Page 16 of Ready or Knot

The video chat loads after a few moments, but it’s not Faedra’s face I see at first. A young man sits in the main window, his white shirt offset by a dark grey tie, the council’s insignia serving as his tie clip.

He smiles and says, “Hello Pack Bennett. Faedra should be joining any minute now. Do you have any questions for me while we wait?”

Logan and I shake our heads. Jude leans forward and asks, “What’s the timeline after this call? The information was vague beyond due dates for paperwork.”

The man nods once like he was expecting the question, and I figure it’s probably pretty commonly asked. I tap my fingers on the hard maple top of Logan’s desk.

“After this, the Council steps back and lets you interact organically. Final paperwork to either request a different match or make this selection permanent is typically due thirty days from now.” He shuffles some papers around in front of him. “However, Ms. Wilson has requested an extension.” Jude grunts, and the man glances up, nodding again. “The Council granted it. Instead of thirty days, you’ll have sixty.”

Logan and I share a look. Why would she ask for such a long extension?

“Are we allowed to know why she did?” Jude asks.

The man nods, pulling a piece of paper from the stack and setting it atop the pile.

“She cited her inability to facilitate a move in the next two weeks, which would decrease the effective Window of Exploration to fourteen days. She requested an extension to forty-five days to accommodate this, but the Council opted for a longer extension to alleviate time pressures regarding cross state moves.”

I roll my shoulders, closing my eyes to recalibrate. Nothing about that screams that she regrets the decision of the Council.

“As you don’t currently reside in the same city,” the man continues, “it’ll be up to you all to decide how you want to navigate that. If you choose to move where she is currently—or if you as a group decide to relocate to somewhere entirely new—you’ll need to file the necessary paperwork with the Council. Her moving to you doesn’t require any additional paperwork.”

“Does she know all this?” Logan asks. The man nods. He glances somewhere else on his screen, and a moment later a small chime sounds.

“Ah, here she is. Let me get her added, and then I’ll leave you all to it,” he says.

Another half minute passes, and then Faedra’s on the screen, her red hair pulled away from her face, a few short pieces framing her cheeks. Her eyes are framed by slim winged liner and thick lashes, black from mascara, and her smile makes her freckles stand out along her nose and cheekbones.

“Good evening, Ms. Wilson,” the man says, smiling again. Faedra blushes and offers a small greeting back. “I know you’ve already been briefed, but before I log off and let you all chat, is there anything you need from me?”

Faedra shakes her head. “Thank you, Matthias,” she says, her voice the same mellow, sensual cadence that had captivated me at the party. Jude sits up straight, dropping his hands to his lap, and Logan mirrors me, elbows resting on the desk.

“This call will automatically end in an hour,” Matthias says. “So don’t panic if it cuts out. I encourage you to start by exchanging contact information.”

We all nod, and Faedra glances off screen for a moment, shaking her head.

“Perfect. Have a good night,” he says before his square on the screen disappears.

Logan clears his throat. “Everything alright, Faedra?”

She blushes again, looking at us, and nods. “Yeah, just trying to convince Violet that I don’t need her here for emotional support.” There’s a sharp noise from somewhere in her space, and then she laughs, shaking her head. “Don’t even start, Vi. We both know you were way more nervous than me. I’ll be fine.”

“What if I just want to meet the rest of them?” a woman says, her voice almost sharp but tinged with humor.

Faedra rolls her eyes. “I’m positive you’ll get to meet them in person—which is way more up your alley, anyway.” She pauses. “When I’m done, we can go to that new pinball bar,” she offers, her cadence dropping to one of persuasion.

Violet makes a noise, Faedra laughs, and the soft sound of a door closing comes through the video chat. She glances back at the screen, biting her lip.

“Sorry,” she says. I shake my head, and Logan chuckles. “Vi is really protective of me.”

“If I hadn’t met her at the party, I’d be convinced she’s an Alpha,” Logan jokes, and Faedra nods.

“We’ve confused people when we’re out and about. They assume she’s an Alpha, and I’m a Beta.”

Jude tilts his head, frowning. “Who could possibly mistake you for a Beta?”

She shrugs, looking down. “I don’t crave touch the way most Omegas do,” she admits after a moment. Logan nods.

“Well that fits right in with us,” I say, and her eyes cut to me, an eyebrow raised. “We don’t crave touch that way, either. At least not to the point where we solicit for it from anyone. We like being in control of when and how.”

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