Page 32 of Knot Bonded

“Remember that beta, Alex, who I introduced you to at the party? I saw him sneaking out of the house the next morning. And all the guys except for Tom looked guilty as hell when they came down for breakfast.”

Oh. It wasn’t unusual for a pack to have a beta join them, but not without the omega being part of it. Plenty of packs with male omegas invited a female beta to be a permanent member, and vice versa, to satisfy everyone’s needs. But there was an assumption that it would be discussed openly and everyone would agree to it. Otherwise…

“They cheated on you.”

I couldn’t believe it. I’d never even heard of cheating within an established pack. But they weren’t bonded. Holy hell, what a nightmare.

“Somehow they all agreed on me as their omega, but I wasn’t what they all needed. Tom was probably forceful about it. I can imagine he would have insisted I was ‘the one.’ I think the other guys have been just as miserable and confused as me about how it turned out.”

I was shaking my head. “This all could have been resolved if they’d just communicated better. I’m sure you would have been okay with bringing in a male beta.”

“Sure, if that’s all this was about. But it’s not. It just helped me see it. They belong with a different omega, maybe a male omega. That’s why I haven’t had a heat, why Tom is the only one who bonded with me.”

But since Tomhadbonded with her, what could she do? She looked at me, and I knew she was struggling with exactly that.

“It’s funny,” she said, without the hint of a smile. “You have a pack where all but one of the guys is begging to bond with you, and you don’t want to break them up by making them choose between you and him. I’ve got a pack where only one of them wants me, and it would destroy him and probably break up the pack if he had to choose between me and them. What should we do?” She shrugged, looking utterly lost.

“I don’t know. I really don’t.”

Neither of us had good options. She would carry that bond mark with her forever. Even if she separated from her pack and Tom stayed with them and they found a new omega. She would carry a piece of him with her, never letting her move on. Or if he left the pack for her, she would feel guilty, and he would suffer from that loss of connection.

I didn’t want to be responsible for breaking up a pack, not ever. If Luke didn’t want to let me in, that was it. I would do everything I could to keep from making a permanent mistake.

Like my poor fucking sister.

17

LUKE

Sylvie sounded surprised to get my call. After a few days of fielding escalating panicked and angry texts from the rest of the pack, I’d finally grown a pair and invited her to the cabin for the weekend.

Apparently she’d told the guys that she didn’t want to break up the pack. That meant either I was on board or she walked, so the pressure was on me. I didn’t like it. This was all moving too fast. But I wasn’t going to pretend that I didn’t want to see her again. That I hadn’t been thinking about her pretty much all the time since I left the house.

I’d been staying at the cabin, working on videos for my sponsors. Before Edward died, I had an actual job working at an outdoor recreation shop, mostly selling climbing gear. After his death, I couldn’t stand being around other people for a while, so I had to quit. I finally figured out that companies would pay if I talked up their gear in my own climbing videos, so now that was what I did. It wasn’t a ton of money, but I contributed something to the pack, and I was getting paid to do what I loved, so it worked.

At first I thought she was going to say no to coming up.

“You’re sure?” she asked.

No, not at all.

“Yes, absolutely. Please come. We’ll get to know each other a little better.”

Silence. A long sigh. “Okay, but I’m going to drive myself.”

So that she could leave whenever she wanted. It was smart of her, but it also hurt a little. It meant she didn’t trust me. Which was fair, I’d given her no reason to.

Suddenly, I wanted to earn her trust. I gave her the directions, and after we hung up I went out for supplies, stocking the house with nice food and drinks. Even if this didn’t work out, I didn’t want her to feel like she needed to run.

When her headlights flashed past the window on Friday night, I was ready. A fire was blazing, pork chops were in the oven, and a nice bottle of red was open. I heard her set her brake, the opening and closing of her trunk, her steps up the wide wooden stairs to the front porch. Finally, her knock. I opened the door, and for a moment I just stared at her.

“Um, can I come in?”

“Shit, yeah. Let me take your bag.” I stepped back and motioned her in, then closed the door against the cold air. “Make yourself at home. There’s wine open in the kitchen. I’ll just put this in the guest bedroom.”

I probably should have given her a tour or something, but I needed to step away, get a grip.

Had I forgotten how gorgeous she was? Those amazing green eyes and luscious lips. Her hair was down, glossy and sexy. She was wearing jeans and a sweater, nothing fancy, but she couldn’t hide her beautiful curves.

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