Page 35 of Knot Your Sunshine
"Want to know something stupid?" Elena picks at a piece of moss growing on the rock. "I keep thinking I should give you advice, but I'm literally the worst person for this."
I turn to look at her, confused. "Why?"
"Because I lied to my pack from day one. Pretended to be a beta. Hid who I was." She glances at me, her expression rueful. "Not exactly the poster child for healthy relationship communication."
"You were protecting yourself."
"And maybe your alphas thought they were doing the same." She shrugs, watching the waterfall. "Protecting themselves from disappointment if they were wrong. Not wanting to pressure you if the match wasn't real."
I watch a bright green leaf spiral down from somewhere above, landing on the water's surface. The current immediately claims it, sweeping it toward the far edge of the pool.
"My alphas forgave me," Elena continues, her voice almost lost under the waterfall's roar. "Saw past the lie to why I told it. If they hadn't..." She doesn't finish, but she doesn't need to.
"But how do I know?" My voice sounds small even to me. "How do I know they won't expect me to give up everything I've worked for? How do I know they won't get tired of my ambitions?"
Elena turns to face me fully, water droplets clinging to her eyelashes. "You can't know. Not for sure. But here's how it differs from your previous experiences: they're your actual scent matches. That's destiny giving you a cosmic green light." She pauses. "So you be brave, like I know you are. Be crystal clear about who you are and what you need. 'This is who I am. This is what I need. Think you can handle that?' And then you hold them to their word."
"That simple?" I let out a shaky laugh.
"That hard." She reaches over and squeezes my hand. "It means taking a chance. Being willing to walk away if they can't accept all of you. But Mia, the risk is worth it. Trust me."
I close my eyes and let the mist settle on my face like a thousand tiny kisses. I've been disappointed so many times that I learned to expect less, to prepare for eventually being too much or not enough. So the idea of finding partners who'd actually want all of me feels terrifying… but also a little exhilirating?
"I guess I can test the waters." The words come out slowly, carefully. "Set boundaries about my work. See if they respect them. And if they don't..." My chest tightens at the thought, but I force myself to finish. "Then I walk away. Scent match or not."
Elena grins. "There's my girl."
We sit in comfortable silence for a while, watching the endless cascade of water. The chaos that brought me here begins to transform, reshaping itself into something I can work with.
A plan. Or at least the beginning of one.
Chapter fourteen
Josh
My fingers fly across the keyboard as I run an analysis algorithm predicting Mia's franchise project success. I've run it twelve times, and the probability of success keeps coming out at 87.3%. Higher if we provide the backing she needs.
Keanu hasn't moved from the window in twenty minutes. He's just standing there, one hand pressed against the glass, watching the ocean like it might tell him what to do next. His shoulders rise and fall with deep, measured breaths.
"She'll come around." Noa's voice drifts from his desk where he's signing documents, though I doubt he's actually reading them. The pen scratches across paper in quick, sharp strokes. "She just needs time to process."
"You don't know that." The words slip out before I can stop them.
Noa's pen stills mid-signature. "What?"
"The probability." I minimize my displays with a frustrated swipe. "Based on typical omega response patterns to pack bonds, accounting for her specific personality markers, career focus, and previous relationship failures—"
"Josh." Keanu turns from the window, his usual easy smile nowhere to be found. "Stop."
"Statistics don't lie. I'm just saying that—"
"Josh." Noa sets his pen down carefully. "She's not a data set."
"Everything is data if you look at it right."
"Is that what you were thinking when she leaned in to smell you?" Keanu asks, walking closer. "Running calculations? Building spreadsheets in your head?"
My face burns. "No."
