Page 67 of Knot my Alphas

“I know you want to learn about them but you need time to process everything you found out tonight,” he says in a grim tone. “Let your emotions surface and deal with them first. Suppressing them and charging ahead will mess with your plans to destroy Callahan. He’s a cold-blooded killer and you’ve got to be the same if you want to hunt him down.”

I nod silently.

Julian is right.

A million things are running through my head right now. Foremost, I need to get through the jumble of emotions crashing inside me. I need to come to terms with my own identity before I can even start looking for clues that can charge Callahan with murder and treason.

14

Iris

My mouth opens in a wide yawn as I wait for Julian to bring our coffees to the table. Two plates of avocado toast sit before me but I don’t feel like reaching for them.

“Do you need help, Julian?” I ask, stifling another yawn.

“Nah. Just sit tight.”

I can barely keep my eyes open after staying awake the whole night.

After excusing myself last night, I went into my nook in the attic and spent sleepless hours searching for information on the Burton Pack.

My father has four younger brothers and each of them is commanding their own troops. Researching through all the news articles I could grab online, I found out about my cousins as well.

My obsessed mind kept me awake for hours. Hope and desperation burst inside me each time I found out about a new family member. I stared at their photographs, picking out the features that matched mine until my eyes began to itch and burn.

While it feels good to know that my father’s pack survived, it’s still a small consolation when none of them know I exist.

“Here, you go,” says Julian, placing a mug before me. Small gasps escape him as he struggles to settle down on the chair beside me.

Grabbing the cup gratefully, I take an eager sip.

My eyes squeeze shut as the hot, very sweet decoction slides down my throat. “Jeez,” I gasp. “What the hell is this?”

“Coffee,” he says, taking a sip out of his cup and closing his eyes in bliss.

“I don’t taste any coffee,” I sputter, glaring at the offending beverage. “It’s all pumpkin spice and sugar.”

“I brought Starbucks home,” he says, grinning brightly. He takes another gulp of his drink and sighs. “Wouldn’t it be nice if we could go downtown and spend an entire day shopping and eating?”

“Yeah,” I mutter, relenting. “It’d be nice to have a distraction. I’d even go for a movie if we had the option to leave the house.”

“Drink up,” he says, gulping his ‘coffee’. “It’s delicious.”

Another yawn escapes me. “I wanted coffee,” I say, pouting. “Besides, weren’t you the one who wanted to eat healthy? How’s all this sugar helping with that?”

He gestures at his plate. “I’m eating avocado on bread when I’d rather have cream cheese and bacon bits on it.”

“I’ve spoiled you, haven’t I?”

He winks and takes a bite of his avocado toast. “Eww,” he mutters. “Why do people online act like it’s the best-tasting shit out there? It tastes weird in my mouth.”

I chuckle. “You’ll get used to it soon.”

“You must’ve stayed awake the whole night,” he says after a while as another yawn escapes me.

“Can you blame me?”

“Nope. That was a lot of information to take in. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the whole thing.”

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