Page 65 of Knot Going Down (OlympicVerse #3)

EMILY

I t’s been three weeks since Glenn was arrested and our guys bonded, solidifying Lucas’s place in America and eliminating any worries we had about Knox and Declan killing each other.

Ava and I have begged them to bite us, too, nearly every day, but they keep telling us to wait.

They’ve been very hush hush about why. Only telling us they have a surprise for us first.

“Can we take the blindfolds off yet?” I ask. “It’s making me a little carsick.”

Gunner’s panting in the back doesn’t help. The sound mixes with the motion in a way that has me gripping Ava’s hand.

“We’re almost there,” Lucas whispers, the warmth of his breath distracting enough to make my stomach flip for reasons that have nothing to do with motion sickness. “Do you need me to take your mind off it?”

“If that’s code for groping me in the backseat, I will throw up. Blindfold or not.”

Ava laughs beside me, her fingers lacing tighter with mine. “Emily’s right, this is ridiculous. Please tell me you’re not taking us to some janky roadside motel for some weird roleplay or an all-you-can-eat burger contest.”

The car comes to a gentle stop and Gunner gives a quick, excited bark.

“At least he’s happy,” I murmur, but can’t stop my curious smile. I really hope this is the surprise they’ve been waiting for. I want their bites like yesterday, and I know Ava feels the same way.

Doors open, and suddenly there’s cool air, warm sunbeams on my face, and the faint rustle of trees. Lucas helps me out first, carefully leading me from the car. Ava follows close behind, our fingers still linked. A brush of fur hits my leg as Gunner bounds past.

I can feel Knox behind us, a warm, solid wall of muscle and heat, his leather scent extra potent.

Last night, he stole me away for some time just the two of us.

We went to the pizza place where we had our first date.

Huddled in a corner booth, we scrolled through nearby college options on his phone, looking at the requirements, and laughing as he teased that he wanted a degree in ballet pedagogy or fashion merchandising.

“Watch your step,” Knox says, his hand at the small of my back as the ground shifts, pavement underfoot giving way to a slight incline.

We pause. There’s the sound of a key sliding into a lock, then the creak of a door swinging open.

The air changes again—cooler, shaded. Inside.

“Okay.” Declan’s voice is warm in front of me. “Take off the blindfolds.”

I lift the material and blink against the soft light. Ava gasps beside me.

It’s a house.

A real house. Warm wood floors, high windows casting gold across the open-concept living room and kitchen. The furniture’s sparse for now—just a few essentials—but the air smells like fresh paint and cedar, and the walls are a soft cream color that reminds me of our omega.

There’s a fireplace, and a deck visible through the back sliding door. A fenced yard. A cozy nook in the corner already stacked with books and two mismatched armchairs.

My mouth falls open.

“Oh,” Ava gasps, stepping forward. “This is…”

“It’s ours.” Declan wraps his arms around me from behind. “And it’s only a few blocks from your brother’s place, Em. Close enough to visit. Far enough to be our own.”

Ava spins slowly in a circle, blinking like she’s trying to prove this is real. Lucas pulls her close, nuzzling into her neck.

“You bought a house?” she asks. “You guys bought us a house!”

“Not just a house,” Knox says, his expression so soft and open he looks as if every weight has been lifted from his shoulders. “A beginning.”

Heat floods my chest. “How is this possible? We’ve only been home a few weeks.”

“Declan’s got a friend who found the place on government auction,” Knox says with a shrug. “And we pooled our resources. Plus, our beta is apparently more well endowed financially than he let on.”

“Very well endowed,” Lucas beams. “Thick, hard portfolio.”

Knox lets out an exaggerated groan and flashes Lucas his bedroom eyes. “Say fiduciary again, baby.”

“Fiduciary,” Lucas purrs. “Escrow. Assets. Collateral.”

Ava turns into Lucas’s embrace, kissing him hard and deep, and that’s all it takes for something to snap. Maybe it’s the thrill of new walls and empty rooms. Maybe it’s the overwhelming feeling of ours. Whatever it is, it sparks like wildfire.

I grab Declan’s shirt and pull him into a kiss, fierce and needy. His mouth crashes into mine like he’s been holding back since the drive started. Behind us, I hear Ava’s breath hitch, and Lucas murmur something low against her skin.

Knox is the first to move. “Gunner’s dog bed is in the living room,” he says, already backing toward the stairs with a wicked glint in his eyes. “Bedroom’s upstairs.”

We follow in a tangle of hands and laughter, Ava and I side by side, pulled between our alphas and our beta, the whole house echoing with our energy.

The room at the top of the stairs is bare, just a big mattress on the floor and sunlight streaming in through an open window. Ava’s in front of me, shirt already halfway over her head. I grab her by the waist and kiss the bare skin of her back.

Declan comes up behind me and pulls my shirt off.

“No bra?” He sounds a little in awe.

“Well, you said you had a surprise, and…”

“I talked her into it.” Ava spins around to face me, gaze dropping shamelessly to my chest. For a brief moment, I fight the reflexive need to cover up, but the way she’s looking at me makes me feel brave, so I reach around and unclasp her bra, then press closer and kiss her.

Her skin feels amazing against mine. Her hands skim my sides, mine returning the favor.

Lucas pulls Ava’s leggings down as Declan does the same to my athletic shorts, and then there’s only skin—bare and hot and hungry.

For a moment, I’m unaware of anything or anyone but Ava.

