Page 50 of Knot Your Basic B*tch

Which would have been perfect, except that I had already finished my assignments for the week. Now it was too much space.

I tapped my finger against my notebook, needing something to take my mind off everything. I looked behind me, to another omega seated a row behind me, who had also come in early.

“Good afternoon,” I waved to her.

She turned bright pink and mumbled a tiny word, like a strangled and bastardized hello. Then the girl buried her head in her text book, blushing like it was her job.

Maybe I’d gone overboard with intimidating the other omegas. Was the threat of not being able to get with my brother really that scary? It’s not like they couldallget with him, anyway.

What-the fuck-ever. I was about to finish out my time at the Institute. It was a bit late for me to start thinking about friendships now. Besides, I had to keep my eyes on the prize. There was no doubt in my mind that if I failed my classesnow,after I’d worked so hard at everything that I would have no other options but to simply die of embarrassment.

I just needed to find something else to take my mind off things.

Mindlessly, I grabbed my phone, tapping out a text to Titus.

Me: Are you even alive?

Titus: Hey! I’m at the Institute. Meet me at our usual for lunch?

Oh?

So he was at the Institute right now? Titus wouldn’t come by this way unless he had paperwork, or he was here to meet alphas.

I opened up my textbook to a chapter on condom textures, hiding my smile behind it. So which alpha was my brother meeting? Were things getting serious? There was nothing better than other people’s love lives and drama, to take my mind off my own real-life problems.

An hour and a half later, I loaded down my lunch tray with a supreme steak burrito and a side of nachos with salsa. It looked amazing, and I was starving, having been in too much of a rush to make it to the cafeteria in time for breakfast.

To be completely honest, I was a little distracted as I walked out to my favorite lunch table. I had to keep looking at my lovely little burrito, promising it that I’d give it a good home—in my belly.

When I got to the table, I looked up to see Titus, happier than I’d ever seen him—and he wasn’t alone. He was surrounded by three other alphas, standing close together… staring at each other with hearts in their eyes.

Wait… wait.

Wait one damn minute.

Did this mean that he’d actually chosen his pack?

My brother had his arms around a handsome alpha with dark wavy hair, and thick lashes framing emerald-green eyes—it was Nyle, the one alpha that I’d recommended to Titus. The only man out of the dozens I’d interviewed that actually passed my red flag checklist and earned a glowing recommendation.

Titus had actually called me and asked me if I was being serious, after I’d texted him that he needed to snatch Nyle up, bond him and put a ring on it.

Huh. Titus actually took my recommendations seriously. Honestly, I suspected that Titus was using the alpha interviews as an excuse for me to go out and maybe get laid… but that didn’t completely make sense, because the interviews didn’t stop when I’d found my scent matches.

It was one thing to suspect that my brother cared about my opinion on which of the alphas at the Institute were decent and which ones were the human equivalent of diarrhea on a toilet seat, and it was another to realize that he’d actually taken my advice.

Nyle wasn’t the only alpha I recognized.

Was that Simon?

I mean, alright. The heart wanted what the heart wanted. Who was I to be the judge of all that? Besides, from what I could tell, Simon was determined and earnest. He wasn’t the sharpest crayon in the box, but he was emotionally regulated and definitely not a psycho.

Simon stood with his chest puffed out and chin held high.

Okay.

Good for you, Simon.

“Ah, there she is!” Simon exclaimed as soon as he spotted me. He held out his hand for me to shake, and I had to hurriedly lower my tray to the table. Simon took my hand in both of his, shaking it with enthusiasm, “I’ve got to thank you for your support in the pack interview process.”