Page 76 of Tied in Knots
Sometime much later, it is now dark outside, I hear a knock on the door. It rouses me and I sit up groggily, blinking my aching eyes.
“Yeah,” I croak out, bringing my hand up to my hair, but then realising it’s the broken arm. I wince and drop it again.
“Are you up?” Sebastian asks, sticking his head around.
“Guess so,” I grumble.
He chuckles, which sort of puts me at ease. But is he lulling me into a false sense of security? My best guess would be yes.
“How is your arm?”
“Sore. How is your fist? And your face?” I reply, taking in two black eyes and a split lip.
“The other guy looks worse.”
“I’m sorry, Sebastian,” I get out before anything else can get in the way, lowering my eyes contritely.
He heaves a sigh. “There was no need for you to go out there. Especially when we told you to stay in here.”
“There was a need. I needed something.”
“Birth control,” he says quietly. “I know we never had the conversation about this, but we need to have it now.”
“How did you know?” I ask, looking back up.
He pulls the old packet out of his pocket. “I wasn’t snooping, you left it on the counter.”
Well, I can’t argue with that. I look away and bite my lip. “I’ve just turned twenty-one,” I start. “I’m not mated. I don’t want to get pregnant, yet. Is that a problem?”
“If you mean ‘yet’, then no, we don’t have a problem. If you don’t want kids, then there are some more things we need to talk about.”
His almost desperate tone forces me to look back at him. “I do mean ‘yet’,” I say softly. “Getting pregnant now, unmated and so young would be a mistake, I feel.”
“You are right,” he says, taking my good hand. “But I want a family, Faith. So do the other men. Is that what you want?” His cautious tone makes me sad that I disappointed him.
“Yes, it is. Just not right now after my first heat. Can you understand that?”
He nods slowly.
“Okay, if you are sure about that and not just saying it to get out of trouble, because we haven’t even started on that yet?”
“I mean it.” I sigh. “Let me have it. What punishment do you have in mind? I deserve it for being too shy to ask for help and for getting you all into trouble and hurt.”
“Faith,” he says steadily. “This isn’t about any of that.Youwere hurt and if we hadn’t arrived when we did, probably carted off to live with that pack of thugs. The only thing that I care about is your safety and you didn’t consider the effect it would have on us if you got taken away or worse. For some reason, you still don’t trust us, although I suppose I do get it on some level. But haven’t we earned it by now? Haven’t we shown you we care?”
Tears fill my eyes and I feel like the worst omega on the planet. This is the most awful thing he could do to me. “I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I didn’t mean, I didn’t…”
“You didn’t even think about us, did you?”
I shake my head.
“Do you trust us, Faith?”
I swallow and lick my lips. “Yes,” I croak out. “I think so.”
“You think so.”
His bitter disappointment cuts across my heart.
