Page 121 of Trick Knot Treat

I drag myself up onto the counter so I can see them properly. “Perhaps I can help? At home, I was small, so they would hoist me up and get me to do things like this all the time.”

Sofia gives me a strange look. “That would be amazing. They?”

“Oh, the boys.” I blink, realising what I’ve said. “They are like uncles and brothers.”

“Well, we have a couple of them here, so we know what they are like. Overprotective?”

“Hugely! I tried to kiss a boy once. We were in his car, about to lean in. First kiss. It was winter, so the windows were fogged, I wasn’t paying attention, neither was he. I got this little creepy feeling, you know how it is?” I climb up on the counter, pull myself up onto a bookshelf, wedge myself in, and start hanging weird, dildo-legged spiders. “Anyway, I suddenly remembered them and look up, and I swear, there’s ten furious faces pressed to the glass.”

Cordelia and Sofia scream with laughter.

“What happened?”

I climb across the bookcase.

“Oh, after a ten-minute conversation that had him in tears, he drove off. I never got that kiss, mind you, I never saw that boy again either. A few years later, his picture was in the paper; he was bonded with a local girl, and they were expecting quads.”

“I feel so sad for you. Having Sebastian and Felix was bad enough.”

“Oh, yeah, well. You should meet Harvest.”

“SING MY NAME, AND I SHALL APPEAR!” he sings and slides into the store.

I jump off the bookcase, and he catches me and sets me down, patting my head like I’m a dog.

“Put these up on that wall,” I say and hand him the spiders.

He gives me the look.

I smile sweetly. “Do it, or I’ll ring Dad.”

He puts a finger under my chin and tilts my head up so I’m looking into his face.

“I’m not your fetch and carry-”

“You aren’t fetching and carrying,” I say in horror. “You are decorating. It’s much more complicated.”

Harvest cocks his head to the side. “She-demon.”

I grin wider. “Move it, mister.”

He glances at Sofia and Cordelia and smiles too widely. “Hello, Omegas.”

I roll my eyes. “Such a flirt.”

The door opens and the alpha in the shirt comes in. His sleeves are rolled up his forearms, and his eyes are cold as he glances around the store. The fascinating thing, though, is that he barely glances at me, Cordelia, and Sofia; instead, his attention pauses on Harvest before it drifts off, and he starts looking at books.

“All right, I’m hanging your decorations…” he trails off, inhaling deeply and peering around the store.

“Do you need an instruction manual, Harvest?”

His eyes cut to me in warning. I ignore him and pull myself up onto the counter next to Sofia and Cordie.

The door explodes open, and a guy tumbles in, a ginger cat clinging to his shoulder. He looks like every other normal alpha, except he’s not wearing a shirt, and he’s giggling like an insane person. His long black hair hangs halfway down his back, but it’s a salty mess.

“Um.”

I glance at Sofia. “Do you know him?”