Page 75 of The Pack's Knotty Runaway
For a long time, the only sound in the room is the ragged drag of our breathing.
He collapses onto his elbows, burying his face in the crook of my neck, before rolling us over together until he’s spooning me from behind. His knot still locks us together as his scent softens into warm chocolate, grounding me.
“Mm,” he hums, pressing a tender kiss to my pulse. “Sweetest fucking thing.”
I laugh, a weak, breathless sound, tangling my fingers in his hair. I feel wrapped in total, absolute safety.
“What time are we leaving tomorrow?” I ask, pouting at the sudden unwelcome thought.
Ash shifts, wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me flush against his side. “We have a late checkout. So...” His voice is lazy, warm.
“Yesss,” I say, trailing a finger down his thigh. “Because I can think of a few excellent ways to tire each other out before then...”
34
Bram
“—No, I mean it. Next time you’re at Maggie’s, drinks are on me.” Pearl’s laugh crackles down the line. “I owe you one.”
I set the phone face-down on the desk and listen to the house for a second. The kettle ticking as it cools. Reed somewhere in the kitchen, opening cabinets and shutting them the way he does when he’s looking for a snack.
Then I open a folder on my laptop and pull up the files—a scanned counter slip from a parcel depot in Lakeview, and a police record with a picture.
“Okay, Wade Fenton,” I tell the photo. “Now I know who you are. And trust me—”
I hear tires on the lane gravel, slowing ahead of the pothole by the mailbox. Strangers find that hole at full speed. Family brakes for it.
They’re back.
The laptop’s shut before I’m out of the chair (Reed beating me through the front door by half a step).
We hit the porch as the car comes up with the windows down and Luna’s arm out the passenger side, riding the wind. Something behind my ribs unwinds a full turn.
Almost two days. That’s how long this house has felt wrong.
She’s out of the door before Ash has the key out of the ignition. Reed gets to her first. She hits him at a half-run and he hauls her clean off the ground and spins her, her shoes swinging out over the gravel.
“Missed you, Inspector,” he says into her hair.
“So did I, alpha,” she smiles.
He sets her down, she turns, and my arms are already open. She crosses the gravel and fits herself under my chin like we’re two pieces of a puzzle.
“Hi.” Honey and gooseberries, warm from the car, hit the bottom of my lungs and spread.
There. Everyone home.
“Hey, sweetheart,” I say.
“I missed you,” she says into my shirt.
“Missed you too,” I reply, my hand coming up to the back of her head.
Ash rounds the hood with two bags, and I look at him over her head. He looks good. Loose through the shoulders.
“Look at this,” Reed says, leaning on the rail. “We figured you two eloped. Tell us what happened out there!”
Luna pulls back from my chest wearing a grin.
