Page 167 of Knot That Serious

For a second, Eli was frozen against the wall as she gazed at the three alphas that were hers. Suddenly, and almost irrevocably hers.

She envisioned kicking Jack and Beckett out so she could have more alone time with Raj, but it felt so right, having them all together, she couldn’t bare it.

Maybe they’d had enough life altering conversations for one evening. Besides, they had time. They had a future together, now, all of them.

Beckett chuckled, bringing her out of her thoughts, and she watched the back of his neck flush. He sat the bag on the prep station with a clink, and she finally snapped out of it, trailing closer to see what he’d brought.

Jack swayed into Beckett’s back, wrapping his arms around his waist and propping his head on Beckett’s shoulder to watch him unpack the paper bag.

“Don’t bump knuckles about me,” she heard Beckett mutter, and she neared just in time to watch Raj and Jack do just that.

Raj’s gaze flicked to her as she moved closer, then back to Beckett, the way they were entangled in each other. “I take it what we rehearsed went well, then?” Raj asked.

Eli didn’t know it was possible for Beckett to turn that color, and she snickered into her hand as he stuttered. “Well, actually, if you must know, it went all sorts of wrong,” he sighed.

Eli slid in between them all, leaning back against the prep station next to Raj.

Beneath the neck of Jack’s tee shirt, she saw his mark, and couldn’t help the smile that curled her lips, brushing her fingers over her own absentmindedly.

“Sounds like a story time is in order,” Eli teased.

Beckett groaned in response, pulling not one, but three wine bottles, and cups from the paper bag. “Oh, come on, it’s a great story,” Jack said softly. “It has a happy ending,” he teased.

“I love a happy ending,” Eli told him, and nudged her elbow into Raj’s side.

“We can trade,” he encouraged, and she beamed at him. “We’ll tell you ours if you tell us yours.”

“See, that’s a great idea,” Jack declared, and untangled himself from Beckett. He mosied over to the work station still littered with fresh donuts and icing and filling and Eli watched him consider dipping his finger in the icing. Knew it from the way his gaze slid to her, and she narrowed her eyes in a warning.

His lips twitched, but he turned without disturbing any of it. “Then we can finish these donuts and eat them, right?”

“Sweets and champagne,” Eli mused. “Sounds like a celebration to me.”

“Brace yourselves,” Beckett warned, and then the cork popped on the first bottle, and he poured the first glass. “I will need this for courage if we’re to recount the whole story.”

“Aw, it can’t be that bad! You had it all planned out last night,” Raj said.

“Yeah, well, we didn’t plan to christen the kitchen of the house, did we?” Beckett admitted, cheeks flaming again.

Eli tried to stifle it, really, she did. But Beckett sounded so… distraught, and through the bond she felt Jack’s humor and knew how pleased he was at the turn of events. It swirled with her own until it burst out of her in a laugh.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up,” Beckett drawled, pouring the rest of them a drink as well.

“Start from the beginning, please,” Eli requested, and accepted the first cup from Jack. “I wanna know what you planned versus what actually happened.”

“Cheers?” Raj asked, and lifted his drink.

Beckett’s cheeks were still red, and her own hurt from smiling so often. Jack nudged her foot with his own, and Eli nudged him back.

“To our pack?” Eli said, barely choking the words out around the sudden lump in her throat.

“To our pack,” Raj agreed, and he sounded as shocked at the notion as she felt. That things had turned out this way, had turned out so good.

They lifted their cheap glasses in the back of the bakery. The clink was more like a clunk. She still had donuts to fill and ice.

To her, it was perfect.

“Alright, from the beginning,” she prompted, pointing at Beckett.

---