Page 50 of Knot Your Problem

“That sounds like a great plan. Let’s move it inside people.” I jerked my head at Sam and Dave, and they made the first move to turn back to the kitchen. We’d only really made it a few steps outside, so they were back through the door in seconds. I saw Damon looking at Dave in confusion.

I grabbed Lexie’s hand, and she didn’t pull away from me, but she still wasn’t looking at me. Leif narrowed his eyes at me, though. Until Maia took his hand and led him inside gently. The rest of her guys followed her, still in their various states of undress.

“Lex, baby. I’m sorry if I scared the women inside, but I won’t apologize for defending you, either. This is all really new for me and I didn’t know I was going to react so quickly or so strongly until after I’d done it. It was just, seeing someone grab you the first time we’re around people after we claimed each other. My beast hasn’t fully settled and was out before I even thought to let him.”

I needed to touch more than her hand right now. I needed to reassure myself she was okay. But I had to tread carefully if I was going to fix this. “I’ll work on trying to chill, but-”

Before I could finish, Lexie whirled, and all but climbed me, throwing her arms and legs around me. I took a half step back to steady myself before she was kissing me wildly.

It took me half a second to catch-up; I was so surprised. She groaned deeply as she abruptly pulled her mouth away, much too soon. My breath was coming out in hard pants as I nuzzled into her neck, her scent calming me. “I thought you were mad at me?”

“I am,” she said, “but I’m more mad at myself for putting the women in that position. It was always going to go badly if Leif figured it out before I told him. I should have known that, made an excuse and left as soon as Maia showed up.” She shook her head against my neck and I pulled her tighter in to me, soothing her.

“As inappropriate as it was, though,” she continued, “watching you defend me from my man mountain of a brother was hot as hell. So badly timed and unnecessary, but so fucking hot. I’m such a contradictory mess of emotions right now.”

I kissed her forehead as I let her legs drop to the ground. “I was terrified when you jumped between us. Please never do that again.”

“No promises,” she chuckled.

“At least find a more manly way to pull us apart next time?” I asked as I brushed my thumbs across her waist. I couldn’t seem to keep my hands off her. “My grandmother used to drag us around by the ear when we were kids. It hurt like hell then, too.”

“Nope. If you act like a child fighting over your favorite toy, you get treated like one.”

I laughed, feeling lighter now that I knew she wasn’t mad at me. “Fair enough.” I seemed to say that a lot around Lexie, but I found myself wanting to please her. There was very little she could say that I wouldn’t be okay about.

“Are you ready to go back in there, or should we run away?” I queried, looking down at her slightly and trying to fix her hair for her where I’d mussed it up. I sounded like I was joking, but I was serious. If she couldn’t handle this right now, I’d get her out. No questions asked.

Lexie groaned, and not in a sexy way this time. “This is going to suck. Let’s get it over with.”

We headed up the stairs. As soon as we walked through the door, we got one grumpy glare, followed by a round of applause and catcalls. Lexie’s friends were still in the kitchen, hovering around the far door.

“Sorry, Lex. We didn’t want to leave until we were sure you were okay,” one woman called out, “but judging by that kiss, you’re fine as hell.”

Lexie blushed furiously, which was cute as fuck. I grabbed her hand, bringing it to my lips and kissing it.

“Where do you want me, Lex?” I asked.

“On the bench, it’s the perfect height. Just make sure you clean it after,” another woman called out as they finally left and the rest cackled. Yeah, the women were fine, too. Most of them were tough and had all seen worse, as sudden and shocking as our fight may have been. There were a couple of fragile-looking ones, but they all had another woman’s sturdy arm around them.

I walked over to the sink and washed my hands, getting a grin and a fist bump from Hunter as I passed. Lexie headed the same way, punching Hunter in the arm when he tried to fist bump her, too. She was trying not to make eye contact with anyone else.

“Wait for Max, then I want that long story, Lex,” Leif growled as Maia wrapped her arms around him. He slid his hands up Maia’s arms and pulled her in tighter. Neither of them seemed to care that she had dirty hands from grating potatoes.

I looked around, wondering where Max had gone, but I didn’t ask. There was enough tension directed towards me right now. He re-appeared a few minutes later with clothes and shoes for the guys so they could finish getting dressed and weren’t cooking half naked. Probably a wise move.

“Do you want Cary and I to go?” Ava asked from where she was whisking eggs beside Maia, with Cary hovering, holding pepper and pretending to help while watching all the alphas in the room nervously.

Lexie shook her head, sending Ava and Cary a small smile. Neither omega seemed all that surprised about Lexie’s revelation, which had me suspicious.Did she confide in them?

I felt a growl rise in my chest to see her smile at Cary, but I stuffed it down. I was fighting my need to keep every unknown male away from her right now. It was instinctive with our mate bond so new, but I didn’t want to get my ear pulled again so quickly.

Lexie started talking as she worked to finish cooking homemade hash browns. She gave the cliff notes version as she got everyone up to speed on what had happened between her and me, leaving Sam and Dave out of it for now. There wasn’t much to tell there yet, anyway. I was planning on changing that, though.

Damon, Hunter, and Max looked shocked. They had all known Lexie for a long time. Leif looked half destroyed.

“Why didn’t you tell me when you first noticed the scent years ago?” Leif asked quietly.

“I wasn’t sure. I honestly thought I was just imagining it. It kept coming and going, and it was only the faintest hint. More like a memory of a scent teasing me. When Dad brought that creepy guy home to stay and check me over, it terrified me. I shoved the possibility down so hard and refused to even consider it.”

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