Page 21 of Knottily Ever After (Crescent Lake Cozy Omegaverse #1)

Chapter Twenty-One

Ben

T he apartment smells like heaven when I get home from work, but it’s the sight before me that stops me in my tracks right in the hallway.

In the kitchen and dining area, Violet, Vaughn, and even Quinn, are all laughing, moving around one another like flowing water as they set the table and put out serving trays.

There’s a low hum of music from the overhead speakers, and every so often, Quinn belts out some off-key lyrics and knocks his hip against Violet, who laughs every time.

The vision makes me smile, despite the deep sorrow that burns my chest, and my eyes.

It’s been eight years since my mom’s been gone.

Seven since Dad.

I was twenty-three when Adam and I became parentless, and I was unable to care for him on my own, and reeling with grief and shock. And anger. So much anger.

Mom’s life insurance paid for Adam’s boarding school, and is paying for anything his scholarship doesn’t cover at Stanford.

I know it’s what she would have wanted.

Vaughn came into my life at the perfect time. Finding him right after being all alone for the first time was fate. I know that now. Then Vaughn introduced me to Quinn, and the three of us just clicked, like long-lost brothers.

Pack brothers.

I’d heard the term before, being born and raised here, but Adam and my parents were a monogamous pair. We never witnessed pack life firsthand.

But, since I found my brothers, the three of us have been waiting to find our Omega. Waiting to find the final piece of our puzzle to complete us. A fully formed pack.

And she’s here now.

Violet.

But she doesn’t know. Doesn’t scent us like we scent her. Maybe doesn’t even feel for us what we do for her. That draw. The pull.

What if she never does?

My vision swims from the downward spiral of my thoughts, my eyes blinking against the tears. There’s no way I want them to spill, not when the sight before me is so happy.

I have no right to be sad or worried.

It isn’t fair to them.

Violet’s head pops up, peering around Vaughn’s body as he bends over the kitchen island.

Those auburn brows draw tight as our eyes lock, and without a single word, she’s rushing toward me like a swooping bird.

She reaches me before my body can react, wrapping her arms around my middle, pulling me in tight against her body, her face burying into my ribs.

I’m frozen still as she tightens her embrace. But when she breathes my name, my arms encase her shoulders, drawing her closer still.

Her body is warm, comforting. Her affection is a balm I wasn’t aware I needed.

And when my cheek falls to rest on top of her head, a sob wracks my body, my fists clench against her.

What is this terrible, deep pain? Where is it coming from all of a sudden?

It’s barely a moment later that Vaughn and Quinn are in the hall with us, a hand on my shoulder and upper back, comforting and understanding.

My eyes squeeze shut, my breathing is ragged, but there is nowhere in the world I’d rather be than right here, surrounded by my pack.

Loved.