Page 39 of Knotty New Year

I stared at it, trying to zoom in to see details. If Estefan’s information was right, Victor was flying into Dallas in just a few hours. Before I got out of the car and into my Gulfstream, I sent a short email to the PI, with one question:Are you certain it’s him?

His reply was immediate.It’s him.

My heart raced.

Victor was coming home, though there was no telling if or when he would leave again. And no telling what shape he’d be in when he got here. Would he be half feral, or dying, as most alphas who lost their true mates were?

I couldn’t tell the others, not yet. If he slipped away from me again, like he had all year, it would devastate the girls.

No, I would meet him in Dallas, and then I’d take him with me to Telluride. I was going to make certain he was with our family, where he belonged, on New Year’s. Then, we would figure out how to keep him here.

Chapter17

Candy

The day before New Year’s Eve, I stepped off Pax’s private plane—or one of them, at least—alone, the frigid air stealing my breath as a trio of gorgeous young women came rushing across the tarmac to greet me. Behind them, three hulking men, obviously bodyguards, scanned the area around a waiting luxury Humvee, their eyes shaded by dark sunglasses.My own security had left me on the plane with a flight attendant who’d clearly never missed arm day, and two pilots who looked like mercenaries, but I was glad to see these new guys.

The paparazzi had been intense, knocking my parents’ mailbox down as they chased us down the driveway.

But facing the press seemed easy next to Pax’s family. I pulled the hood of my downy coat around my face, hoping these women wouldn’t mention my swollen eyes or red face. For once, I hadn’t been crying, but some idiot had put an enormous bouquet of flowers in the small airplane, including some sort of yellow clusters of daisies that I was allergic to. The flight attendant had bagged them up, but the air was already pollen-laced, and I’d spent the flight wiping my nose until the Benadryl kicked in.

I probably looked like I’d spent the day crying, but at least I could breathe through my nose again.

As the three dark-haired girls circled me, clad in matching white downy jackets, pink fuzzy hats, and scowls, I forced a cheerful smile. “Hey. Are you Pax’s sisters?”My nose was still a little stuffed up, and I sounded sick.Nice first impression, Candy. Hi, I’m your future sister-in-law, here to infect you.

“Yes, we are,” one of them replied, before gasping. “Have you been crying?”

Another one added, “If it’s about the viral TikTok video, I am all over it. It’ll be yesterday’s news by tomorrow.”

“Um, okay…” I was suddenly very glad I’d turned my phone off.

“Why didn’t Nicky come with you? You two aren’t still in a fight, are you?”

“He’s coming as soon as he can get away,” I hedged.

“W-were you crying?” the third one asked softly, handing me a tissue. “Didn’t Nicky apologize?”

I smiled my thanks. “No, that’s not why—there were these flowers… Anyway, I’m Candy—” I couldn’t say anything else, because I was suddenly being crushed to death.

Well, maybe not to death. But hugged within an inch of my life, anyway.

“We’re Vanessa,” one announced.

Then another, still hugging me, mumbled into my neck, “And Victoria. But call me Tori.”

The last one pushed her sisters away and finished, “And V-Valentine.”

I sucked in a breath and realized that while her sisters were betas, Valentine was an omega like me. As she hugged me, I could make out the vague scent of a Christmas candle, all cinnamon and vanilla, with faint notes of her brother’s pine.

“How c-c-could he send you here alone?” she stammered quietly. She took a breath, obviously trying to control her stutter, then let it out slowly. “W-what happened at that c-club?”

“He’s coming tomorrow,” I explained. “He promised. Something came up at work, though, and you know how it is.” It was really hard to keep smiling when her face creased with sorrow for me.

“Yeah, we know about the work thing. Such a mess, right? Scary.” I didn’t want to admit that I had no idea what was going on, so I just nodded.

Within a minute, I was being force-cuddled in the back of the Hummer, while one of the bodyguards loaded my suitcases in the trunk, and the other two slid into the front seat. They were all alphas, and I almost wished my nose was still clogged. Other than Pax, alphas had never smelled all that great to me. For some reason, two of these three smelled aggressively bad, like a sewage treatment plant staffed by skunks. The driver just stunk like wet wool, though.

Valentine didn’t seem to mind, as she kept leaning forward toward the driver and inhaling through her nose until he snarled at her to put on a seatbelt.

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