Page 161 of Down Knot Out
The scent of coffee and lemon cookies drifts through the living room as Holden sets a tray on the coffee table.
“Thought you could use a pick-me-up.” He slides a steaming mug toward Blake.
Blake doesn’t lift his head from his papers. “You’re a saint.”
He sits hunched over the coffee table, his broad shoulders curved as he marks up material estimates with bold strokes of a pen. The scratch of the nib on paper mixes with the whir of the heater through the vents. His hair has escaped its bun, falling in tendrils around his face. When he pauses to check a measurement, the lamplight catches on his beard, turning the brown to copper.
Outside, the night turns the living room windows into black mirrors that reflect our little family, gathered in the living room of the Homestead. Quinn had been put to bed over an hour ago, and Grady had shuffled off to his room on the first floor, but my Alphas are still hard at work. With the Resort so close to opening, they’re burning the candle at both ends to meet the deadline.
Holden turns to where I sit, curled in the corner of the sofa, the dusky-purple knit blanket Dominic gave me tucked around my legs. “A cocoa for our writer.”
I accept the mug he offers, the ceramic warming my palms when I take it. His fingers brush mine, and his contentment pulses through our bond, steady as a heartbeat.
Next, he turns to Dominic, who lounges at the opposite end of the sofa, one leg stretched toward me, his tablet balanced on his knee. “And a fully caffeinated coffee for you.”
“About time.” Dominic pushes his reading glasses back up his nose. “Thought the doctor would never revoke the restriction.”
I pat his foot. “You were such a good patient, following his directions.”
He sticks his tongue out at me and nudges me in the thigh with his toes.
“And green tea for you.” Holden sets the last mug beside Nathaniel’s laptop, where the Alpha taps away, cross-referencing numbers.
His sleeves are rolled to the elbows, exposing forearms corded with lean muscle, and the tiny furrow between his brows lessens as Holden’s vanilla sweetness fills the room. “Thank you.”
A week has passed since our final meeting with Gregory, and as I take them all in, I still can’t believe I get to keep this pack of Alphas.
Holden settles onto the floor beside Blake’s legs. “How’s the math coming?”
Nathaniel sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. “The timeline’s tight, but we’ll make it. Abbott’s arrest brought us some breathing room with the permits.”
“And the suppliers aren’t trying to gouge us anymore, now that Harris Senior’s influence is waning,” Blake adds, circling a number on his page.
Dominic snorts, his attention returning to his tablet. “Amazing what happens when you expose a criminal conspiracy.”
I sip my cocoa, letting the warmth slide downmy throat. My chest fills with a quiet pride as they work, these men who fought for our pack when everyone told them it wouldn’t last. These men who fought for me.
The transfer from Gregory Sinclair cleared this morning. A staggering sum, more money than I’ve ever had, more than I could spend in a lifetime. Blood money, as Dominic called it. Payment for my silence, for my childhood cut short, and for the mother I never got to know before Gregory ruined her.
I wait for a natural lull in the conversation to bring up what I’ve been thinking since I first sat down with our lawyer to draft my inheritance buyout. “I want to pay off the resort loan.”
Four heads turn toward me with expressions in varying levels of shock and confusion.
Blake freezes with his mug halfway to his lips. “What?”
“The Sinclair money,” I clarify, setting my cocoa on the side table. “I want to use it to clear the debt on Misty Pines. All of it.”
Silence follows, and Nathaniel closes his laptop with a soft click, his face unreadable. Blake sets down his mug, and Dominic sits up straighter, his tablet forgotten on the cushion beside him.
“Chloe,” Nathaniel says. “That’s your inheritance. It bought your freedom.”
I smile at how selfless he is. None of my Alphas had questioned what I’d do with the money, and I love them all the more for it. “And now I’d like it to buy the freedom of my pack.”
Holden releases a shaky breath. “Are you sure?”
Blake pushes back from the table, running a hand through his hair. “It’s… It’s too much, Chloe.”
“Yes, I’m sure. And no, it’s not too much.” I shake my head. “Not for family.”
