Page 19 of Ready or Knot

“So who are these men my daughter is going to be living with?” my mom asks as Dad grabs plates and then settles into the living room chair with his food. She wastes no time getting her own food while Violet fills two plates with the Kung Pao my family hasn’t touched and brings one to me. “They live in Denver, right? And you said they’re really into camping. What are their names? What do they do for a living? What—”

“Elizabeth,” my father cuts in, a touch of humor in his exasperated tone. She huffs but doesn’t continue, looking at me with an eyebrow raised.

“The pack name is Bennett,” I offer after a few bites of food. Violet giggles, shaking her head as my mom scowls. I can’t help but laugh, pointing my fork at her. “How do you know I’ve gotten a chance to really get to know them?” I joke, and Mom rolls her eyes.

“Because you’re you, Faedra Rose. Curiosity might as well be your middle name.”

My cheeks heat. She’s right, of course. We’ve spent nearly every evening on video calls, getting to know each other—and I spend a lot of it blushing like a damn maiden, but I try not to let that bother me. Logan’s taken to calling me during the day, too, when he’s catching up on his admin work.

“Logan’s an athletic trainer that works mostly with semi-pro athletes, especially ones that are trying to make the jump to professional. He said he mostly does baseball,” I explain before my dad can get his hopes up. “Though he mentioned he just got selected for a contract with one of the downtown college hockey teams.”

My dad grins. Mom clucks her tongue, and I continue. “Carter owns a tech start-up. I don’t really understand it, but it has something to do with drone mapping of farmlands. And Jude is tenured at CU Denver.”

“He’s old enough to be tenured?” Aiden asks, and I blush. “I thought the Council paired everyone up so there weren’t huge age gaps.”

Violet snorts. “Every year the Council pushes Omegas into matching younger and younger. We were some of the oldest ones there this time.”

My mom frowns. “Just how old are they, Fae?”

My blush darkens, and I focus on my food for a few minutes to avoid answering.

“Faedra,” my dad says, warning clear in his tone. I take a deep breath and keep my eyes down.

“Logan is 35. Carter turns 40 in August, and Jude turned 40 in February,” I say in one quick rush. “His birthday is a week after mine.”

Aiden’s eyes are wide, and Mom does her best to hide her surprise by fussing with the takeout containers, shuffling them around and setting a couple in the fridge. Dad hums, head tilted just a bit, and I can tell he seems to be the least upset about the age gap.

“Well, the Council has been doing this for a long time. I’m sure they had a reason for selecting this pack for you.” He gives a pointed look at my mom as she huffs, clearly ready to start an argument. “We’ll reserve any judgment until we meet them.”

Relief floods me, and my shoulders drop. My mom sighs, glaring a bit at Dad, and starts interrogating Violet instead.

“So tell us about your match, Vi. Where are you moving to?”

Violet leans against me. “I’m actually staying here.”

“That’s fantastic!” Mom gushes. “Have you gotten to spend a lot of time with them, then?”

Violet nods. “It’s been great. Way less stressful than Faedra’s current set up.”

I scoff and shake my head. “Liar. You’re nervous every time you go to meet up with them.”

“You would be too if the Beta you had a fling with in high school was part of the pack you’ve been matched with,” Violet says testily.

I can’t help but giggle as Aiden chokes on his bite of food.

“Betas aren’t that common in packs, though,” he sputters after a moment. His eyes are wide as he looks over Violet. “How the hell did you manage to draw that match?”

“The Council works in mysterious ways,” she jokes, and I giggle. She shrugs after a moment, standing to set her cleared plate on the counter. “Reconnecting with Jasper has been the easiest part of it, actually. It’s one of the Alphas that’s making me consider appealing the match.”

A thread of vulnerability runs through her comment, and I’m quick to come to her rescue before my family can bombard her with Beta-typical advice. Not that my family isn’t incredibly supportive. Omegas are just wired differently—or so I’ve been told. Their advice has always made sense to me.

“They’re flying in tonight for the ceremony tomorrow morning,” I say. “They’re supposed to get in sometime around seven, and they’re staying in one of the hotels near the airport.”

We’d chatted lightly about going out tonight, but I had hesitated in confirming anything until my family had gotten out here. I wanted to make sure I spent enough time with them, too. And part of me doesn’t want to have my first time knotting with an Alpha to happen in a hotel. Everything I’ve read and heard about the experience impresses the idea that it’s life-changing. Certainly not something you could really ever prep to feel—though the toys on the market try to argue otherwise. And, honestly, if I’m going to have some world altering moment with an Alpha, I’d rather it happen somewhere I can revisit.

I know. It’s cliché as hell. But I am who I am. And that is as sentimental as an old lady remembering her first love.

Mom gets that glint in her eye that tells me she’s about to hatch a diabolical plan, and I feel vindicated in waiting to tell the guys we could do something alone tonight. My dad must notice it, too, because he intervenes before she can say anything.

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