Page 25 of Their Knotty Pack (Starbrook City Omegaverse #3)

Bethany

H aving three alphas and a beta in the house isn't quite as disruptive as I had imagined.

Though to be fair, Brody works some very long hours, and doesn't get home until after dinner most nights.

Hunter has been at work more often than not, I guess he's finally closing in on an omega trafficking ring, and apparently, Damien is a clean freak.

When he's not on his hands and knees scrubbing the kitchen floor, he's making smooth-as-fuck comments and making me feel… things.

Kieran, is, well, Kieran, and we're no closer to being able to stand each other than we were two days ago when they moved in.

When Hannah found out I was not only scent-matched to her brother, but bit him first in the throes of a heat, her only reaction was to get excited that now her, Cady and I were all sisters-in-law in some capacity.

"The Omega Sisters" she'd said, then cursed under breath, saying she would find a better name for us.

Like we were in some kind of KPop group.

Damien had taken the bedroom right next to our nest, of course, while Brody, Kieran, and Hunter took rooms at the other end of the hall.

From what I have seen of Brody, he's very respectful, but also has his funny moments.

I've been informed he's also the one who represented Hannah when her step-sisters were trying to sue her.

I've also been filled in on the fact that Brody was part of the pack that had harassed and tried to abduct Cady, though both she and Archie assured me that he was the one who gave all the information needed to the police to put away Pack Sheffield, and that he had no idea what his pack had been doing at the time.

I know Hunter the least so far, because it seems like he's been purposely avoiding us. And Damien? Well, it's hard to get past the one-dimensional flirting so far.

It's strange, I had spent three years being passed between the alphas of Pack Hansen, but now there's a mix of new alphas, and I'm allowed to just…exist.

Nobody bitches when I spend the most time with Miles, and when I do by chance have an encounter with one of the other men, there's no animosity from them. Like they don't even care that I bit Kieran without asking.

Brody seems like the most sincere out of all of them, and I'm wondering if we should…try to get to know him?

"Should we…" I trail off as I watch Miles pull a shirt over his head before bed.

I'm in our nest, still naked after our quiet love-making.

It wasn't that we had felt we were doing anything wrong , per se, I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop with these guys.

For one of them to burst into the room and demand to know why we're putting out with each other, but not them. It's what Pack Hansen would have done.

"Should we what, little nymph?" He grabs a shirt from the top of the dresser and brings it over to me, motioning for me to put my hands up.

I comply, and he lifts it over my head. "Should we try to do a date with one of—" my sentence cuts off as lavender and spearmint flood my senses. The scent makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and that makes me scowl. "This is one of Kieran's shirts? "

"If you're not going to spend any real time with him, you need to get his scent s omehow .

" Miles smirks at me. "He was all too happy to lend his shirt for you to wear to bed.

I considered stuffing it in your pillowcase so you wouldn't notice until you were asleep.

" He chuckles at my deepening scowl. "Really, I think that if you guys could go without being at each other‘s throats for two seconds, you'd actually get along. "

I pout at him as I shove my hands through the arm holes. "Consorting with the enemy, are we?"

He rolls his eyes. "Come on. I know you guys got off on the wrong foot—"

"Wrong foot?" I ask indignantly. "He almost ran me over with his motorcycle!"

He frowns, as if thinking hard about something, before his face lights up. "Right. But…he didn't."

My mouth drops open. "That's all you have to say, you traitorous hunk of man? 'But he didn't'?"

"Well, to be fair," he plops next to me and wraps his arms around my torso, trapping my arms, "he may have almost hit you…but you did bite him."

He holds fast as I try to move my arms so I can smack his chest. His vise grip only tightens around me as he presses a loud, smacking kiss to my cheek.

"Nope, little nymph, you need to hear this.

" His tone is playful but I can hear the seriousness underneath.

"You don't like him, but it happened. You bit him, and he bit you back, and now you're bonded.

" He pulls back slightly to look into my eyes, his tone losing all playfulness while he keeps his hold on me.

" It. Happened . It is what it is. We can't change it.

All we can do now is…try to put our best foot forward.

