Page 38 of Knot For Keeps

We were three episodes deep when he felt his phone vibrate. Picking it up he rolled his eyes at the message before turning to me.

“Food time, Lavvy girl. You coming with?”

“I suppose I should move,” I agreed, sitting up and smiling lazily at Archer.

Standing, I extracted myself from the nest. I was sad to be leaving it, I wanted to remain cuddled up in the blankets.

“Lead the way,” I mumbled sleepily.

Archer procured a small feast consisting of fresh fruit he found already cut up and prepped for him, some cheeses, cookies and chocolate, piling them into various bowls on a tray. I sat on a stool at the counter, picking bites to eat while he dished and reheated the pasta Theo had made.

“I never did ask how you met your pack members,” I said between bites of fruit. “I was too nervous to ask when we were video chatting.”

“We all grew up together. Gage, Theo and I were inseparable from a young age, even though Theo is a few years younger than us. Kane is a few years older but our families all run in the same circles, so he had always been in our lives as well.” He didn’t look at me as he spoke, I didn’t know if I could pry without causing issues. We were at a nice level of amiability and I didn’t want to do anything that would rock the boat.

Cracking open a soda, I chugged half the can without taking a breath. Archer, noticing my thirst, went back to the fridge, returning with a bottle of water and handing it to me. I warmed at the gesture. Despite being an omega I wasn’t used to someone being so attuned to my needs, anticipating them. I could feel myself starting to enjoy it. Thrive off it. I would be home soon, but part of me wanted to enjoy the experience while it lasted. This was part of the allure of packs, they protected and provided—the Haven would help me find that—eventually. Part of me kept forgetting that I was technically there as a captive. The last few days had felt so relaxed and easy. I could see myself falling into a routine with these men, and that was dangerous.

“I’m so full,” I groaned, stretching.

“C’mon, we’ve got another six episodes to get through today.”

“You think we can handle another six episodes today?”

“Ye of little faith.”

“You have a binge watching problem,” I laughed.

“A binge watching problem you gave me. It all started with that documentary with the cops trying to frame that guy for murder. I was meant to watch one episode. One. We have a huge job right now, and I needed to get some sleep. I started watching and next thing I know, the sun is coming up and I have to work on zero hours sleep.” I laughed, shaking my head. Archer grinned back at me, his eyes lighting up as he looked me over.

My eyes travelled over his torso, roaming over his well defined arm and strong jawline. I crossed my legs to hide any errant perfume leaking out. If Archer could sense my reaction, he didn’t show it.

“Worth it though, am I right?” I asked as I nibbled on a slice of apple. Archer nodded, grinning as he grabbed a few snacks and jerked his head in the direction of the exit.

“Let’s take these for the road. We are wasting valuable watching time!” he declared, piling all his goodies into one hand, grabbing my hand with the other and dragging me upstairs.

ChapterTwenty-Two

Theo

Gage had been so grumpy lately. He clearly needed to get laid, but when I offered he brushed me off with some nonsense about how we all need to keep our minds off our dicks while we had an omega in the house.

Personally, I thought this was the perfect time to be playing with our dicks. But Gage was the boss. So I had been putting up with him being surly, Kane being Kane, and Archer hogging Lavender. It wasn’t fair.

Lucky for me, fate intervened.

Minding my own business, I was laying in the den on one of the tacky leather couches. I hated leather couches, they just felt wrong on my skin, Archer had bought these couches so I put up with them. Controller in my hand, I was playing a mindless zombie shooter game. My personal mission was differing somewhat from what the game developers probably intended. I didn’t give a fuck about protecting the people from the zombies—let them get their brains chomped on—but the random German shepherd I’d found? He needed protecting at all costs. The people could get fucked.

There was a film I had watched ages ago with Kane one evening where the main character was an agent badass or some shit, and the bad guys killed his dog, so he went and basically nuked their asses in many magnificent, glorious ways. That shit was the most relatable for me. I could get behind that a hundred percent.

Dogs weren’t even my favourite. I was a cat guy through and through, and Gage said we could get pets once we settled down, but fuck knows when that would be. I wanted something big, like a Maine coon. I loved those big fluffy bastards.

My mind drifted to the omega upstairs, currently hanging out with Archer. What kind of pet would she want? I could picture her with a rabbit, a cute little floppy eared bunny, carrying him around or just relaxing in the garden with him. Did the Haven even allow pets?

Kane lumbered into the room. He looked like shit, god knows when he last slept. Our lives were stuck in a weird holding pattern, just waiting for new information.

“Stop playing, we have a lead.”

“I’ll get my gear!” I grinned, throwing the controller across the sofa. Lightly bullying someone for information would definitely liven up my day.

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