Page 93 of Knot Her Beta

“Princesses need sleep, too.” Leif crouches beside her. “Come on, kiddo. Up you go.”

She groans but allows herself to be lifted, her arms looping around Leif’s neck as he carries her toward the stairs.

Jared appears at my elbow with his jacket. “Em and I are heading out before it gets dark.”

I grip my cane and stand. “I’ll walk with you to the split in the path.”

We call our farewells to everyone and head out the front door.

But on the porch, Emily’s hand finds my shoulder, her palm warm through the fabric of my sweater. “Stay back a minute? I want to talk.”

Jared catches on, and he jogs ahead. “I’ll warm up the boat. Take your time.”

I follow Emily over to one of the small breakfast tables on the side of the cabin and take a seat. My knee protests the bend, and I promise it a hot pack as soon as I return home as I balance my cane on the armrest.

For a long moment, neither of us speaks as Jared’s boots crunch down the path toward the dock.

“I wanted to tell you before someone else did,” Emily says at last, shifting to face me. “It’s the kind of thing that looks like hiding if you hear it secondhand.”

Ah, so she’s finally going to talk about the invite to the Wright Pack. I turn, the lights from the Homestead reflecting in my glasses as I give her my undivided attention.

“Jared and I are trying for a pup,” she blurts out. “We decided a while back, before you left for Connecticut, but we didn’t want to tell anyone until we were sure. We didn’t plan for it to be a secret, but it’s…not easy for female Alphas to conceive, and we didn’t want to jinx it by talking about it.”

Taken aback at this turn in conversation, I blink at her. “I…see.”

She takes a breath and lets it out. “But I’m two weeks late now, which isn’t a confirmation. These things... they don’t always stick for Alphas. The chances are low, and the risks are high, and we didn’t want to celebrate when it might not be real.”

Sympathy fills me, and I reach for her hand. “I understand, Em. You don’t have to⁠—”

“But Blake figured it out,” she cuts in, as if now that she started, she needs to lay out all the facts. “And he announced it to the whole pack at breakfast while you were gone. Leif was so shocked he walked out, and I didn’t want you to find out the same way.”

“Em, it’s okay.” I squeeze her hand. “I’m happy for you guys.”

She rocks forward, her chair creaking beneath her. “The thing is, we’re letting ourselves hope. And I’m...” She trails off, her hand shaking in mine. “I’m almost afraid of how much I want it.”

I tighten my hold on her hand to stop the trembling. This is what Jared was trying to tell me about Emily being anxious. Not just about my leaving or Auren’s sudden reappearance, but about how she bottles it up, putting on a brave face until the dam breaks, and it all comes flooding out.

“Do you have anything else you want to tell me?”

She stares at me in confusion. “No?”

I tilt my head toward the Homestead. “No?”

She peers through the brightly lit window for a moment in confusion before understanding dawns. “Oh! Do you mean about the Wrights inviting us to join their pack?”

“That’s the one.”

She turns back to me. “Jared and I are waiting to decide.”

“What’s holding you back?”

Now, it’s her turn to squeeze my hand. “It wouldn’t affect only us. You’re part of the discussion, too, Grady. You and Leif. We want to talk about it all together. There’s a lot to consider.”

I swallow hard. “I’ll admit, this is a lot, all at once. The cabin. The pack invitation. This.” I gesture between us. “Three weeks ago, I was sleeping on Kyle’s couch, at a loss for what to do with my life. Now I’m sitting on this porch being told my...” I shake my head. “Being told you might be pregnant, and somehow that’s the most natural next step in a sequence I didn’t realize we were following.”

Emily is quiet for a long moment, while the boat engine growls to life in the distance.

“Maybe we only think it’s fast because we’ve finally stopped fighting it.” She turns her head, and in the dim light, her gray eyes find mine. “All of us are broken, Grady. I won’t deny that. But we’ve been growing toward each other for months, and if we can all get out of our own heads about it, I think everything else will fall into place.”