Page 107 of Knot Her Cowboys
“We all know you were going through some sort of crisis, but the time for that is over. We’ll be there next week to pick you up.”
“Absolutely fucking not. I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“You’re going to Berlin where you belong. Oskar and Karl are devastated. You liked them. Why would you treat them like this?”
“The more important question is why wouldyoutreatmethe way you have been?”
Levi gave me a thumbs-up.
“Bruce, we’re broken up. I’m not coming to Germany, and you arenotcoming back to Montana.”
“Our flight is already booked. You’ll see reason.”
“Look, I’m sorry that Oskar and Karl are upset, but I’m not going to do anything about it. If your business deal can’t survive without an omega in your new pack, maybe it shouldn’t go forward.”
I could perfectly envision his sneer. “Anne, I’ve been very accommodating while you’ve been a capricious cunt. You have obligations and you don’t get out of them just because you want to roll around with some hillbillies. You have a week to sort yourself out and I expect the respectable woman you’ve been in the past to make a reappearance.”
Ice filled up my chest. He sounded so similar to Darlene in that moment, and I would never be able to undo that correlation. Had I really run from here only to find myself a new version of my mother? “You’re like talking to a fucking wall. I’m not going with you. I have a pack here. I have a bondmate because you planned our move when I was supposed to have a heat and I missed a dose of suppressants. Please get it through your fucking head. We’reover.”
The silence radiating from the other end of the call was like an iceberg drifting past. “Is it the blond fucker you told me not to worry about?”
I pressed my lips together, not wanting to respond. We’d broken up before anything had happened with Cash, but Bruce would see it however he wanted.
“I see. We’ll add whore to the list too, then.”
“Bruce, what the f—ow!” Bryan protested in the background of the call.
“I’ll be magnanimous and not mention this lapse to Oskar and Karl. Be ready.”
The call ended before I could say anything else. I hung up the phone harder than necessary and balled my hands into fists.
Levi gathered me into his arms. “I only caught bits of that, but fuck that guy. No one should speak to you that way.”
No one should, and yet he always did. I released a frustrated sigh, holding tight to Levi. Maybe it was selfish to depend on all of them so hard, but right now, these amazing men, these gifts of fate, were all that was keeping me standing.
The piper had finally come to call on meeting the families of my new packmates. I shouldn’t have beenthatnervous. I’d already met Cash’s family before. Cooper’s weren’t coming—Morgan and her pack were busy with pre-scheduled clients, and the rest weren’t invited—and Levi’s were too far afield to make the trip on short notice, but Dakota’s family would be here. I wasn’t sure if Cash’s parents would be mad at me for vanishing,but I was trying to have alittletrust after mending my fences with Cash and Cooper.
“How’s my gorgeous girl?” Cash asked, sliding up next to me as I removed a tray of roasted potatoes from the industrial oven to cool for a potato salad recipe I was trying out tomorrow.
“Stressed.” Once I’d set down the hot pan, he dragged me closer for a kiss until I was purring, my nerves melting away as his delight suffused the bond. He was unfairly cute and knew exactly what I needed.
“Better?”
“Yes, but these pot roasts aren’t going to cook themselves.” I huffed, nerves twisting my belly the moment his hands weren’t on me anymore. “You’re really, super,one thousand percentcertain your parents aren’t going to hate me?”
“Honey bun, theyloveyou. That hasn’t changed just because you were gone for a while.”
“But…”
“No buts. You’re my bondmate, which makes them your family. My parents will love you. Carter and his pack will love you. It’s just how our family works. I know you don’t have a lot of experience with actually decent family units, but I know how mine operates.”
I pouted, my eyes burning as tears snuck up on me, before burrowing against his chest. “I just love you so much and I don’t want to make things weird for you with them, and I honestly don’t think I could handle your parents looking at me the way Darlene does.”
“They wouldnever. Every word out of my mouth about you in their direction has been one of love, and Mom is fucking jazzed that you’re home again. Plus, I know you’re going to woo them with your amazing cooking.”
“It’s just pot roast.”
“Pot roast made with love,” he clarified.
