Page 116 of Down Knot Out
“We brought snacks.” I lift the bag I carry, and Blake waves his, too.
Quinn peers up at me, then at the room, then at Chloe, then back to me. “Can I join the nest?”
Chloe scoots around, adjusting the borders. “Of course, princess. You’re pack.”
Quinn darts into the nest and nestles beside Chloe, who pulls her under an arm and hugs her tight. The two of them giggle, whispering, and the whole room takes on a peaceful hum.
Then Chloe frowns at us. “What are you waiting for? Bring me food.”
So we pile in, passing Chloe the snacks to have first dibs. Nathaniel settles at the edge of the nest, reading emails and sipping tea. Blake stretches out at the base, using the wall for support. Dominic plucks one of his sketchbooks from a stack near Nathaniel’s quilted jackets by the bed and props it on his knees.
I wedge myself in next to Chloe, her head on my shoulder as she shares peanut butter and honey sandwiches with Quinn.
Grady hovers for a moment before murmuring, “I’ll take care of Sprinkles and feed him dinner.”
Backing out, he closes the door.
By full dark, Chloe’s room is a disaster. Pillows litter the floor, snack wrappers have colonized the lower blanket layers, and Quinn has built a secondary nest beneath the window. The air is syrupy with laughter and the endless churn of conversation.
Chloe, seated in the center of the nest, reads aloud from Quinn’s latest effort, a story about a girl with wings who defeats bullies by blowing themaway with dragon breath. She gives each character a different accent, cycling through them so fast that tears stream from Quinn’s eyes from giggling so hard.
Blake snorts so hard at the villain’s lines that he chokes on a gingersnap. “You should narrate your own books. Your fans would get a kick out of this.”
Dominic, who’s been sketching the whole time, flips his pad toward Quinn. “Behold, Princess Quinn the Brave.”
Quinn takes the page and hugs it to her chest. “That’s me!”
Chloe finishes the chapter and sets the notebook aside, her voice hoarse but happy. She sags back into the blankets, a small, satisfied smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
Blake sprawls next to her, burying his face in her stomach. “You smell so good.”
She wraps her arms around his shoulders with a happy hum.
Nathaniel, leaning on a stack of pillows, glances over at me. “You haven’t said much all night.”
I shrug, careful not to jostle Chloe where she rests against my shoulder. “I don’t need to. This is enough.”
He watches me for a moment, his face relaxed with contentment.
As the noise dies down. Chloe’s pheromones hover in the air, but they don’t spike into the overpowering bloom of Heat. Not yet. Maybe tomorrow or the next day. For now, it’s a soft sweetness that makes us crave to stay close.
Quinn falls asleep first, curled with her head on Dominic’s thigh and a notebook clutched to her chest like a teddy bear. The rest of us drift in quiet darkness.
When Chloe’s breathing evens into sleep, I tuck the knitted blanket around her shoulders and let my own eyes close, content in the knowledge that this is everything I ever wanted.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Blake
Quinn’s foot jabs my ribs with the persistence of a child who has never once slept still. I pick her curls from my beard again and remove her toes from my lungs.
Someone shifts in the nest, followed by a low grunt and the rustle of blankets as the pack readjusts. Shadows stretch across the tangled limbs of my pack. Six distinct scents mingle in the space. Vanilla, clove, cedar, lilac, sugar, and sleep.
Chloe curls around my niece, her face tucked into the crook of my arm. Holden lies behind her with his cheek pressed to her shoulder. Nathaniel has the other side of me. He sprawls across the cushions, long legs taking more than his share. Despite his stillness, he’s only pretending to sleepas he listens to every breath and tracks every shift, ready to move if anything changes.
I try to match Chloe’s breathing and let it lull me under, but sleep won’t come. My mind is too busy running through what-ifs.
If Chloe’s Heat starts tonight, it will be sooner than we expected, but we’re ready. We’ve been waiting for this, craving the bond that will claim her in a way even the Sinclairs can’t deny.
