Page 45 of Knot Their Reality

"I could eat an entire cow right now," Ulf says, completely dead-panned. I blink at him, trying to figure out if he's joking or not, but he doesn't seem to be.

I just nod. "I don't think I could eat quite that much."

Gage, who's sitting across from me, brushes his foot against mine. "While we wait to order, why don't you tell us what our options are for the last part of the date?"

"Oh! Right! We can go to the trampoline park—it's adults only—or there's an adult playground that has what looks like an amazing obstacle course. And then there's zip lining."

"Damn, girl. You're not pulling any punches with this date, are you?" Dylan shakes his head. "I'd hate to think what would've happened if this was a date with anyone slightly less athletic than us."

I duck my head, blushing. Maybe I hadn't thought this plan through so well. Am I asking for too much from the suitors on this date? I just really wanted to give all three of those things a try, but also knew I needed to get in a kickboxing class while I could, and of course, the target practice. I wanted it to be a fun day for all of us, but are they not having fun?

"Omega, look at me." Ulf's voice is practically an alpha growl, but I can't make myself meet his eyes. Instead, I curl in on myself until his hand hooks under my chin, forcing me to look up at him. "Do not doubt yourself, omega. Dylan was being a dick and giving you a hard time. I have very much enjoyed this day with you."

"But... I should've thought about the fact that not everyone wanted to spend the day doing something physical." I try to pull myself from Ulf's hold, but he's having none of it.

"Fuck," Dylan curses, and then I hear the sound of something scraping against the floor. Two hands cup my cheeks, and only then does Ulf relinquish his hold. Dylan turns me to face him, regret on his face. "I'm sorry, Sophia. I was just giving you a hard time. This is the kind of date I love, and I'm sorry that I made you doubt yourself for even a moment. It wasn't my intention."

I chew on my lip until Dylan's thumb brushes across it and pulls it from between my teeth. "So I didn't plan a bad date?"

"Not at all," Foster says, his hand taking mine and squeezing.

"This is the most fun I've had in a long time," Gage offers. I try to turn toward him, but Dylan won't let me go.

"It was a badly timed joke, omega. Tell me what I have to do to make it up to you, and I'll do it."

I don't see anything in Dylan's eyes that makes me think he's being anything but earnest. It truly seems as if he didn't mean to hurt my feelings. Honestly, I'm not even sure why it hurt my feelings.

No, that's not true. I do know why. It's that omega part of myself that wants to take care of their pack. These guys might not yet be a part of my pack, but since I'm trying to build my pack, I think it has the same effect. I don't want to disappoint someone who might be a future member of my pack.

This damn show is making me realize just how far I've buried my omega side in order to excel at my job. I should've noticed sooner. I should've been nurturing that part of myself more frequently. But after the winter vacation in the cabin two years ago—which is the last time I attempted to do so—I hadn't wanted to.

"There's nothing you need to do," I finally say. "I'm not used to nurturing the omega part of myself. It's something that I usually bury deep inside of myself so that I can focus on my job. I'm not doing that anymore so I think I'm having overreactions to things. I understand you were joking, and that you feel bad for hurting my feelings. That's all I can ask for. We all screw up, and this wasn't just on you, but on me as well."

An unsteady sigh falls from Dylan's lips as his eyes close. He leans forward until our foreheads touch, and my eyes fall shut automatically. I just take in the moment to breathe in their scents. Dylan's is the most prominent due to our proximity, but I get hints of the other three as they surround me.

I don't know when Gage joined us, but I can feel each of their hands on me, and it's calming. It's a nice moment that's ruined when the server comes in to take our orders.

"Oh," the woman says, obviously startled as we break apart. "I'm sorry for interrupting—"

"You're not interrupting. Honestly, I'm starving so thank you for coming to take our orders." I laugh it off as the men return to their seats. I wonder if it'll be awkward after the server leaves us, but it's not. We find ourselves falling easily into conversation once more.

After a filling lunch, we end up going zip lining, realizing that the other two activities on a full stomach are just asking for a disaster. Turns out, I might be an adrenaline junkie because I love zip lining. I love it so much that I can’t seem to stop talking about it as we head back to the mansion.

Realizing I've been monopolizing the conversation, I wrinkle my nose as my face heats. "You shouldn't let me just keep talking like that. You can tell me to shut up when I go on a tangent."

"And why would we do that?" Ulf asks.

I shrug. "Because not everyone wants to listen to me go on and on about anything—or so I've been told."

Foster scoffs. "Whoever said that to you is a douche. I could listen to you talk about anything if you were this enthusiastic about it."

"Oh." I duck my head, a smile tilting my lips.

The car comes to a stop before anyone else can speak.

No one moves immediately as we just stare at one another. Then I burst into laughter, though I have no idea why.

The others start off chuckling until we're laughing our asses off as we climb out of the car. I'm leaning against Ulf so I don't fall over with how hard I'm laughing. "I don't even know why I'm laughing."

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