My very own Wicked Witch of the Pool who’s cast the most beautiful spell on me.

I never thought we’d be here. Never thought she’d prove to be so soft, so real, so… mine.

She’s everything I never knew I needed. And I’m never letting her go.

I feel teeth at my neck before I register whose mouth it is. Declan. Sucking my pulse point and making my core molten. While Ava and I kiss, our men undress, surrounding us with naked desire.

Knox licks Ava’s neck, making her moan as she reclaims my lips.

His hands come to my waist, pulling us toward the bed, sandwiched between our alphas.

We stumble onto the mattress, a tangle of limbs sliding against sensitive skin.

Knox makes an oomph sound as we all land on top of him.

Our kiss breaks into a laugh. Declan rolls me off Ava, onto my back.

He’s on me a heartbeat later, his hands rough in all the ways I like, his mouth everywhere—jaw, throat, chest. My legs part on instinct, seeking him, needing him inside me, under me, around me.

Ava gasps as Knox flips her onto her stomach and pulls up her hips. Lucas moves to the side of the bed, one hand slowly stroking his cock as he watches us. Ava reaches for him, but he shakes his head.

“Later, omega,” he says. “This is about you and Emily.” He looks past her to wink at me. “I enjoy watching my alphas with my girls.”

Lucas enjoys being the voyeur almost as much as I enjoy being watched. Something I only realized about myself once I met him. I smile and blow him a kiss.

Ava reaches for me at the same time as I reach for her, curling my fingers with hers. She laces them tight, and the look she gives me is nothing short of wild.

“I love you,” she whispers, and I don’t know if she means me or all of us, but it doesn’t matter. It’s true either way.

“I love you too.”

The rumble of purrs from our alphas sends a wave of desire right between my thighs.

Declan kisses my temple, then nips at the sensitive spot beneath my jaw. “Do you want to feel it?” he murmurs, voice gravel and silk. “Feel how much I love you?”

“Yes,” I breathe. “Bite me. Mark me.”

He groans low, the thick heat of him pressing against me as he pushes inside, slow and deep. My head falls back with a cry. Every inch of me opens to him, and when he bottoms out, the emotion between us hums like struck copper.

Beside me, on her knees with her hips raised, Ava moans as Knox whispers something in her ear and enters her from behind.

“Gorgeous,” Lucas says. His knees hit the bed, and though his hand is on his cock, it’s not moving, he’s just watching. And even though he’s not touching any of us, I feel his gaze, his presence.

Lucas. My fellow beta. The one whose open, generous heart led us here. ‘ I love you,’ I mouth silently to him as Declan glides in and out of me and Ava grips my hand.

‘I love you,’ he mouths back.

Declan thrusts harder, and I arch up to meet him, panting, gripping his shoulders. “I need it,” I whisper. “Need you. Please.”

His eyes flash, dark and dilated. He pulls out and repositions so I’m on my side, lifting my top leg and slamming back into me from behind.

Knox bands an arm around Ava, staying deep as he drops to the bed, laying her on her side, too, so we’re facing each other.

He growls low, arm wrapping under our omega’s leg, lifting it the way Declan’s lifting mine, so he can take her deeper.

They move together in a rhythm that’s fluid and filthy and theirs.

Knox, my first love, my criminal bad boy, stares back at me as he pleasures the woman I love. From the way Ava’s eyes jump over my shoulder, I know Declan is staring at her just as much as I am. We mirror each other, thrust for thrust, moan for moan.

Ava never lets go of my hand.

And when her gaze meets mine, our alphas claim us as one.

The world explodes. My vision whites out, a high-pitched ring buzzing in my ears as heat floods me. I come hard, clinging to Ava’s hand, back bowing, vision clouding.

The bond flares so bright I feel like I’m blending into Declan. No space, no fear, only raw connection to the man who barreled into my life and claimed me before I thought I was ready. Because he knew what I couldn’t believe yet. We belong together.

As I gasp for breath, Ava writhes, her back arched, her lips parted in a silent cry, Knox’s teeth still in her shoulder. Holding her hand isn’t enough anymore. I need to kiss her.

Through the new bond I share with Declan, I can feel her, faintly, now joined through Knox. But it’s not enough. I pull our joined hands to Knox’s mouth, so my wrist rests against his lips.

“Bite me,” I command.

“I thought you’d never ask.” His teeth lock around my wrist, closing the loop on more than a decade of pining, proving to me he’ll never leave again.

Declan thrusts at the same moment, and another orgasm catches me off guard, threatening to pull me under.

But there’s one more bite that needs to happen.

As soon as Knox releases his teeth, I meet Ava’s gaze with a question. She smiles and brings her wrist to Declan’s mouth over my shoulder.

When Declan bites her, I kiss her, and Ava shatters, convulsing with the force of her climax. Our alphas thrust together, pushing us closer, binding us irrevocably. Forever.

Still shaking, I reach for Lucas at the same time as Ava does. He slides easily between us. Kissing her, then me. We fall into each other, showing our love with words, and bodies, and pure emotions.

When we’re all sated and exhausted, we collapse in a heap—tangled limbs and bruised lips and knot-slicked thighs. Our bonds hum inside me now, bright and warm and whole. Ava rests her head on my stomach. Lucas curls against her. Knox and Declan flank us, solid and secure.

We’re claimed.

We’re safe.

We’re home .

You’ve finished Knot Going Down!

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