Page 39 of Knot Excused
Her door is already covered in the presents we ordered late last night.
Dozens of long-stemmed white, pink, and red roses. Necklaces and bracelets sparkling with diamonds and pearls hung on every available surface. And, I notice, keys to at least three separate competing cars we’re giving her.
But I can smell instantly that she’s not in her rooms.
Fuck
“Erain! Teddy!” I call, banging on their doors. “Piper’s not in her room!”
Sharp Alpha claws are beginning to poke from my fingers, my incisors lengthening.
I don’t even wait, just grab my shoes and head for the stairs. But Erain and Teddy are pounding down the hall right after me.
“Let me go first!” Erain insisted. “I don’t give a fuck if she’s laced it with cat shit, I am not going to let her get that far away again.”
“Her scent is strong now,” I said, even though my heart is still pounding with panic. “I don’t think she’s trying to hide.”
We stumble out into the summer morning, hot even though it’s early, and follow our Omega’s scent right where I should have known she’d go.
When we got there, I pounded on the door of Otis and Mary’s cottage.
“Open up! Piper! We know you’re in there!”
My heart gives a huge leap when the door opens and it’s Piper herself, wearing tight athletic shorts and a baggy T-shirt.
She has two tiny kittens in her arms, the other kneading its paws on her shoulders, and I’ve never exactly been a cat person but this is the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen.
“No solicitors,” she warned, kicking the door shut.
“Come back,” I said, clutching the door frame just barely before she slammed it in our faces.
“I prefer it here,” she said witheringly. “Too many Alphas around over there. Smells pretty bad.”
I think about her luxurious quarters, and then this tiny little cottage with its hobbit-sized rooms, and Piper is right. This is where she feels safe. And that fucking sucks for us.
“Can we come in?” I asked humbly, holding up my hands to make sure Rook and Erain don’t butt in by demanding she come back to the Palace.
“Nope,” she said, shutting the door in my face.
Without thinking, I put my hand forward just in time for the door to crush my fingers painfully.
“What are your kittens’ names?” Teddy asked desperately.
I sucked in my breath.
“I’m still debating,” she said reluctantly.
“Can we come in?” I put in quickly. “Just to pet them and help you decide on names?”
She hesitated, then shrugged her shoulders. “I suppose. But don’t ask for coffee. That’s for our friends only.”
“I’ll chaperone,” Otis said firmly, coming around the corner with two steaming hot mugs of coffee. It smelled like cinnamon and brown sugar, with huge dollops of cream on top.
Our Omega led us into the sitting room, where she deposited the kitties gently on the floor and I sat eagerly down beside them.
I knew nothing about animals or cats, but I was desperate for any way in with Piper, so I held my finger out to the little orange one.
It came over and bit my finger fiercely, then allowed itself to be carefully petted.
