Page 56 of Knot Baked Out For This
I sink onto the stool Reverie vacated, unwrap the sandwich with shaking fingers. The first bite is perfect—turkey and cranberry and crisp lettuce, exactly what I'd been craving. Exactly what I'd mentioned in passing to Levi, who'd remembered and told Rowan, who'd made sure I got it.
Such a small thing. Such a huge thing.
My phone buzzes: Reverie.
Did you kiss? Please tell me you kissed.
We didn't kiss. He bought me a sandwich.
...that's somehow more romantic?
I know. I'm in trouble.
Good trouble?
I look at the sandwich, think about fixed doors and rescued flowers, and three Alphas who move around each other like planets, each with their own gravity but somehow not colliding.
Think about being wanted. Being chosen. Being worth the effort of courting, even if it's old-fashioned and ridiculous and probably doomed.
Maybe.
FINALLY. Was starting to think you'd forgotten how to feel feelings.
I haven't forgotten. That's the problem.
Because I remember everything. The good and the bad. The way it feels to be cherished and the way it feels to be crushed. The intoxicating rush of being chosen by an Alpha and the devastating reality when that choice becomes a cage.
But.
But.
These three are different. They move independently, think separately, and care uniquely. They don't hunt as a pack—they court as individuals who happen to be friends.
Rowan, with his careful distance and stolen cookies. Levi with his sunshine smiles and cat treats. Luca, with his silent competence and fixed doors.
Three chances to get it wrong.
Or three chances to finally get it right.
I finish my sandwich, surprised to find I'm actually hungry. Have been hungry for a while, maybe, and just got used to the ache.
When do you rest?
Maybe it's time to find out.
Time to stop running from the possibility of being wanted.
Do I dare say…Reverie's right.
What's the worst that could happen?
I already know the answer.
Already survived it once.
The question is whether I'm brave enough to risk it happening again.
Or brave enough to risk it not happening at all.
