Page 198 of Knot So Social

“Leave them be. Karma will come for them all.” She twists the tablet back and forth. “Like it already has for Bryson.” She pulls away from Alessandro and walks back to the door. “Plus,” she throws over her shoulder, “We have better things to do.”

“Sì, we do,” Alesandro echoes, following her into the house. “Are you still up for it, my love?”

I strain to hear her answer, relaxing when she says she’s going to try.

Jeremy drapes his arm around my shoulders.

“Busted!” he crows softly.

“Get off,” I mutter, not even trying to shake him loose.

He laughs and goes inside. I trail after him and out of habit, I check how he’s walking, but he’s got all his former swagger back. He took longer to heal than the doctors thought, no surprise, really, since he didn’t give up sex during his recovery.

After bonding with Willow, my brother found that he couldn’t even consider watching other omegas in heat. When Alessandro suggested they work together, everything fell into place nicely.

“Do we have to wash up?” Jeremy calls. “We’re just going to get wet anyway.”

“Yes!” Willow insists. “One of you smells like fertilizer.”

“That would be Alessandro. He dropped a bag of Good To Grow.”

I pause in the doorway, listening to my pack’s happy chatter. Idly, I stroke my bond scars. Jeremy’s on my palm—the same as the one I gave him so we’d match—Alessandro’s on my thigh, in the same position as the one he gave Willow, and my omega’s love bite on my collarbone above my heart.

We’re all double bonded, a choice we made to wind our souls together as tight as a pack can be.

The security buzzer rings and I whistle the dogs inside before opening the front gate again to admit the pizza delivery. Our omega seems to love pizza, especially the ones from this woodfire stove place, as expensive as they are. She says they smell the best.

And the things she loves are exactly what we need for this special date.

We gather in the back patio fifteen minutes later, the melted cheese and garlic flavors coming from the boxes making me salivate.

Willow bounces on her toes, a bundle of nerves. Each jump makes the fringing on her see-through dress dance.

“Don’t over think it,” I tell her, pulling on big rubber boots.

She chews on her lip but nods. That’s my brave Boss Omega.

I pick her up with one arm, lifting her high on my chest so she faces over my shoulder. “Ready?”

“No. Not at all.” Honest, scared. We feel it all through the bond.

“We’re right here, angel,” Alessandro assures her, opening the sliding screen.

I take one step. Willow squeaks and hunches down, clinging to my neck with all her strength. “No, I don’t think I can do it after all.”

“We’re still inside, baby,” I croon, rubbing whatever parts of her I can hold without dropping her. “You’re safe. This is my job, remember?”

Her nails dig into my skin. “But what if it comes for you too? Shit, Joel. My bad luck could take us both out.”

I squeeze her, my throat constricting. “That won’t happen. But I’m the happiest when I’m holding you anyway.”

She sniffles, which might be a partial laugh, if she wasn’t so scared.

The bond warms with reassurance, Alessandro and Jeremy both working hard to ease her fears. I take one step, and then another step over the patio threshold and onto the temporary pathway made of wooden boards covered in rubber matting.

The two dogs dance around my feet, excited that their mistress is finally coming outside.

“Bad idea, bad idea.” Willow winds herself so tightly into my neck I can’t breathe. But it doesn’t matter. It’s only ten paces from the patio to the new indoor pool house. Five months ago, when she mentioned she’d always thought about adding one to the estate—but never bothered because she knew she wouldn’t be able to use it—the three of us clamored to get it built.