Page 53 of Knot Your Possession

Cary had been mid-punch, but he faltered and almost missed. River grinned at him. “Asshole,” Cary grumbled, but he didn’t seem mad. He’d relaxed a lot.

I couldn’t wait to get him started in martial arts. He had a natural grace to his body that would work well, but it took time to learn. These boxing lessons would help him immediately.

A movement in my periphery had me on alert. Someone was watching us. I shifted my body slightly, as if I was examining Cary from a different angle, and watched the building behind River. He glanced at me and narrowed his eyes, but kept sparring.

A moment later, I caught sight of the culprit. I subtly gestured to River to keep going and ran silently up to the corner of the building. As soon as the head peeked around again, I roared and grabbed at the little blonde escapee. Angel squealed in delight and threw her arms around me. We really needed to teach her about stranger danger.

“Got you,” I said. “Who is supposed to be watching you right now?”

She just shrugged unconcerned, as if it wasn’t her problem.

Cary came up behind me and tickled her. “Ew,” she squealed in laughter. “You’re sweaty.”

“I think that’s enough for now, anyway. We don’t want to overdo it or you’ll be too sore for more tomorrow,” River said. “Let’s head back up to the kitchen and figure out where this little ninja is supposed to be.”

“Can I have a cookie?” She asked, all big pleading eyes.

“I don’t know if we have any, but we’ll figure something out,” Cary said with a grin.

I tried to put her down, but she clung to my neck like a baby monkey. I guess I was carrying her. It didn’t bother me. I’d never been around kids much, but I liked the feel of her snuggled into me. She was so trusting and sweet. The thought of her being raised at the Palace made me feel ill.

I looked across at River, and he nodded. We needed to figure out who Angel was, and why the Palace had her.

I almost ran into Ava as I rounded the corner of the building. She looked frantic.

“There you are,” she cried in relief. “Emma lost you. We were worried, Angel.”

“We found her spying on us,” Cary told her.

Ava sighed in exasperation and reached for her, but Angel only clung to me tighter.

“It’s okay, we’re coming in. I’ll bring her.” The intense look of longing in Ava’s eyes as she looked between Angel and me had my heart galloping wildly.

Did she want kids?It wasn’t something we’d ever talked about growing up, but the look in her eyes reminded me of the vision I’d had the night she presented. The moment I’d known she was mine, beyond being my best friend, it had hit me. A vision of our future together, a family we made. I would do anything to see it come to life. When she’d disappeared, it had been the loss of our future, the one I could see so clearly, that wrecked me. Beyond even the pain of the fractured bond.

I could see it again now, the vision of our family, only it had gotten a little bigger. And that was okay with me.

I just needed to do everything in my power to make it happen.

twenty-three

I’dshooedtheguysaway to go have showers as soon as we got back to the kitchen. I didn’t need sweaty, pheromone soaked alphas distracting everyone. River and Cary had complied, but Ryder had announced he was going to run the fence line first and Wolf had gone with him.

Wolf had stuck to me like glazing on a doughnut since he’d come back inside earlier, after his chat with Hunter. I hadn’t minded. I’d sensed how much he’d needed the contact and the quiet after the revelations and emotions of the morning. So I’d sat cuddling with him while River, Ryder, and Cary had trained, relying on Maia and Lexie to take over in the kitchen for a while. A run with Ryder now would do him even more good.

Angel had demanded a hug from each of my guys before they left, and they’d complied with indulgent smiles, even River. She was a definite handful. I kept a close eye on her now while she sat propped on a counter, munching on one of the last protein bars and sipping on a glass of milk. It was the closest thing we could find to a cookie. Not being able to give her one broke my heart. I knew it was irrational given how much suffering there was in the world right now, but my instincts were screaming at me to provide for her, and I couldn’t. Not in the way she deserved. She was a little kid; a cookie wasn’t too much to ask for.

She’d looked at the protein bar with disappointment, but hadn’t complained. She shouldn’t know about rationing and food shortages, or sleeping on group beds in a room filled with women for safety. Yet her quick acceptance made me think of the kids out there right now who had nothing to eat at all.

“You okay?” Emma asked me.

“Yeah,” I said, putting on my big girl pants as I turned to her. We had things to do. There were half a dozen omegas I’d gathered earlier, now standing awkwardly around the kitchen, looking lost. The Palace hadn’t taught us how to cook, or do anything useful, and it made me angry. They’d deliberately kept us subservient and helpless. That changed now. I’d asked the older omegas if anyone wanted cooking lessons and I’d felt heartened, if not a little overwhelmed, when most of them had volunteered. I’d had to create groups to rotate through at each meal, because we could only fit so many people in the kitchen at once.

The others were going to start on learning other essential things, like how to do laundry. This was the first group coming through the kitchen and we were starting with the basics, considering most didn’t even know how to boil water. Including me. I only knew scrambled eggs so far.

Emma had figured out a basic porridge this morning, with help from Miles and Owen. Then Lexie and Maia had taught us how to make our own bread. My friends had figured they may as well make themselves useful while keeping Maia at a safe distance until the guys worked out the devices. The bread had not long come out of the oven, and the kitchen smelled delicious. Lexie had brought several enormous jars of home-made jam with her, and I couldn’t wait to taste it.

I divided up the omegas and got half working on making jam sandwiches to feed everyone for lunch. While the other half started chopping vegetables to get tonight’s stew going. Lexie watched them carefully to make sure no-one hurt themselves.

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