Page 43 of Knot Their Girl
But with how relaxed and comfortable Raeka made me after last night, I can’t sit there and believe that. Not anymore. No, as much as I don’t want to admit my uncle was right, hewasright in picking her. There’s something about her that makes me feel…
Good. She makes me feel good.
I’m not upset,I type out.
He reads it and tells me, “You should be.”
But I’m not.
“Listen, whether you’re upset or not, it doesn’t matter. I’m here to make sure she’s safe when she’s out in public. I’m not here to… take her away from you. What happened shouldn’t have happened. I’m better than that.”
Maybe it’s not too smart to egg on an alpha, but I find myself typing out,Who are you trying to convince: me or you?
He lets out a single chuckle. “Ballsy, for a beta. I like you, kid.” He walks around the island, gives me a pat on the back, and leaves the room. I don’t go after him; I let him have his exit, because I know that’s his way of running from this conversation.
He’s not ready to talk about it, which is fine. He’s not going anywhere. Somehow, deep down, I know he’s not telling the full truth. Maybe he’s lying to me, or maybe he’s just lying to himself. This isn’t just a job to him. How could it be when Raeka is at the center of it? If she makes me feel the way I do, I can only imagine how she makes a packless alpha feel.
And then there’s my uncle.
Why do I feel like Raeka is pulling us all in?
And, what’s more, why am I so okay with it?
Chapter Twenty-One – Raeka
I groan when I wake up. My back is a little sore, and as I sit up and stretch, I realize just why that is: I’m outside, under the early morning sun, on the patio in the back. Where I slept. All night. Like some kind of maniac.
Ugh, I am not the kind of girl who can fall asleep any and everywhere. I need a bed. A cozy, comfy mattress. This is so unlike me. Seriously, who am I and where did the real Raeka go?
A blanket tumbles off me and bunches up on my lap, and my eyes study it. I don’t remember Colter getting up to fetch blankets for us, and I definitely didn’t, so that’s odd. Then again, Colter isn’t beside me, so maybe he got up and grabbed me a blanket before heading back up to his third-floor suite.
His hoodie still clings to my body, and it’s softer than I remembered it being last night. I tug at the neckline, bringing it up to my nose and giving it a good sniff before I know what I’m doing—and the moment my nose doesn’t smell a single thing, I frown and stifle the omega whine threatening to bubble up my throat.
It’s like that bitch wants to smell Colter, just like it wanted to smell Pax. Ugh, jeez. That freak needs to get a grip. It isn’t like these injections of mine are new. Granted, I had to take the last one before the recommended time, but it was an emergency. Gideon and Pax’s scents were starting to burst through my defenses, and I don’t trust myself not to throw all of my hopes and dreams away to get laid by an alpha knot or two.
I get to my feet, grab the blanket and the bag of pretzels that was my makeshift dinner last night, and head inside. When I make it to the kitchen, I realize it’s damn near noon—I can’t remember the last time I slept in till noon. I abandon the blanketas a ball on the island and return the bag of pretzels into the cabinet I retrieved it from last night.
Thanks to having a family chef my whole life, I am a terrible cook. The only things I can do are simple, easy shit like sandwiches and stuff that goes right in the microwave or the oven. I whip myself up a simple chicken sandwich with sliced chicken breast and some lettuce.
I eat in silence, replaying last night over in my mind. Replaying all of yesterday, really. The scene with Pax. Bonding with Colter.
Even now, I can’t believe Colter was so judgment-free. I would’ve thought that since I’m here for him, he would’ve been at least a little upset that I was practically panting for Pax. Same with Gideon, really. I need the judgment. I need someone in this house to make me feel bad, otherwise I might be tempted to try it again.
See? Bad. Very bad. I can’t seem to snap myself out of it. The shots shackled my nose, but the rest of me is intact, and… fuck, it’s hard being in a house with three men, so much harder than I thought it would be.
I finish my sandwich and am about to head upstairs to change and shower when I run into Gideon at the base of the stairs. Literally, I ram myself against him as I round the corner. If my nose would be working, I surely would have smelled him and known he was there, and I could’ve avoided getting so close to him. Alas, I bounce back from his chest with an unsteady balance, and he instantly reaches for me to help stabilize me, his hands firmly wrapping around my upper arms.
All I can say is, thank God for Colter’s hoodie, otherwise I would have felt those hands on my bare skin, and at the rate I’m going, I probably would’ve exploded.
“There you are,” he says, still holding onto me, long after I’m steady. “I was looking for you. Did you just wake up?” Hisdark blue gaze falls to the hoodie I wear, and I resist my urge to squirm a bit.
“Yeah,” I say, though the word comes out more like a squeak than anything else.
He suddenly seems to remember he’s holding onto me still, and he quickly drops his hands off my arms like I’m a hot potato or something. He coughs and takes a step to the side, as if trying to put more distance between us. “If you have time, I would like to have a little meeting with you and Pax in my office.”
My stomach churns. A meeting with me and Pax? Fuck. For some reason, I really thought Pax would try to run away from this. Now we have to face the consequences of our actions together. How fun.
All I can say is, “Sure.”
