Page 33 of Knot the Last Chapter

“Lila,” he says, slowly. “From…”

I nod. “Starling Grove.”

His brow furrows. “You went to school with Jake Quinn?”

“My brother,” I say evenly.

His jaw ticks.

He remembers something. Maybe not what he said, maybe not how much it hurt, but enough to make the moment feel heavy.

I offer a polite smile. “You look different. Older.”

He huffs a laugh. “You don’t.”

“You didn’t expect me to grow up?”

“I didn’t expect to see you here,” he says, voice softening. “That’s all.”

That scent—his scent—is wrapping around me, tugging at every buried instinct I’ve tried to keep quiet. My omega stirs again, hard this time, and I know he can smell it.

Across the room, I can feel Corwyn watching. Rhys, too. The whole room has shifted. The warmth from earlier is still here, but it’s charged now. Like everyone can sense something between us, even if no one knows what.

I won’t explain. I refuse to give him the satisfaction of knowing he ever got to me.

Not now, when I’ve finally started writing again.

“I think I’m going to head to bed,” I say, pushing to my feet. I keep the blanket around my shoulders, Misty immediately hopping down and weaving through my ankles like a furry little guardian.

“You sure?” Corwyn asks. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” I offer him and Rhys both a small smile. “Just a long day.”

Tyler steps aside to let me pass. I feel his eyes follow me all the way to the hall.

But he says nothing.

Good.

Neither do I.

Misty follows at my heels, tail high.

I make it to the guest room without shaking, without crying, without punching anything. I close the door quietly and exhale a breath I didn’t know I was holding.

And then I sit on the edge of the bed, bury my face in my hands, and give off a sigh like I’m deflating.

Tyler Carver.

Of all the alphas in Starling Grove, he’s the one I’m stuck on an island with him.

Chapter eighteen

Tyler

She looked right through me.

That’s the part I can’t stop turning over in my head.