Page 25 of Tied in Knots
I shove it in the pocket of my jeans and shudder. I could really do with a shower and a change of clothes, having slept in these ones last night out of sheer exhaustion after building my nest. I know, even though I’ve never experienced it before, that I’m in my pre-heat. It’s a bit exciting, but also very daunting and scary, especially seeing as I’m now a prisoner of this pack of, admittedly hot, alphas. What is going to happen to me in a few days’ time? Will they pounce, leave me alone, what? I’m not sure which would be worse. I’ve heard it’s not that nice to be without a knot to come all over when you’re in your heat. But do I really want these felons to be the ones to relieve me? What will that say about me and about how I feel about what they did? Plus, more than one? Sounds like fun, but I’ve never done that before. What would they expect of me?
“Okay, Faith. Stop overthinking this. You will drive yourself crazy.Crazier.”
Deciding that these arseholes can wait while I shower, it’s the fucking least they can do, I march back into the bedroom, to Sebastian and Benjamin waiting patiently in the stiff-backed chairs in the bay window. They both stand up as I enter the room, but I ignore them and with as much dignity as I can, I bend down to retrieve my backpack from the nest and then I return to the bathroom, once again slamming the door closed and sliding the bolt across to secure my privacy from these beasts.
* * *
After spending more time in the shower than was strictly necessary, and totally on purpose to make them wait, I brush out my hair and spray on some deodorant before slipping into my comfy black joggers and a white t-shirt. I pause when I remember Benjamin’s t-shirt in my nest and smile. It was sweet, and he smells so delicious. It was the total opposite to how I got my hands on Sebastian’s tie. Oraroundmy hands that should be. Dick. King Dick about sums him up.
“Sexy King Dick. Bet you have a big dick to go with that title, don’t you?”
I pucker up and apply a smear of lip gloss, my only make-up choice and then I’m ready.
Turning towards the door, I pause and bend down to pull the tie out of the pocket of my folded-up jeans that I’d placed on the small chair in the corner of the bathroom. Without thinking, I wrap it around my wrist and tuck it in tightly, so it doesn’t unravel.
Happy now and deciding I’ve left them waiting for long enough, and also eager to hear why they chose me to abduct, I open the door and then freeze.
All four of them are assembled.
Xander, formerly known as Ocean-breeze, snaps his head towards me, his eyes narrowing and his lips parting.
“Strawberries,” he pants.
He takes a step in my direction, which makes me take one back into the bathroom, prepared to lock myself in again, when Harvey Marshmallows grabs him by the collar, halting his progress, at the same time that Benjamin lays a hand on his arm almost in warning.
That makes me cautious.
Harvey said he was feral. And he was the one who sniffed me in the car.
“I won’t hurt you,” Xander says, his tone soft. “You don’t need to be afraid of me.”
Blinking, I don’t say anything. I don’t know what to say.Afraidisn’t the word I’d use, but I’m definitely wary. Not just of him, but of all of them.
“Here,” Harvey says, letting go of Xander and holding out my phone.
He waits for me to come to him, which takes me a hot minute. The only reason I step forward and snatch it from him, is to check if Derek got back to me.
I glance at the screen and see dozens of messages. Some from Pete and some from Derek.
I open them and read the thread, ignoring the four waiting men in front of me.
“Fucker,” I mutter under my breath when I see that he wasn’t ignoring me on purpose, but his phone was dead, and he was in the Home Counties at an all-day meeting. He claims he didn’t know his phone had died until late on last night.
A likely story.
“Feel free to ring whomever you like to let them know you’re safe,” Sebastian says.
I look up at him with a sad expression.
I have no onetoring. Except Derek, and so far, he has proved to not be very reliable. Maybe I’ll make him wait and if these four end up killing me and eating me, he can hear about it on the six o’clock news with everybody else and be wracked with guilt until the end of days.
Did I mention I like to hold a grudge rather than face confrontation? Pretty sure it’s tattooed on my arse. Willdefinitelygo on my headstone.
Here lies Faith.
She did what you wanted, but resented your arse forevermore.
Expect a haunting in the future.
