but since we’re on the show, he obviously can’t go through it. He also can’t take suppressants, so Remington devised a formula of hormones to prevent his heat.”

I nod, understanding hitting me. “So he has foreign hormones flying around in his body, fighting against his own. Damn, that’s rough. Is there anything we can do to help him out?”

Wilder shakes his head. “Just be patient with him. He doesn’t like the way he’s feeling right now, and that makes him lash out.”

“Why would he do that to himself?”

We all look up at the sound of Emilia’s voice. She’s looking over her shoulder with a frown.

“Because we wanted to be here. We want a chance to be part of your pack.” Wilder’s smile is soft. “If he didn’t have issues with suppressors, he’d be fine. He will be fine.”

Emilia doesn’t look convinced. “I think I should go talk to him—”

“You need food.” Nikolai grabs the tablet and walks over to Emilia, tugging her toward her seat. “You will eat. Then you talk.”

She rolls her eyes. “Seriously, Nikolai? I can talk to him before I eat.”

He shakes his head. “No. You eat now.”

This isn’t an argument I want to be part of, so I push to my feet. “I’m going to go for a walk. What’s the plan for the day?”

“Oh, umm…” Emilia glances around the room. “Originally, I was going to suggest we hang out by the pool, but after yesterday, I don’t feel like it.”

“We can always hang out in the game room,” Gavin offers. “Bree said they added a ton of board games.”

Emilia immediately relaxes. “Oh, that sounds like fun. Yes, let’s do that. We can always do something else later if we feel up to it.”

“Good. I’ll head up there after my walk.” I shoot her a smile. “I hope you had a good time with your family yesterday.”

“I really did. It was much needed. Thank you, Ian.”

I excuse myself and head out the front door. My mind is going in a million different directions, but it keeps going back to Camden.

Remington basically sent him into a hormonal imbalance. It’s easy to fix, but it can be hell on the body. It’s the only thing that’s proven effective to prevent heats when an omega cannot use suppressors. There has to be a better way.

I find myself angling toward the crew’s cabins. Technically, we’re not supposed to be back here, but it’s not like I set out to come here.

“Ian? What are you doingback here?”

I look up to find Remington watching me with a confused look. When I open my mouth to apologize for invading his space, I’m hit with a possible solution to Camden’s problem.

“I need to talk to you. I think I might know a better way to handle Camden needing to not have a heat,” I blurt out, hurrying over to him.

His face lights up. “Oh, good. Tell me what you’re thinking.”

An hour later, Remington and I step into the mansion to find Bree waiting there.

“And what have you gentlemen been up to?” she asks, hands on her hips.

I flush. “I’m sorry. I went for a walk, and I couldn’t stop thinking about how unfair it is that Camden had to be sent into a hormonal imbalance in order to prevent his heat. I ran into Remy, and then it hit me.”

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