Page 46 of Knot Quite Ready

She smiles saucily before grabbing her fork to stab at her food, “although he is turning me into a saddle straddling, hoof hussy.”

I laugh, “I would say it gets easier, but with mates, it just gets…harder.”

“Gee, thanks,” she says drolly, and I laugh harder.

“Oh, by the way,” she smiles brightly, reaching to pull a small box out of moon knows where, and passes me a small box. “I wanted to wait until the Council made their formal announcement, but I think it safe to say that if any other decision is made, they are aware that I will hide under all of their beds and pull out pubic hair while they sleep until they change their minds. So I can totally give you this now.”

Calian sighs, rubbing his temples as the rest of the Council stares at Storm in varying degrees of confusion and a hint of fear. So basically, the way most people react to her. Calder laughs with a shake of his head before calling everyone’s attention back.

“What I say?” Storm asks as I roll my eyes and open the box to find a stunning gold bracelet with a horse and wolf charm.

She waves her wrist in my face to show her identical bracelet, “It’s our official, ‘book-whores to mates, soul-sister bracelet! And when your litter is born, we will add more wolf charms, and when I have tiny vaginal trotters, we will add little horses!” She claps with glee, snatching the bracelet out of the box to put it on my wrist herself.

My eyes fill with tears as I look down at my wrist. Years ago, I would have laughed in the face of anyone who told me that I would not only be happily mated but also have a human, turned horse-shifter, best friend. Now I can’t picture my life any other way, and fuck; it feels good to love and be loved. Now, I just have to kill my grandfather. Baby steps.

I wrap her in a hug, “ I love you, Storm.”

“I love you too, Annie,” she says softly.

As she squeezes, I suddenly feel the urge to pee. I pull away, and I go to push myself from the table. Casimir, Tristan, and Storm go to move with me, and I scowl, “Guys, I am pregnant, not a damn invalid, and I have to pee. Sit back down.”

“Storm can go with you, or I can wait outside for you. I don’t like you going alone knowing my father was anywhere near here,” Casimir frowns.

“Cas, he was kicked out. Despite all the shit-talking, your father is a pussy. Agatha would rip his head off. Feel free to bring more steak to the table. I’ll be right back. I am surrounded by our pack, with the Council a few feet away. I also really have to pee, so I don’t wanna keep talking,” I cross my legs and lean over to give him a peck on the lips before I shuffle my ass to the bathroom.

I feel eyes follow me the entire way to the bathroom, and I roll my eyes. Dramatic. I lock the bathroom door behind me and the small stall and sigh in relief as I empty my bladder. If this urgency came on at only a few weeks pregnant, I can imagine how desperate I would feel when I am several months pregnant.Shit, I may just wear an adult diaper.

Stepping out of the stall, I move to wash my hands, and my nose twitches as a familiar scent tickles my nose. My eyes fly up to the mirror, and a flash of recognition flits through me before I see a fist fly toward my head. The only thought going through my head is,this is why women go to the bathroom in groups of 63before I black out.

Chapter24

Aneira

Aneira

I bite back a groan as sounds start to filter through the darkness. But what really brings me back into the land of the living is the hot nausea that is sweeping through me. It takes all my mental fortitude not to hurl.

There’s something tight around my face, but I fight to keep myself from trying to rip it off.It’s okay Aneira, just a regular run-of-the-mill kidnapping. Be cool. Don’t let these fuckers know you’re awake.

With my sight taken away from me, I rely on my other senses. I try to roll my hands, and the sharp bite of pain has me almost blowing my cover.Silver cuffs? Motherfuckers.Okay, can’t see, can’t move, and I won’t be able to talk to Agatha with the fucking cuffs of doom.Well, this is just fucking peachy. I take a quiet breath and focus on my hearing instead. Mumbled voices carry over the loud noise of a car, and I strain to hear what is being said as the car hits a bump and a buckle stabs me on my side, and the cuffs tighten. From this position, the vibrations send another wave of sickness through me. Not fucking ideal. Neither is the fact that whoever is driving this lupine limo thinks they drive for Nascar and considering I have no idea how long I’ve been out for, I can’t gauge my location. When I get out of these cuffs, I was eating someone.

In my effort to contain nausea and rising blood lust, I try to tune back into the murmur of voices coming from the front of the car. They’re speaking in low tones, but even over the roar of the engine, one of the men sounds familiar, although I cannot for the life of me place it while my head is in a fog.

“When we get back to the pack, you need to make sure that she is separated from the rest of them. The last thing I want is to send the others into a frenzy once they get a whiff of her.”

There’s a scoff and then a beat of silence before the other —familiar voice speaks again. “Don’t worry about that. This little omega is going to be very busy before long. She has a lot to live up to and make up for.” The tone in his voice sends a chill through me, and combined with another wave of nausea, it’s too much, and I can’t control it before I’m choking on my vomit.

The black sack covering my head rips off, and I suck in some air. My hands are trapped underneath me, but a napkin gets wiped over my mouth with a little more force than necessary, I might add.

“Ah, you’re awake little Omega. We are so close to your new pack and call it the excitement of revenge or the vindication of righting a wrong of history, but I’m looking forward to you seeing it. But I’ve said enough, can’t ruin the surprise.” I groan and lift my head as the man in the passenger seat turns around, and I can’t contain my gasp.

I’m looking at a carbon copy of Casimir if he was about twenty years older. Almost instantly, the fog clears, and my memories come rushing back. The familiar scent in the bathroom, the flash of his face in the mirror before I was knocked out. Casimir’s father.

Can’t even pee in peace. Although, how he got back into the pack dining hall after being escorted out is beyond me right now, seeing as vomit-smeared, silver-cuffed, nauseated Aneira is not the character arc I was going for.

His face twists into a gleeful grin as he watches recognition dawn on me. I grimace as his bloodshot, half-crazed eyes flicker with his wolf's presence. "Ahh, I see you finally remember," he taunts. "Don't worry, my pretty little Omega. All will be revealed soon.”

Rage burns away the rest of the nausea as I rear back and spit into his face. “I’m notyouranything, you flea-bitten hound.”

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