It's going to hurt all of us if the two of you resist this much longer. "

I deflate like a sad balloon. It is my fault. I know that. I feel like a shit mate to Miles, and like I'm fucking everything up by not even being able to get along with my damn bonded mate. But how can I? He's an arrogant asshole alpha.

Maybe next time he calls me chompy, I'll start calling him 'triple a'.

"I know," my voice is dangerously close to whining as I bury my head in his chest, "I just…if he hadn't seemed so damn smug about it at first—"

"If it makes you feel any better," Miles interjects, loosening his hold and rubbing a hand down my back, "I think he was more smug that he was the one your omega chose to bite, and not one of the others."

A frown tugs at my lips. That makes sense, but if it were true, why does he take any and every opportunity to needle me?

"Just think about it, okay?" He says softly, pressing a gentle kiss to my cheek.

"Yeah," I nod, and let him lean me back so we're laying down. Miles pulls the covers over the two of us.

After we turn off the light, it doesn't take much at all for me to fall asleep.

I wake with a start, my heart pounding wildly. Blinking wildly, I look around the still-dark room. I can't have been asleep for more than a few hours. Slick is coating my thighs, since I went to sleep without any underwear on, and there's this burning need inside my chest.

Is this…is this another heat spike? I quickly sit up, determined to not wake Miles, and shimmy off of the bed. It can't be another heat spike so soon.

Plus, there's something… other about this need in me.

An invisible thread pulls in my chest, making my feet move without my permission, and before I know it, I'm leaving the nest and walking down the hall to the bathroom.

The pull inside me urges me to slowly crack the door, and when I do, my mouth drops open.

Kieran is standing in front of the open toilet, shirtless, with his boxers shoved down his hips, head thrown back while he furiously strokes his own dick. His spearmint and lavender scent is thick in the air with his arousal, and it clicks into place, a little gasp leaving me.

It's his need I was feeling, not my own.

That pull I felt? The unsatisfied mate bond urging me to tend to my alpha.

At my sound, his head whips towards me, that infuriating smirk pulling on his lips. "It's not fun, is it?" The words leave him as a taunt, his hand never stopping its motion. Shit. He has no right to look this good. All ripped abs and bulging biceps, staring at me like he wants to devour me whole.

"What are you talking about?" I snap, shutting the door behind me so I don't wake anyone up.

When I look at him again, his eyes are on me, his gaze trained right where his shirt brushes my thighs.

And he's still touching himself. "Stop that!

" He's just going to keep jacking off while I'm standing right here ?

"Why?" He raises a brow, turning to face me. "Are you gonna take over? Or are you going to yet again refuse to take responsibility for something you caused?"

I sputter. "I—What? Why would I—"

"Well you see, chompy," he has this glint in his eyes that makes me want to kick him in the balls as he points to his marked shoulder, "because of this pesky bite mark, any time you get it on with blue and don't tamp down the fucking bond, I get hard.

So hard, that it won't go away without…assistance.

" He takes a step towards me, still touching himself.

Tamp down the bond? How do I do that?

Wait. Has been able to feel…everything? This whole time ?

The sight of his hard cock in his hand is doing stupid things to my brain, and my eyes won't leave the sight, no matter how hard I try to avert my gaze. "I…I can't concentrate when you're doing that."

There's a mischievous glint in his eye and a hint of mild amusement through the bond as he tucks himself away and steps closer to me.

One more step and he'll have me backed against the wall.

"Better?" He arches a brow, but I can't even answer, because now all I can see is the way his erection is straining against the material of his boxers.

My tongue, without my damned permission, darts out to wet my bottom lip.

The reaction does not go unnoticed. "Now, sunshine," he uses his finger to tip my face up to his, my heart pounding wildly in my chest, "you have a couple of options here.

You can turn around right now, leave this bathroom, and we can pretend this never happened.

" His hazel eyes search mine, and for one fleeting moment, I don't see the arrogant asshole. I see an alpha who wants his omega.

Could we do this? Could I get past my own hangups and let my walls down long enough to give this alpha a proper chance? Miles' words echo in my mind. "All we can do now is…try to put our best foot forward. It's going to hurt all of us if the two of you resist this much longer."