Page 131 of Knot So Lucky

This time, it’s not a threat or a boast.

It’s a prayer, a plea, a confession.

I lift my head, lips slick and trembling. Blood beads on his skin, not enough to drip, but enough to mark him—enough that everyone in the room can see it, can smell it.

There’s a hush, a moment so still you could hear a pin drop, followed by the low, stunned murmurs of the others.

Adrian’s hand stills, the easy confidence gone. He stares at the bite, then at me, and there’s a strange, conflicted pride in his eyes.

Elias, for once, has no words. He just steps closer, close enough to see the brand-new wound, close enough to smell the proof of what I’ve done. His mouth falls open, then closes, then opens again, but he says nothing.

It’s Luca who finally breaks the silence. He lets out a laugh, sharp and edged, but there’s no malice in it—only awe, and maybe the faintest echo of envy.

“You fucking marked him,” he says, voice just above a whisper. “You’re not supposed to even be able to?—”

Cale cuts him off with a growl, arms locked around me as if daring anyone to challenge the claim.

“She can do whatever she wants,” he says, baring his teeth in a grin that’s more animal than human. “She’s earned it.”

The room vibrates with that—something new, something hot and dangerous and absolutely unyielding. I can feel the bond, now, not just with Cale but radiating outwards, connecting me to the others in ways I can’t explain.

Cale’s knot keeps us fused, our bodies locked together in a mess of sweat and blood and scent, but the real tether is the one singing under my skin, the one that says you are pack now.

It’s terrifying…beautiful…and utterly irreversible.

We lie tangled—him shaking inside me, me shaking around him.

“That’s—” Elias starts, then closes his mouth, eyes wide. I must be missing something, but I can’t really click on the missing piece in this unraveling puzzle.

“Impossible,” Adrian whispers.

Luca’s jaw shifts, his gaze flicking between Cale and me. The old rivalry still sizzles, but something new trembles beneath it—a recognition, or perhaps a reluctant acceptance, neither of us can yet name.

My limbs grow heavy with contentment. The knot inside Cale pulses with patient, protective inevitability.

“We’ll talk about it later,” someone says softly—I can’t tell who—as I drift on the edge of waking and dreaming.

Finally, the heat feels like a decision I made with every fiber of my being, not an emergency tearing me apart. The curtains breathe with the hush of near-dawn. My heartbeat slows until it syncs with Cale’s, his knot’s gentle throb a lullaby in my core.

“Sleep,” he murmurs, voice low enough for only me. “I’ve got you.”

I slide a palm up to his jaw, holding him close.

“Don’t let go,” I whisper, as though fearful that if this cocoon of warmth and haze lifts, he might vanish.

“Not a chance,” he promises.

Their voices fade to murmurs of shock, questions, and something softer still— the new hum threads us together, through me, through him, through them.

I drift away, weightless in his arms, the bond singing steady and sweet. His knot holds.

The future tilts toward us—primal, irreversible.

CHAPTER 25

Pack Dynamics And Power Plays

~CALE~