Page 22 of Knot Excused
Erain and Teddy said nothing, and I felt my stomach sink to the ground.
We looked at each other.
She’d been at the Palace for almost a week and we didn’t even know if she had friends or had talked to anyone besides us there.
“We’ve all been the worst kind of assholes,” I said stiffly. “We claimed an Omega but we didn’t commit to her or even give her a chance really. We have to find her and convince her we can do better.”
“I thought I saw her talking to some guy after the wedding,” Teddy said.
Some guy?
My stomach clenches with sudden, raging jealousy.
I cannot stand the thought of any other man around Piper. She ismine.
“She did ask about inviting someone to the wedding,” Erain said.
He looked jittery, like he couldn’t stand still, shifting back and forth.
“And what did you say?”
“I said no. I thought the guest list was already set.”
“YOU TOLD OUR OMEGA NO?” Teddy thundered, putting both hands around Erain’s throat.
“Stop it!” I ordered, throwing Teddy back, but I also wanted to throttle Erain. Also Teddy. Also myself.
“Find her first,” I reminded them.
We went back and retraced our steps.
Her scent stopped completely near the groundskeeper’s little cottage. It sat at the edge of the property near some forest lands, so we decided to knock on the door on the chance they saw Piper.
The door opened and it was a big Beta in his 50s with a chef’s hat on and an apron stretched across his belly.
“Where is Piper?” Erain immediately shouted and charged forward to grip the Beta by the front of his shirt.
“Stop it!” I demanded, putting the full weight of my Alpha bark in the words, and it’s such an urgent order that it even unbalanced Teddy, who stumbled over the doorstep and knocked into Erain.
The Beta is the first one to recover, swinging the rolling pin in his hand and catching Erain painfully in the ribs.
I grabbed them both around the collar and tried to look less desperate.
“Can we come in?” I asked, forcing my mouth to stretch into a rictus of a grin.
A woman dressed for work stuck her head out from the kitchen and to my relief I recognized Mary, the groundskeeper.
“Let them in, Otis,” she said as she walked past us.
Usually Betas complied immediately after direct orders from an Alpha, but I hadn’t met Otis.
Mary left with an anxious look, and Otis led us into a small dining area cluttered with cookbooks piled precariously on top of each other, the whole room smelling like sugar.
He did not, however, offer us anything to drink, and nodded to the chairs in a way that indicated he would much rather not see us at all.
It was peculiar behavior from a Beta, since they are usually eager to do Alphas any favors.
I squeezed around the small table, knocking my knees painfully into Erain and Teddy’s and fervently hoping my cock would stay down for the duration of the interview.
