Page 6 of Knotting Before Them

“Lana is family. We agreed on something between us.”

“I should pay for it, regardless of your agreement.”

“It’s taken care of,” he said with finality before he headed to the passenger seat, opening the door and waiting for me.

“Also, you can’t be lifting me up like this,” I sighed but went to him anyway.

I let his arm circle around my waist again, feeling his warm breath on my neck, making my toes curl inside my snow boots.

This wasn’t the time for a crush.

It was time to prove myself, to get started on my career. It was time to be an Apaza, because I deserved to be. But instead of laser focused intent, my insides were turning into mush every time the big man touched me.

He shouldn’t be touching me this much.

“This isn’t right,” I huffed as he buckled me up like a child. “Who are the others, by the way?”

“Others?”

“I heard Lana talking.”

He turned pink. He couldn’t hide. Even his ears turned bright pink as he quickly left my side and banged the door closed.

Not that easy, mister.

The second he took the driver's seat, I was on him again.

“So?”

“Wylder and Noah. They live in the house, too.”

I nodded. Three men and me? This was getting unsafe by the minute, but I never asked him to stop the car.

“Are they okay with me moving in?”

“They will be.”

I didn’t like that at all, so I tried to smooth things over. “It’ll be only for a couple of weeks. I can definitely get a good sketch by then.”

“Just that, huh?” he asked, looking away from the road for a second.

“Yeah, definitely just a couple of weeks.”

It was going to be easy for them. I wasn’t a permanent guest. I wasn’t anything to anyone, and that was the truth. I never stayed too long in one place, even during college, when I went through a couple of transfers.

I said to myself it was because I wanted to be closer to my parents wherever they went, but maybe I was just as relentless as them.

Nowhere was home. Nothing was worth the stay, and here wasn’t any different.

A couple of weeks.

I had a couple of weeks to convince her to stay, a couple of weeks to convince Wylder and Noah that she was our mate. It was bullshit to pretend otherwise.

I never reacted to anyone the way I reacted to her. Every time I had to help her into my truck, my blood ran hot. My knot swelled with want, and she wasn’t fairing much better. While at first, I wasn’t sure she felt anything at all, after taking her in my arms, I knew better. I could smell her arousal as if she was naked and spread out in front of me.

Her scent was intoxicating, her smile impossible to ignore. She was it for me, and I bet anything that she was it for the other two. They just had to see reason.

They just needed to believe.