Page 137 of Knot So Social

I scoff under my breath and tear a mouthful out of my food. I sidelined Jeremy to hang with those fake dimwits who never had my back.

And what did I get in return? Nothing but pain. When the hell did I care so much about others’ opinions anyway? I trace back my history but can’t pinpoint it. Maybe only therapy can help me with this one. But the realization plants a deep echo in my soul.

I can’t keep living my life this way. Not when the most important things I’ve ever encountered are now at stake.

Yeah, Willow might not feel the same way about me, but even as I chew on my sandwich, acknowledging that fact, a deeper truth settles in my soul. Not trying is far worse. Like Jeremy said, I haven’t even had a conversation with her to find out how the scent-matching has impacted her.

If I walk away now, I’ll lose her and have to live forever with a gaping wound in my heart, one that no amount of time will fill. All because I’m worried she’ll tell me to go away? Or that I’ll be intruding on Jeremy and Alessandro’s territory, without ever speaking to them about it?

Fuck that.

I drop my half-eaten food onto my plate and shove my chair back in a rush.

“Time to go,” I tell the dog wrapped around the table leg. I can’t get his leash unwound fast enough; my heart pounds a busy staccato urging me to hurry. Every moment I spend away from Willow is painful.

Half-blind with urgency, I stumble my way out of the small pub and find my van. Jock loads himself into the passenger seat and sits up expectantly. To be sure he can’t climb across me while I’m driving, I loop his leash around the headrest. Every action feels too slow and I curse under my breath.

The first few splatters of rain hit the windshield as I speed up out of the parking lot, tapping my fingers on the steering wheel at every intersection. A crack of lightning arcs over the purple-backed clouds, beautifully sharp and burning an after-vision in my eyes.

Thunder rolls.

“Whoa,” I murmur, as two more bolts play tag in the clouds. It’s the kind of lightning that makes fantastic city skyline photos.

Jock whimpers and recoils against the passenger seat. I reach across to pat him. “Yeah, I know it’s loud, but we’ll be okay.”

I smile and take the on ramp to get me out of the squeezing inner city.

Jeremy and I grew up playing outside, waiting for the first big drops to fall, trying to catch them on our tongues. We drank big draughts of the ozone air and the rising wind that sends tumbleweed running, before dashing inside at the last moment to avoid getting soaked.

I roll down my window. It’s faint, overshadowed by the human and metallic layers of a city, but I catch a whiff of the storm’s petrichor rushing through the gap.

My life’s in a storm right now, one where past and future collide. But this time, I’ll be the storm chaser running toward it.

That thought lasts until I pull up in Willow’s front yard. The gate’s open, but neither Jeremy nor Alessandro’s vehicles are parked in the drive. Despite the walls between us, the omega's terrified screams ring out through the yard. Only the rumbling thunder masks them.

“Willow?” I shout, bolting up the front steps and launching myself at the door.

It’s locked.

Chapter forty-three

Willow

Everything was going fine until the storm broke. Better than fine, really. After pushing me to my limits, Alessandro and I napped for a few hours, entwined so tightly together that we may as well have been human pretzels. We got up leisurely, showering and dressing with lingering touches, both of us still existing in a fog of wonder over our new experience.

Jeremy sent me a text to say he’d been called in to work. I guess that means he can drive himself, since there’s been no sign of Joel since yesterday. We scent matched, he fixed my electricals, and then the alpha vanished like he couldn’t get away from me fast enough.

But Alessandro didn’t give me time to dwell—at least not until he got a call from one of his clients about a water leak.

I touch my fingers to my mouth and smile as I recall how reluctant he was to leave my side. But I know better than anyone how work piles up when it’s not attended to. My swollen lips puff under my fingertips, and half a dozen different muscles ache faintly from the morning’s work out. That sly, suave man is a sexy beast in disguise, and the discovery proves a thrilling surprise.

But every shred of delight evaporated when the first thunder roll shivered through the house. I always check the weather app. Every morning, without fail. But drugged alphas and new mates obliterated my established routine.

Otherwise, I would've prepared for the worst.

Now I can’t even reach my panic room.

Another crack shakes the house, and I squeal and press myself under my bathroom sink cabinet. The tiles chill me on two sides, and my veins feel like they’re turning to ice inside me.